When Everything is Wrong, We Move Along

I was watching the Oprah show’s last few episodes last week. It was really touching I must say, despite the fact that I’m not an avid Oprah fan. What really got me though was the number of people this woman has helped educate. If I remember correctly, it was over 60,000. Now that’s impressive. What I realized – and what was said on the show - is that if you help educate just one person, you help countless others. Some of the people she has helped gave testimonies of how they have taken it upon themselves to help others as she has helped them.

I realized the value of an education when I watched this. Of course, I always knew that education was important; it’s been drilled into my head for as long as I can remember. Even so, I saw how much more an impact it can have when you help, or in Oprah’s case, educate just one person.

It also made me realize how uncaring we have become as human beings. How many of us remember the earthquake and tsunami which occurred in Japan after the major news carriers stopped reporting on the story? We have an out of sight, out of mind attitude. The Japanese people affected by this are still recovering. Some are still homeless, still struggling. However, the majority of us have forgotten about it.

When beggars in the street ask for money or something, we usually ignore them with the excuse that they’ll just buy drugs or alcohol with it anyway. How do you know that? Why not take a few minutes from your busy schedule and offer to buy them some lunch? If they say no, then you’ve done your part. My point is that we should always seek to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Can you imagine how much better the world would be if we all helped each other and cared about each other more?

It really doesn’t take that much to be kind. A smile can make someone’s day. You never know what people may be going through when you see them. I remember the story of a boy who was on his way home to commit suicide one day after school, but changed his mind after one of his classmates was kind to him. I also remember the story of a college student who posted his homosexual roommate’s private moments on the web, which drove said roommate to kill himself. Undoubtedly there’s both good and evil in this world. Let’s all individually increase the good. I guarantee you’ll feel good when you do good.