Sean's Picks

The Foundation Stones of Character

Because we have been given much, we too should give. It should come as no surprise that when you give, you get.

Jose from Andress High School wrote about a time when he was challenged by a teacher to help the homeless.

I went out and bought a couple things from McDonald’s and went driving around with my friend and we found a homeless man on the streets. So I got out and walked over and offered him the food. He was so grateful. I sat and talked to him for a while and then I left. It made me feel good just knowing that the man was not hungry before he went to bed that night.

This reminds me of this saying I once heard: “Service is like wetting your pants. Everyone can see what you’ve done, but only you can feel the warmth!” The great thing about serving and volunteering is there are limitless ways to do it: adopting a pet, being a Big Brother or Sister to at-risk kids, tutoring at an inner city school, reading to kids in a hospital, supporting the veterans, joining a service club, speaking out against drugs, or just going out of your way to be nice to those who need it. You get the picture.

The irony is that when you try to build someone else’s self-worth, you build your own.

My niece Shannon learned this firsthand when she left her comfortable home as a young adult to volunteer at an orphanage in Romania for several months. Here’s an excerpt from one of her letters:

When we went to the orphanage for the first time, I experienced true culture shock. I walked in the room and saw all the babies lying in their cribs, staring off into space. There were some that were three to a crib. It was very difficult to see beautiful babies just wasting away in their cribs, and I wanted to hold every one of them and never let them go.

I remember the first time a special baby named Denisa fell asleep in my arms. I didn’t want to put her down because I knew this may have been the first time she had fallen asleep in someone’s arms instead of alone in her cold, hard, metal crib. As I watched her sleep, I could feel the beauty of her spirit, and I realized then that God knew and loved Denisa as I did.

Another time I was putting a few two-year-olds to bed and was holding two of them, but another one was crying and wanted to be held. I couldn’t hold three, so I scooted my chair over by his crib so I could comfort him too. I started singing “Edelweiss,” a song my dad used to sing to me when I was little. Almost immediately he stopped crying and listened to my singing which really wasn’t very good, and a beautiful spirit came into that orphanage room in far-off Romania, so far from my home.

I came to love these children who would put their arms out to be held and run to me, calling me mama. Everyday, I prayed that they would someday have a better life than they do now. How grateful I was that I had left my selfish life for a few short months to bring them mere moments of contentment and love. I can never repay them for what they gave me and how they changed my life forever.