Tis the season. Almost everyone has the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays on their minds. Plans are being made for family get-togethers.
Ideas for gift giving and meals are being thought out. There is no doubt that this can be a wonderful time of the year.
At Humanity House we have so much to be grateful for. We are surrounded by a community of people who support our efforts, whether it is with kind words, volunteering, donations of money or food, participating in classes as a teacher or student, or just stopping in to check in on how things are going.
It can be stressful to help people who are struggling through poverty.
There are worries that we take home every day. We see people who are trying to live their lives with mental illness, drug addiction, and abuse. We see people who have lived a childhood and adolescence that no child should have to live. They are trying to build a life different than that but have had no one to give them direction. We get to see the people who make their way out of addiction and get jobs and start having relationships with their children.
We become friends with people who live in poverty and die because of it.
We have people who have plenty and who live happy lives and want to share what they have. We have those who have had plenty but lost everything so they could care for an elderly or terminally ill parent or spouse. We see their grief and watch them rebuild their lives.
We give out hugs and high-fives. We laugh with the people who come in our doors, and we cry with them. We praise their children and sometimes scold them.
We watch eyes light up at a pair of new socks. We see gratitude for the clean clothes that our free laundry provides. We see those who havent eaten for a while sit down to a sandwich like it is a Thanksgiving meal.
A hand-me-down coat is worn like something off of a runway.
We see a pair of used workboots, required for a new job, make a person stand taller.
We are so lucky to be able to have an idea for our community and then receive the backing of our friends and neighbors and watch the magic happen. Every single day we have our share of frustration. But the ability to help change someones life is a reward greater than can be explained.
Take a moment today and do one random act of kindness toward another.
Take the time to notice how you feel when you get the idea, when you actually do it and how you feel when it is done.
That is how we get to feel every day.
