Carry Those Who Need Your Help

This past week, I was blessed to learn some really valuable lessons for me. One in particular stood out for me because I have started to take action on it. One action was to carry a friend who could not move himself. I would not have thought to offer it in the past. I changed.

Thinking back, I remember a time when I was driving home from work. I lived over 50 miles from home and had to travel through heavy city and freeway traffic. As I came through a freeway interchange, I noticed a car against the right side barrier facing the wrong direction. As I passed her, I saw the look of shock on her face. The thought came to me, “Someone needs to help her.” Then the pang of guilt hit as I realized I could help her. That was when I saw the car backing up, quite a distance to go assist her.

I was not in a mindset to help those in need. I was so conditioned to thinking someone else will help that my reactions were too slow when the thought did come to me.

Consider How To Change

Yes, there are people who just don’t want to help, but I know that you aren’t one of them. The first step is to have a desire to be someone who does help. As you nurture that mindset, look for opportunities to serve. They will start appearing. Each opportunity helps you to see new opportunities.

For years, helping with cleanup or setup of events I attend was natural. Perhaps working with the inanimate objects was just easier. Reaching out to others with needs was not my forté, so I tried harder. What changed for me? Chad Hymas.

Chad is an inductee in the Speaker Hall of Fame. He is a husband, father, and a quadriplegic. Stopping because it is too hard is no longer in his vocabulary, and he made me feel really small last week. He then built me back up. His intention was never to make me feel small, he intended to set me free, and he did. I immediately saw how I can make a difference, and I started doing it.

Find your way of making a difference. See the possibilities and don’t pull back, even when it seems weird. That discomfort is your growth zone and needs to be felt to accomplish the change you want.

Who Has Helped You?

Consider who has helped you and think about what they did. What was it that makes you remember them? I think from time to time about others who helped my family. The Russians shot my grandfather in the chest at the end of World War II. Orders were given to the doctors in the field hospital who saved his life to evacuate so they would not be captured by the Russians, but they opted to stay with their patients and risk their own lives.

When forced to march west to the British lines, the Russians had no need of wounded German slave labor, my grandfather fainted by the side of the road. He thought this was his last as a Russian soldier approached him. Instead of shooting him, he offered his canteen and motioned him on down the road. I wouldn’t be here except for those men.

Someone had to carry my Great Uncle Earl off the beaches of Guadalcanal after receiving wounds when he lost his entire gun crew. Some Corpsman saved his life.

While in the third grade, I moved from southern California to the far north of the state. I felt awkward and out of place. My third grade teacher took me under his wing and taught me to play chess during lunches. That made a huge difference in my life. Bob Hays is truly a friend to me. Though he can hardly hear or see today, I still count him as a close friend.

Choose To Carry And Lift Others

In our world today, people tend to only see the ills of life. You can help change that pattern. Lift others. Give a hand to those who lack their own. Lend your strength when someone is too weak. You may find your purpose in life just through offering service to others. Service open the mind and heart to see and conceive of things that you may not otherwise consider. Then start acting on that mission. If you start asking why, take a look at Why Me?