Sometimes I wonder what it is about people that make them so uninterested in helping, even in the smallest way.  I remember watching the news a few months ago, where there was a story about a motorcyclist who ran into the back of a semi truck at a stop light.  I don't  know exactly what happened, but from the looks on the news, the truck stopped then immediately started moving again at a stoplight, the motorcyclist hit him and fell off his bike (if I remember correctly, he died on impact in the middle of the road).  Cars didn't even slow down for the motorcyclist, they just went around him.  Nobody stopped to see if he was alright, which he wasn't cuz he was dead.  I was horrified to watch this happen.  As one who always stops at an accident scene if the paramedics or police haven't yet arrived, I just cannot understand how so many people can simply drive by an accident where it is likely that there have been injuries.

What ever happened to compassion?  Which goes back to my question, what is it about people that make them so uninterested in helping?

Is it something scary?  Will the boogeyman get those who help in the middle of the night?  Or maybe it simply takes way too much time out of our way too busy schedules.  That would make sense seeing as it seems to me that it is so much easier to keep oneself busy that to actually live and enjoy life?but still, it never hurts to help?and it does hurt to be too busy.

By M.L.

Last month the whole world was witness to a jungle of open air concerts by some of the most famous and most popular singers, musicians and performers to be found today.

The purpose, evidently, was to bring the problem of global warming to the forefront as the world's greatest dilemma today.  But what did all these concerts actually attain? 

They offered delightful entertainment for an awful lot of people.  They were heavily attended and much appreciated by crowds and crowds of people.  But did the governments of the supposedly "enlightened" countries pay any attention?  As a result of these concerts did anyone decide not to buy a Hummer, or, perhaps to trade in a Hummer for a more economical fueled car? Did any of the governments of the industrial countries decide that they would expend more money on research and production of alternate fuels?  Did any of them pass laws and enforce them to lower greenhouse gas production?

I watched some of these concerts on television.  I thought about the huge amounts of money put out by all these performers for global entertainment.  And, despite all the hype and publicity, despite Al Gore's passionate address to the world, I came away with the feeling that it was a futile and extremely wasteful attempt to help the world. 

In my opinion, a free showing, world-wide, on huge, giant screens of Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" would have been far more effective.

The other day I did something totally crazy.  I told my secret.  The one I had been carrying around like baggage for 12 years.  It was the hardest thing I think I have ever done.

How did this come about?  Two days pervious, my husband, during a casual conversation, asked me if I had any lies that he would be surprised to find out about.  He asked it in a very joking fashion, and when I shut up and contemplated, I think he was very surprised.  Finally I told him that I have one secret, but I will take it to my grave.  He didn't prod?he trusts me.

The Pandora's box of memories of my life opened, but all I could remember were bad memories.  I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that something that I had buried so many years ago was back.  I felt that I just needed to tell him.  I needed to get it off of my chest after so many years. 

I was scared out of my mind, finally letting my secret out, and it took me two days to get up the nerve.  For the hour before he came home, I was trying every tool I had to calm myself and my heart down.   As soon as he walked in the door, so as not to lose the courage that I didn't feel I had, I told him, before hello, that I needed to tell him my secret.

We sat down, and I mustered everything I had to be able to tell him.  After a few minutes, I forced myself to blurt it out.  He wasn't angry, he wasn't even upset.  He didn't actually think it was such a big deal (except, of course, that it had been sitting on me for years), this being what I considered the worst thing I had ever, ever done.

About an hour later, I realized that my entire body (legs, bum, back, arms, neck - everything) was sore.  Twelve years of pressure had just been taken off me, and my body could finally relax.  I was starting a clean slate, no more secrets.

Sometimes we think our actions have been so terrible that they are unforgivable.  Maybe there are unforgivable actions, but maybe, just maybe, what we feel to be so bad, so repulsive, in mostly in our own minds, and maybe it will upset the person you tell.  But once you escape those shackles...you are completely free - and freedom is the best feeling in the world, just ask any person who is not free. 

I am a strong believer in signs, and the following story is one that makes the point that I continually try to make.  A small gesture can make a world of difference.

This is a story that I have taken from Paulo Coelho's book, Maktub.

'A woman friend had gone out with the exact amount of money she needed to take her son to the movies.  The boy was excited, and every minute asked his mother how long it would take to get there.  When she stopped at a traffic light, she saw a beggar seated on the sidewalk.  "Give all of the money you have to him," She heard a voice say.

The woman argued with the voice.  She had promised to take her son to the movies. "I can give him half and my son can go in alone while I wait outside," she said.  But the voice didn't want to discuss it.  "Give it all!"  She had no time explain it all to the boy.  She stopped the car and held out all the money she had to the beggar.  "God exists, and you have proved it to me," the beggar said.  "Today is my birthday.  I was sad and ashamed to be begging.  So, I decided not to beg: if God exists, he will give me a present."'

Maybe this is a true story from Paulo's own experiences, maybe not; but the fact of the matter is that this kind of thing happens every day, in every country, in every corner of the world.  One small gesture from one to another can literally "rock their world"!