This is Saeed Malik, a Pakistani expat. Upon returning to his old home in Islamabad, he was greatly displeased at the quality of education that was available. And so he bought a van, filled it with books, and drove it around as a library on wheels.

There are multiple layers to any story like this. The most obvious is the benefit Mr. Malik had in mind, and delivered. A less obvious one was his work and intelligence that was applied in business, day after day and year after year: Without that long-term effort and determination, he wouldn’t have been able to bless the younger generation of his home town.

Production and wealth are good, noble and valuable things… they are essential. Certainly there are abusive businessmen, but there are ugly players in all areas of life, and very definitely among professional do-gooders. Business needs to be profitable, for reasons like this. Without a profitable business, Mr Malik could not have provided this help.

* * * * *

So, before returning to the mundane, consider this story, and think about how it could, and perhaps should, parallel things in your own life: past, present or future.

As a road was being built, three boys clustered around, watching the work. Rather than ignoring them, one of the workers got off his machine, got vests for the boys, had them sit down, and explained to them what he and his friends were doing, in detail.

Small things like this – ten or fifteen minutes taken out of a day – make profound impacts.

At the most obvious level, the boys learned a good deal about roadwork. A level deeper, they were given a visceral understanding of adult work: how the men relied upon one another, trusted one another, cooperated with one another and shared their lives. It almost certainly became a complex image they would carry with them for a long, long time.

Below even that, they understood that they mattered… that a grown man valued them.

* * * * *

So now, before going back to the mundane, consider how you could do something like this: To recognize and respond to curiosity with knowledge and with visceral understanding… to demonstrate to some curious child that they matter.

Jahmal Cole has taken it upon himself to maintain his neighborhood and to help the people in it. As snow piled up in that neighborhood, he realized that a large number of elderly people were unable to shovel it away. And so he put out a request for volunteers to bring their shovels on a Saturday morning.

He asked for 10 volunteers; 65 showed up, some of them traveling a significant distance.

Here again we see the inherent decency of people, once they see a clear opportunity to do something good… to pull goodness out of themselves, rather than merely reacting to the prodding of guilt. And our race does have goodness inside of it… nearly all of us do.

* * * * *

Now, before going back to the mundane, please remember some good thing you did: some benevolent  act you undertook because you wanted to, and not because someone pushed you into it. Try to recover the feelings you had, and spend a moment with the fact that without being forced, you genuinely enjoyed creating benefit in the world.

Parenting has become a grossly under-appreciated vocation in the modern West. In fact, it is incented against in multiple ways. The note you see here was left by experienced parents who understood this, and who sympathized with a set of young parents.

Young parents both deserve and need a lot more help than they’ve generally been getting. The simple act of paying for a meal would help them financially (most young parents live on the edge, financially), and it would encourage them a great deal. Just seeing that others value their efforts can help a lot.

* * * * *

Before returning to the mundane, think of the young parents in your life, or young parents you’ve noticed along your way. What simple things might you do to help them and/or encourage them? Whatever good you can do is likely to help not only them, but the next generation, as it grows up in their home.

This is a Waffle House in Alabama. On this night they were short-staffed and couldn’t keep up. And so this customer simply got up and started washing dishes.

Human life is complicated, and all of us could use some help from time to time. This man understood that and jumped in where it was needed, and where he was able. Without a doubt he went home feeling like he had injected some benevolence into the world. And certainly he had.

And almost certainly those who saw him were brightened by it.

* * * * *

So, make up your mind that you’ll take advantage of opportunities like the one shown here. Sometimes you’ll be able to, and sometimes you won’t, but try not to let such a possibility pass you by. You’ll benefit from it, and many others will as well.

This is another little act that matters a great deal. But beyond the exterior facts (holding an umbrella for someone who isn’t able to), this speaks to a reverence for, and appreciation of, human life itself.

Beyond the conclusions of almost every serious moral teacher that we are far more than mere “meat machines,” humans are very definitely creative beings by nature. We alone, among all known creatures, can create at will. We can decide to create, and can do so with no apparent limit. That means that every functional human is of seemingly infinite and certainly unlimited value.

* * * * *

Now before entering back into the mundane, consider the unknown and unlimited value of your fellow humans. We don’t know how good we can be or how far we can rise. Regardless of their previous errors, our fellow humans are treasures to be assisted… to be unfolded.

The barber in this photo offers a two dollar discount on haircuts to boys, if they will read to him while they’re getting their hair cut. To him, improving the literacy of children is worth abandoning a bit of money.

Almost any of us can find some way to improve life… to improve the world and it’s future. And the truth is that most people would both enjoy doing it, and remain proud of it for the rest of their life. The primary obstacle is that people are overcome with the seas of negativity that flow through this world and never recognize their opportunities.

* * * * *

So now, before going back to the mundane, turn away from the world’s demands, and focus rather on what’s inside of you. The great psychologist Carl Jung used to say that people had no belief that anything good could grow out of their own souls. But that’s precisely where good things root and grow. Please take a minute to believe this is true for you.

While seated for a long bus ride, this woman – obviously a seamstress of some description – decided to use the skills she had, and fixed the torn seat in front of her. She didn’t do this because she worked for the bus company, but because of her own, internal desire to repair what she could.

Little actions like these go much, much farther than it may appear. By them, such people sow not just improvement into the world, but decency, kindness, and a deep belief that we are able to improve the world.

People who believe themselves able to improve the world, generally do so. Those who do not, whither.

* * * * *

Please, before going back to the mundane, consider the small ways you are able to improve something. Then imagine the situations where you might do so. Spend some time on this.

It’s little things that save the world and make it livable; things like a strip of tape that someone went out of their way to paste on a raised piece of sidewalk. It’s a little thing, but important.

First, and obviously, it likely prevented someone from being hurt. But secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it showed every passer-by – probably hundreds of them – that someone cared. These are not trivial things: They are little images of decency and benevolence that will live in the minds of the people who saw this… and will ripple throughout time.

Eric Hoffer, famous years ago as a “longshoreman philosopher,” used to say that he judged the quality of a society by how well they maintained their infrastructure. That’s an interesting metric, and by it, whoever placed this tape passes as a force for good in the world.

* * * * *

Now, before you head out into the mundane, please decide that you’ll recognize small opportunities to do good, and will grasp them. All too often our mental inertia pulls us past such opportunities, but if you’ve decided in advance to take them, you’ll probably be able to cut through your inertia.

This elderly gentleman is making a card for his wife, which illustrates something written by the great historian, Will Durant:

The love we have in our youth is superficial compared to the love that and old man has for his old wife. 

Or, as Oliver Wendell Homes, Sr. once wrote:

Don’t ever think that poetry is dead in an old man because his forehead is wrinkled, or that his manhood has left him because his hand trembles. If every they were there, they are there still. 

* * * * *

Before re-entering the mundane, consider this image and these quotes; then try to see old people in a new light; Their bodies may have changed, but what’s inside them may be far more interesting, far more potent and surprising, than you’ve imagined. They are worth knowing well.