A middle school started a father-son breakfast program, but some of the boys had no father, and others had a father who couldn’t show up. So they asked for 50 volunteer dads.

600 men, of all types, showed up.

Our world is full of men who want to be good; who are looking for an opportunity to do good.

* * * * *

Now, please do one more uplifting thing before you go back to the mundane. Here, just to help, are a few ideas:

• If you’ve had experiences of this type, spend a few minutes reliving them.
• Think about sitting in that auditorium and talking with the men who showed up.
• Think about someone who stepped into your life and contributed.

They call this man Bagel Jesus. He takes old bagels from the place he works and gives them out to hungry people on his way home… and he does it regularly.

Active and productive people have far more abilities at their fingertips than they tend to realize. We’re usually so busy that we don’t notice, but the abilities are there.

There may be times when we simply cannot expend more time and energy, and that’s okay too; as the famous line goes, to every thing there is a season. 

But when we can, it behooves us to be like Bagel Jesus.

* * * * *

So, before going back to the mundane, see if there’s something you can do for someone in difficulty. Large or small does not matter: Even a sincere and friendly smile can help a great deal. What matters is that we do such things… any such things.

This math professor and his students were locked out of their classroom because of some kind of protest. On top of that, it was raining. Nonetheless, the professor took his class behind the building and taught them, writing with chalk on a wall… ignoring the rain.

People who believe in what they’re doing… people who believe they are drawing some good thing out of themselves… step over and around impediments. They do the hard things, no matter that they’re hard and even because they are hard.

* * * * *

So, before going back to the mundane, remember a time when you did something that was hard, because you believed in it. Or, imagine such an event: Go through it slowly and precisely, considering the process of choosing and the euphoria of doing.

This photo is an obvious one: The young man is praying for a homeless person, sleeping on a sidewalk. It was an act of compassion.

All sorts of complaints about praying have been made (including a Bible passage about loving not just in word, but in deed), but whether or not this act changed things for the homeless man, they did for the young man who was praying: He was engaging his compassion, he was doing his very best to reach out and convey some sort of benevolence to a suffering human being. These are not vain actions; they do have effects.

* * * * *

Consider, before returning to the mundane, that all sincere acts of compassion are to be welcomed. So, please try to feel compassion yourself: pick a target and spread your intentions. Actions may be be  more effective that intentions, but actions also begin with intentions.

For more than twelve years, this gentleman has gone to a local hospital, twice a week, to hold, comfort and love babies in their Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. They call him “The ICU Grandpa.”

Babies absolutely require being held, touched, talked to and loved. How much good this man has done is impossible to quantify, but most assuredly it is a large amount.

No matter how quiet and isolated our lives may be, there are always ways to contribute, as this ICU Grandpa has demonstrated.

* * * * *

Now, before you go back to the mundane, what could you do to birth some goodness into the world? Please spend a few minutes considering this. Make some notes, come back to them later. Think of something that would help someone, whether you know them or not.

After Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc across the state of Florida, the people in this house were somehow able to acquire a working WiFi signal. (Presumably they had an electrical generator and some fuel.)  And so they put up a sign and invited everyone in the area to come over for free WiFi and coffee.

Many came.

Humans do things like this for one another, and then feel good about it for decades following… and justly.

* * * * *

Before going back to the mundane, think about the family who did this, and consider the legitimate self-worth they gained from it. Consider the people they helped, and the gratitude they felt at this house. Imagine the comradeship the entire group of them felt.

This young man was walking ten miles from home to work, and back, every day. Seeing it, his coworkers pitched in and bought him this car. And so, again, we see humans helping one another voluntarily.

That said, this gift was not given indiscriminately. It was only given once the young man proved determination and responsibility to his coworkers. Just whining that he walked so far would not have worked: These people had limited assets of their own, and weren’t about to deplete them for an uncertain cause… nor should they.

So, what we’re seeing in this case is virtue rewarded, and it’s a beautiful thing to see.

* * * * *

Before going back to the mundane, think about someone doing something impressive, as the young man in the photo did… something that made you believe in his or her solidity, enough to gather your friends, spend some of your scarce assets, and help them significantly. Spend a few minutes on it.

The person on the gurney (wheeled stretcher) is on their last trip. That is, they were about to die and knew it. They asked this paramedic to take them to the beach along the way, so they could see the ocean one last time.

There is tragedy in human life, and none as persistent as death. And so we need to help and comfort those at the end of their years, as this paramedic did, quietly waiting until the patient was ready. This was an act of mercy, and a deeply ennobling one: The patient was blessed; the paramedic became a better being.

* * * * *

Before going back to the mundane, please, think about what you might do for for a friend, neighbor, relative or acquaintance at the end of their days. Do not get morose; rather, imagine what uplifting thing you might do to help them, with their feelings, in their situation.

Old people are not fundamentally ‘other’ to young people. Their bodies are older, of course, and they’ve  accumulated far more experiences, of course, but inside, we’re all highly similar And yes, old people do enjoy play, as we see here.

A passage from a forgotten writer named Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. makes this point very nicely:

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

* * * * *

So, please keep this image in mind and spend some time focusing on people’s interiors, rather than their exteriors. That’s not the easiest thing to do, but the more we focus on it, the better at it we become. And it’s important, because the ‘inner man’ is what actually matters in most situations.

This is Alexander Milton Ross, a surgeon from Detroit who became known as The Bird Man.

In 1856, Dr. Ross began liberating slaves: Educated and rich, he would approach the owner of a slave plantation, requesting permission to study some interesting birds on their estate. Then he would wander off into the fields and trees, examining the area. Once night fell, he secretly told the slaves where they could find Underground Railroad stations, who to watch out for and who to trust. He would leave each slave with a knife, a compass, a few dollars, some food, and sometimes pistols.

What Dr. Ross did (multiple times) was highly illegal – many people who did similar things served long prison sentences at hard labor – but he did it anyway, convinced that enslaving humans was evil.

* * * * *

So, before going back to the mundane, please consider what actions you’d be willing to take, knowing that prison or worse threatened: Would you do it to save the world from annihilation? Would you to save your child or spouse? What else? Run through a scenario or two, including how you’d explain your choice to others.