(NaturalNews) There's a lot of talk in the world these days about how to help people. Should we reform health care? Bail out the banks? Grow the government's social programs?
While each of those may have merit, the real, on-the-street local answers are simpler than you think. Helping people only requires four simple steps, and when I recently found myself in Ecuador, driving by a shack on the side of the road where a barefoot woman lived alongside chickens and construction noise, I felt compelled to step in and apply these four simple rules.
Helping people require personal action, not passive observation
Although I was in
Ecuador at the time this was taken, the principles apply everywhere. Too many of us Americans sit in our heated or air-conditioned homes, eating processed
food, watching cable television from cushy sofas, looking at each other with inquisitive frowns and saying, "Gee, I sure wish there were a way we could help those poor people..."
Well, there IS a way! It's easier than you think, but it does require you to get your butt off that couch, step out into the real world, get your hands dirty, lay out a bit of
cash for your fellow human beings and just get the job done bringing people some aid: Food, medical supplies, a mattress, clothing, shoes or even just a hug and a handshake.
By posting this
video, I simply want to demonstrate that helping others is ridiculously easy, and it doesn't require Big Government; it only requires the citizenry being willing to extend some degree of
compassion towards fellow human beings and to do what's needed in that moment.
You can do this too! Find someone in need, ask what they need, go get it, give it to them, and
repeat the process (but don't give 'em soda or booze, or even cash for booze, bring them real physical stuff they need). It's the simplest thing in the world, and you don't have to be rich, or famous, or part of any organized non-profit institution to make this happen. You can just do it person to person, soul to soul, anywhere in the world.
What are you waiting for? The opportunity to do some good in the world is awaiting you right now, in the hearts of those who need your help. You can find them in any city, in any nation, anywhere in the world.
This video, and this message, goes out to all the volunteers in our world who help others out of the goodness of their hearts, including the organizers at:
Volunteers for Peace (
http://www.vfp.org/about.html)
Peace Corps (
http://www.peacecorps.gov)
United Planet (
http://www.unitedplanet.org)
SCI (
http://www.sci-ivs.org)
The Salvation Army (
http://www.salvationarmy.org)
Goodwill (
http://www.goodwill.org)
Tsu Chi Foundation (
http://www.tzuchi.org) (Buddhist Compassion Relief)
... and many other non-profits focused on the concept of helping real people while keeping administrative overhead to a minimum.
If organized volunteering doesn't suit you, just walk out your front door and see where your feet take you!
"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step on to the road and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." - Bilbo Baggins,
Fellowship of the Rings
Have comments on this article? Post them here:
people have commented on this article.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Email this article to a friend
Share this article on: 
Now Available from 
