Should I Leave It To Others Or Try to Help?

Should I Leave It To Others or Try to Help?

I remember once, when my husband and I were about to extend ourselves for someone with a criminal record, a person in our life cautioned us.

“Maybe you should let someone else do that.”

But the problem with that mentality is obvious, right?

Whenever life is messy or imperfect, every one of us could far too easily let ourselves off the hook by just deferring toall those other people.

But the reality, of course, is the world is full of suffering. That our history and our present are marked by oppression, need and violence. If we let ourselves choose neutrality in response, there won’t be enough “other people” to go around.

When this well-meaning voice in my life raised this concern, I was still young and bold (yes, even younger and even bolder than I am now).

And, in one of my rare moments of life clarity, I looked them right between the eyes like a bullet and said, “I think I am one of those other people.”

We helped that person. It wasn’t always easy, but I was never, ever–not even for a second–sorry we extended ourselves like we did.

I might be a *little* wiser and a little more balanced now, but I’m still committed to being one of those other people.

Are you? Or do you want to be? What holds you back?