In my previous post I mentioned the current refugee crises and gave some ideas on helping. Unless you can volunteer for a relief agency, get on a plane, and travel to one of the countries being flooded with those fleeing you won't have a lot of choices in ways to help. But funds are desperately needed. This is a checkbook type pf help, for most of us. So if that's a passion for you, scroll down for some ideas. I checked and the links provided for donating do work.
I have never claimed to be a writer, although my blog class instructor told us when we finished our class that we were now "published authors". Therefore, when I hear something worth sharing that fits my mission here, I might borrow it and credit the author. There are millions of much better "authors" than I.
Today in church a traditional Indian folktale was told that translates to any language, religious belief or will resonate with nonbelievers. Online I found it had been retold by a British storyteller, Peter Chand, as well as in the version below, by author Mark Nepo.
Matthew 6 tells us not to worry about our life, what we will eat or drink, or what we will wear. The young man in this story seemed to have been taught this, as well the philosophy of paying it forward.
The Boy and the Drum
(as told by Mark Nepo in "Finding Inner Courage")
There is an old Hindu story In it, there is a boy who wants a drum, but his mother can’t afford a drum, and so, sadly, she gives him a stick.
Though he doesn’t know what to do with it, he shuffles home and begins to play with the stick. Just then he encounters an old woman trying to light her woodstove. The boy freely gives her the stick.
She lights her fire, makes some bread, and in return she gives him half a loaf of bread. Walking on, the boy comes upon a potter’s wife whose child is crying from hunger. The boy freely gives her the bread.
In gratitude, she gives him a pot. Though he doesn’t know what to do with it, he carries it along the river, where he sees a washerman and his wife quarreling because the wife broke their one pot. The boy gives them the pot.
In return, they give him a coat. Since the boy isn’t cold, he carries the coat until he comes to a bridge, where a man is shivering. Riding to town on a horse, the man was attacked and robbed of everything but his horse. The boy freely gives him the coat.
Humbled, the man gives him his horse. Not knowing how to ride, the boy walks the horse into the town, where he meets a wedding party with musicians. The bridegroom and his family are all sitting under a tree with long faces. According to custom, the bridegroom is to enter the procession on a horse, which hasn’t shown up. The boy freely gives him the horse.
Relieved, the bridegroom asks what he can do for the boy. Seeing the drummer surrounded by all his drums, the boy asks for the smallest drum, which the musician gladly gives him.
I really liked the movie "Pay It Forward", mainly because of the catch-phrase that resulted. Sometimes what we do for others is a pay-it-forward type of act, but we don't think of it that way, or mention to the recipient of the gift of time or treasure that they should also pay it forward. Wouldn't it be a better world if we trusted, as in Matthew 6, shared our gifts, and in turn, asked that they pay the goodness forward to someone else in need?
