The weeks headlines are a reminder that some people in the world are dealing with things on a daily basis that are hard for us to even imagine. It’s certainly very easy to get focused on the small things when you don’t have to worry about war, disease, or making your way home through shell-shocked cities.
Helping people out, making their lives little easier without thinking of one’s own interests is something we should all be thinking of.
Just this week I met a gentleman who wanted to pass on a few old tools he didn’t use any more. He took the time to show me some old photos from his past and tell me about his life. As he told me about his early life, loves, cars and his time in the war, the one common link that came up in every story was his unswerving devotion to helping people out who were worse off than him.
Just one of those stories involved driving a poor girl with multiple sclerosis around for her doctor’s appointments and helping her get her shopping. He had lots of other stories about neighbours he used to ‘make sure was alright because he was on his own’, or he would ‘get a bit of supper in for her because her eyes weren’t so good anymore’.
I enjoyed meeting this chap. I left thinking of the selfless way he’s lived his life and wondering who would end up caring for him, (he had already told me had no dependents or family left).
I left after purchasing a few hand tools and a Workmate, which will make my life a little easier, not having a bench. However, my thoughts really were on how daily life has changed so much. Perhaps it’s the structure of our society that there really is little time to think of others outside the family unit. The daily struggle certainly feels like a struggle sometimes, financially perhaps, or just purely in terms of how many things need be done every day. I can’t speak for others, but rarely do I think of how to help others less fortunate than myself. I think I need to do that more, I’m sure it would be appreciated.