It is easy to get overwhelmed by all the people and all the movements and all the causes that ask for and need our help. Don’t get jaded. Apathy is your enemy, remember? Care, and care deeply for others. Choose your cause and get active. I definitely follow the philosophy that most often, the helping hand we need is at the end of our own arms. However, this does not mean we don’t sometimes need a push.
Help others who want to help themselves and/or who cannot physically help themselves. If you are busy helping others that have no desire to help themselves, it might make you feel better at the end of the day, but in the big picture of life, not much of a difference is being made. I will leave you to interpret when helping others is truly helping others or is actually enabling others. For example, you will rarely see me give money to the person on the street corner with a sign that says, Will Work For Food. Talk to those guys sometime. In most cases, they really won’t work for food, or even work for money. In most cases, they are already working for money by standing on that corner asking for handouts, and you just entered their storefront. You are now the customer. Even the Bible says that if you don’t work, you don’t eat. Check out some of our interviews with the homeless at www.Elevate Book.com/Bonus
Remember, we all need help at times. Help people who cannot help themselves and help people who are willing to help themselves. Who can you help today? Have you heard the story about the starfish on the beach?
A grandfather was walking with his grandson early one morning and thousands of starfish were swept up on the shore from the high tide earlier that morning. The grandson began to pick up as many starfish as he could and throw them back into the ocean. The grandfather chuckled and said, “Do you really think you are going to make a difference? There are thousands of them! You will never be able to save them all!” The grandson picked up another one, showed his grandfather and threw it into the ocean. The grandson said, “I may not be able to help all of these starfish, but I sure made a difference to that one.”