One of the many meaningful quotations attributed to Mahatma Gandhi is “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” Gandhi’s words are a reminder that each one of us can make a difference, can do our part in making this a better world.
I was reading an article recently about a woman who started a website asking people to list what they had done recently to help someone. The woman had the idea for her website because she had been the recipient of help after a very sad thing happened: her husband died of a heart attack when he was only 38 years old. She lost her husband, and their two young daughters lost their father. The woman was touched by the outpouring of help she received. People brought her and her daughters meals, offered to care for her daughters when she needed to run errands, helped with yard work, and in other ways lightened her burdens as she was grieving the loss of her husband.
Soon after starting her website, the woman began hearing from many people telling about what they had done to help others. The website has not only become a forum where people may share what they have done, it’s also a place where people can get ideas of what they can consider doing to assist someone. Seemingly small acts of kindness can make such a difference to the persons receiving them.
Another aspect of the article that meant a lot to me was how the woman was able to take an incredibly sad occurrence and use it as the basis for something good.