Youths Give Back to the Community

We often hear news about kids today who are selfish, or who get into trouble. But I remember one kid in our community who seemed mature & responsible for her age. When she finally graduated from college, she chose to work as a youth minister in our church. Others thought she wasted her education because the job didn't pay much. She could be making more money elsewhere. But she believed that servicing others & giving back to the community was more important than making money. Also, dealing with kids is not an easy job, but she believed it was worth the sacrifice. This inspired other kids to do the same. One kid became a sheriff's deputy because he wanted to do something about the crime problem in the neighborhood. I guess there is hope for kids after all. And I hope parents out there will encourage their kids to do the same - to serve others.

Extraordinary Compassion

When we hear the word compassion, we normally associate it with feelings of pity for the less fortunate. We don't often associate this feeling with people who may anger us in any way. But one day, I heard the news that my co-worker's son was murdered by another man. Of course, her grief would have been unimaginable. Any mother would feel the same way. But what surprised me was when she felt compassion for the murderer's mother. She was imagining what the other mother was going through. She asked herself "was the other mother wondering where she went wrong in raising her kid", or "was the other mother fearful that her son may be executed for this murder". While she had every right to feel angry, she did not. It made me feel a bit ashamed of myself for being angry at others for less serious matters. Perhaps we all could be more compassionate, and less angry, towards those who annoy us in our daily lives.

More Important than Profit

My uncle owned a small business and one day he showed me around the premises. I asked him how the business was doing. He said he was just breaking even. So I asked him why does he keep the business running if he's not making a profit. He pointed to all his employees and asked me "if I shut down the business, how will these people pay the rent and send their kids to school?" I started to wonder "what if all businesses did the same thing?". What would the world be like if all employers shared the same vision as my uncle? Perhaps one way to make the world a better place would be for companies to start thinking about how to benefit society rather than simply how to make a profit.

Joy in Adversity

Most of us have difficulty experiencing joy especially when faced with problems. I'm no exception. But a few years ago, I ran into an old classmate from 20 years ago. She immediately recognized me, but I couldn't recognize her. She walked with a cane and looked frail and old. It turns out she had multiple and rare incurable illnesses. One of them looked similar to leprosy, since she had lost some of her fingers already. Though I felt sorry for her, I was stunned by her joyfulness. She was not depressed nor sorry for herself. And her joy was sincere. She even tried to cheer me up. I wondered to myself that day, since our problems pale by comparison to hers, what reason do we have to despair? We could learn a lot about the true meaning of joy from her example.

Suicide vs. the Value of Life

I came across an article on the Internet where a self-proclaimed philosopher believed that suicide was the ultimate expression of freedom because one had control over one's life and death. Since there had been several incidents in this country where a person, who was suicidal, had killed other people before killing themselves, I wanted to pose a question to everyone, especially those who adhere to the aforementioned philosophy. If people don't value their own lives, why would they value the lives of others?