Love in Action

I've been thinking about love a lot lately, and not just because Valentine candy is everywhere.

One of my colleagues in another department lost everything when her home burned.  They weren't insured.  Yep, everything gone, and no umbrella of money to come in and help replace things.

Some folks here started a fund to help, and posted flyers everywhere, and are collecting things to give them

Back when I lived in MI, I worked for this HORRIBLE nonprofit, where a similar thing happened.  one of our cottage workers, a woman who probably did not clear $10/hr, lost everything in a fire.  Thankfully, she DID have renter's insurance, but her whole life was thrown into chaos, and since it takes a while to get insurance money, she needed help.

I waited a day or so to see if HR or anyone would start something for her, then did it myself.  I was SHOCKED at the reactions.

Out of all the people who worked there, 5 people contributed either money or stuff.  Five.  Out of maybe 300 employees.  Five.  Everyone else said, "She isn't my problem."

I am still so sad for them.  To be so angry and tied in knots you cannot reach out to someone you actually know who is in need has to be a terrible place to live.

I do not believe on any level that you must contribute to every worthy cause.  You hear, Oh if everyone gave a dollar, then... which is true, but there are a million worthy causes out there, not including the individuals we run into daily who need our immediate help, and most of us aren't millionaires.

It just strikes me as hard heartedness to ignore the needs of someone right in front of you.  But even more so than that, such gestures, however small, show in a real way that someone is loved, is not alone, is not forgotten. Having been the beneficiary of love in action, I know how much such thoughtfulness can mean to someone.

As St. Teresa of Calcutta said, "Stay where you are. Find your own Calcutta. Find the sick, the suffering and the lonely right there where you are -- in your own homes and in your own families, in your workplaces and in your schools. ... You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see. Everywhere, wherever you go, you find people who are unwanted, unloved, uncared for, just rejected by society -- completely forgotten, completely left alone."

Amen.