The holiday season is typically a time of year when people step up their charitable contributions of time and money. Sometimes, people may ask why; why should they give? Who are these people less fortunate than I? Why can’t these people just get a job like everyone else? Why should I help someone who did this to themselves?
I believe that what people are struggling with is the ability to relate. They can’t quite step into another’s shoes, as it were.
My very simple statement to these people is just this: compassion.
Compassion is a challenge to all of us to help those who are hungry, homeless, and just less fortunate than ourselves. Compassion is a human emotion prompted by the pain of others. Compassion is being able to see that someone has a need and you can help with that need.
We sometimes get so overwhelmed by statistics; numbers that remove us from the people at the heart of the issue. So I am not going to list HIV statistics for you. I am not going to quote numbers or percentages of our growing demand for holiday hampers.
Mother Teresa once said “if you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.”
On the advice of Mother Teresa, that is how I will approach giving. I will find my compassion by focusing on feeding just one person.
This holiday season I ask you to look into your heart. I challenge you to reflect on what you can do to help just one person.
So go ahead and reach out. Give simply because you have the compassion to give.
This post was submitted by Tracie Seeley, Development Coordinator at AIDS Calgary.
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