Moving Forward – A 1000Speak Postlude

March 2, 2015 Off By Lisa

So here we are, more than a week later.

A great many of us have been riding the wave of good feeling that has come from the 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion project and it has been a wild ride indeed.

1000 VoicesI have read dozens and dozens of posts by so many wonderful people and believe me, I have many more to go. The stories and the writers are diverse. Words spring from the pages and the hearts of these writers telling of experiences that will make you laugh and cry. They will make you feel glad and sad and angry and every other emotion you can name. The emotions, causes, losses, and motivations behind the tales of compassion are vastly different. No two are alike.

But there is a common sentiment in them: compassion begins with us. 

No matter what the story, the bottom line is that we must first be kind and compassionate with ourselves. After that, we must look to the person standing next to us who needs our care and our concern. Some efforts may be more grand in scale. But what I found over and over again was that most people celebrated the power and value of showing compassion in the smallest of ways.

I received a text message other night – a wrong number. A woman texted her nephew saying that she hoped he knew why everyone was upset with someone I suppose was another member of the family. I had to let her know she was in the wrong place. But I wondered…what if I do just one more thing? After she said she was sorry and thanked me, I texted her back again and said that I hoped everything worked out alright.

That felt awesome.

I have no idea who she was or what the problem was on her end. But somehow I thought that little bit might make her feel somewhat more at ease. Maybe it didn’t. It doesn’t matter.

I wanted to do something that mattered for the homeless man we saw standing on the side of the road in the cold as the snow fell. I was in the passenger seat and could have handed him whatever I had in my wallet. But my wallet was empty this morning. I did all that I could in that particular moment – I prayed. I prayed that he would find a way to stay warm and that someone else would have the means to care for him as that icy cold snow fell.

Still, I felt like I hadn’t done enough and it bothered me for most of the day.

But maybe the fact that I gave a little girl my cardigan to wear to cross the street for our reception after Mass this morning was enough. It doesn’t have to be the grand, obvious gesture. It doesn’t have to be the thing that will make people notice and say “wow, what a great thing you did.”

In fact, maybe it should be the thing that most people won’t see. Maybe taking care of that person no one noticed is the way to go. Maybe listening to that person who feels no one understands is the most important thing. No one of us can help every single person that we want to at every moment that an opportunity presents itself. But we do what we can. And we try to see a need immediately. Most important, we must remember to start small.

Love yourself. Show true compassion for yourself as a beautiful and wonderful creation of God. Next, take care of those closest to you; they deserve your best. Then, let the circle widen. It only takes one small stone dropped into a pool of water to create great waves at the water’s edge.

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1000Speak Map1000Speak started with an understanding that even though we might get older, we still all need the metaphorical village around us, and the compassion of others in our lives. Then the sudden thought happened – what if 1000 of us wrote about compassion all at once? From there, the movement has taken on its own life; has burgeoned and grown and spread a whole lot of love and connection and ‘villageyness’.

On February 20, 2015, United Nations World Day of Social Justice, one thousand bloggers from all over the world joined their voices to speak through their blogs about compassion. I am honored to be part of the 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion project as we move forward to continue our quest to bring more compassion to the world. 

Visit this link-up to access the posts from all the wonderful and talented bloggers who participated on February 20th. 

Spread the love using the hashtag #1000Speak

Join the 1000 Voices Speak for Compassion group on Facebook.

And join us as we move forward on March 20th and beyond.

Together we’re stronger.