Standing Together

There are so many among us who need help - an extra hand or a smile or a caring touch or the healing that we can offer each other in so many ways. And there is a notion going around that we shouldn't need this, that we should be able to stand on our own and overcome whatever faces us with the sheer will and strength of our own resources.

But we are not made to stand alone. The saying that we come into this world alone and leave it alone simply isn't true. None of us gets here alone, and none of us makes it if alone is all we have. For so many of us, the greatest meaning in our lives comes from the moments where we connect to help others or let ourselves be helped.

The generosity and humanity required to live openly and lovingly and kindly is what we all need. It is what we most need to receive, and what we most need to give. And it's this big, messy, endless cycle, and it just feels better and works better to be in the middle of it than standing off to the side, too scared to receive, and too shut-off to give, substituting judgement and condemnation for caring and compassion.

Even those who have the fiscal equation all figured out, what it costs to help and care and how else we could spend that money, still need to give and receive at the level not of their wallet, but their heart and their humanity.