Walking4Air

One of these videos I posted on Facebook over the weekend was such a hit that I had to share it with my blog followers too. I’ve written about a homeless man and his dog before (Compassion is Not Only for the Rich) and watching this video opens up so many emotions again.

In everyday life we are confronted by people begging, scratching in bins for food, sleeping in a shop doorway with a newspaper pulled over them for warmth. When I am faced with these people ravenous to survive, I wonder what lead them to that very moment that finds them bent over a dustbin digging for scraps of food or standing at the traffic light with a tin hoping someone will spare some change for them.

I guess it doesn’t really matter what brought them to that stage, what decision they made or what road they chose, but what really matters is that we remember that these homeless people are human too. Somewhere out there they may have families too and once, they too belonged to society. But as they become dirty and scruffy looking and doing what they can to survive, humanity tends to turn their back on them because they no longer fit into the box of what we think they should be.

This video is a beautiful reminder that by stopping to notice someone as a fellow human being, no matter who they are or what they look like, and by  remembering that they too have feelings, dreams and hopes we can begin to shower this world with more love and compassion. We can change lives simply by caring enough to see a little deeper that the outside shell.

It really does start with simply noticing another. Taking a moment to do something for someone else with no reward other than you have done something good for someone else in need. This video below also came across my path last weekend and it wraps up exactly what you can get by simply giving.

How slight a nod it would take

How bare a smile

To give everyone you meet today

A sense of worth.

By giving you receive so much more than you could ever imagine.

It truly is the gift that keeps giving.