If I can Help Somebody

Photo by Rachel

‘If I can help somebody as I pass along then my living shall not be in vain’ are the lines of the old song. 

In our busy lives we can become very focused on ourselves and our own needs.  We might not notice that everyone we meet in our daily lives has needs too.   People are worried, stressed, overwhelmed.   

Lending a helping hand doesn’t have to be a big deal.   It can be as simple as smiling at a child, saying ‘thank you’ to the girl at the checkout who’s just dealt with a stressed-out mammy, or popping a text to friend we haven’t see in a while.   Someone giving us a bunch of daffodils can give us such a lift.   We really feel it when someone actually really looks at us, acknowledges us, and says ‘Hi’ as they pass us by on the street. 

An older gentleman believed in always letting one car out of a side road and he believed that if everyone did this the traffic would start to move along swiftly again.  That simple kind act could change someone’s day.   That gentleman always used to visit lonely patients in hospital at the weekends.   A teacher of mysticism always taught with the same energy and respect whether the room was packed or only had a few students.  In helping others, we feel good ourselves. 

And there’s that whole thing about ‘not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing’; in other words, doing a kind act is best done quietly without saying that we’ve done it or bragging about it in any way.   

Planet Earth is an enclosed planet, the air we breathe out, someone else is breathing in and it has always been so.   We are still breathing the same air as those who walked the planet thousands of years ago.  And so, it is with kindness, it tends to be the case that if we are kind to others, they are kind to us, though this is not a reason to help someone.   The only reason to help someone is because it feels like the right thing to do in that moment.   And there is the joy of giving, giving or helping purely because it feels such a good thing to do.   And in his famous prayer, St. Francis of Assisi says, ‘it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning we are pardoned’.

So, in the words of the old song, ‘if I can help somebody as I pass along, If I can cheer somebody with a word or song, then my living shall not be in vain’.   It’s a new day, a day to look out for helping someone as they pass along, you’ll be glad you did.