Helping Others in Need

Life is too short to only focus on what’s important to you.  As the story tells below, helping others through challenges in their life is just as, or more important.

Stopped By A Brick

About ten years ago, a young and very successful executive names Josh was traveling down a Chicago neighborhood street.  He was going a bit too fast in his sleek, black, 12-cylinder Jaguar XKE, which was only two months old.  He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something.  As his car passed, no child darted out, but a brick sailed out and – WHUMP! – it smashed into the Jag’s shiny black side door!  SCREECH…!!!!  Brakes slammed!  Gears ground into reverse, and tires madly spun the Jaguar back to the spot from where the brick had been thrown.

Josh jumped out of the car, grabbed the kid and pushed him up against a parked car.  He shouted at the kid, “What was that all about and who are you?  Just what the heck are you doing?!”  Building up a head of steam, he went on.  “That’s my new Jag, that brick you threw is gonna cost you a lot of money.  Why did you throw it?”

“Please, mister, please… I’m sorry!  I didn’t know what else to do!”  pleaded the youngster.  “I threw the brick because no one else would stop!”

Tears were dripping down the boy’s chin as he pointed around the parked car.  “It’s my brother, Mister,” he said.  “He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.”  Sobbing, the boy asked the executive, “Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair?  He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.”

Moved beyond words, the young executive tried desperately to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat.

Straining, he lifted the young man back into the wheelchair and took out his handkerchief and wiped the scrapes and cuts, checking to see that everything was going to be OK.  He then watched the younger brother push him down the sidewalk toward their home.  It was a long walk back to the sleek, black, shining, 12-cylinder Jaguar XKE – a long and slow walk.

Josh never did fix the side door of his Jaguar.  He kept the dent to remind him not to go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at him to get his attention.

-- -- What a great story!

At times in our lives, we tend to become so wrapped up in other things.  We become focused on ourselves or our job we do not realize there are others around us that need our help.

We can react in a negative way to a situation without fully realizing or taking the time to look at the other persons situation, or to take the time to find out the reason the other person has taken the action that they did.

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The moral to this story is to keep your eyes open to each situation at hand and help others when they are in need.  Helping others is an important part of life.  Being there for one another allows us to make it through challenges in our lives.

Make it a great week by helping someone in need!

Jen