Lately it seems like the world is falling apart. Whenever tragedy strikes, it’s hard to figure out exactly what you are supposed to do. Should you donate your entire life savings to the cause that’s going to help the people the tragedy affected? Should you read up on everything and tell yourself it’s enough to just be informed? Should you ignore it all because it’s sad and doesn’t make you feel good? Personally, I am always conflicted when these things happen. I think one of the worst things to feel when these things happen is the feeling of helplessness. I’m sure if we were all billionaires we would generously provide monetary assistance to as many charities as we could. Unfortunately, most of us are not billionaires. It is very easy to feel like you cannot help if you cannot help in a massive way in which your progress can be tracked and you can get an exact number back of how many families you helped.
There’s a Bible story I remember hearing about a town that was full of thieves but had one good person living there. People wanted the town to be destroyed to get rid of all the bad people, who greatly outnumbered the one good soul. God ended up sparing the whole town, because even if there was one good person amongst the others, it was worth it. Regardless of whether you are religious or not, I think that this is a good story to remember when it feels like everyone in the world has gone mad. When things happen and you want to help but you have no money to spare, you live a million miles away from the problem, and there have been too many tragedies to count and you can’t decide what to focus on, try being that one good person that gets the town saved.
Little things really do help. You’re not going to get a lot of recognition for it and you’re not going to see how the things that you do affect others, but they do. Because maybe you smiling at a stranger for no reason is going to make them have some more hope in the world. Help people out just so their day is a little easier and a little less stressful. The next time something you find super annoying happens, just let it go instead of complaining about it all day. Ask people how they are doing and mean it. When people make your day a little better or when you see another good person, the person who’s going to get their town saved, make sure to tell them that you appreciate them, and that you’re going to save your town.
