A Shower, A Dance & A Spark Of Hope

Day 187

“Kindness can transform someone’s dark moment with a blaze of light. You’ll never know how much your caring matters. Make a difference for another today.”

– Amy Leigh Mercree

I watched a cooking competition today, where the winner would receive a grand prize of $50,000. That’s a lot of money for anyone, but chefs, and people in the food industry don’t typically make that much money, so it’s money that would likely come in handy for anyone in the industry. One contestant was asked what he would doing with the winnings, and he said he would give it to a charity that helps feed less fortunate, hungry children. He went on the say:

“I measure my success not by what I accumulate, but by what I give away.”

Awesomeness!

That made me think of my tornado-of-kindness campaign, and then I came across a story about a non-profit organization that goes around St. Louis with a box truck converted to a mobile shower, to provide personal hygiene services to the local homeless population. Shower To The People hires people who have experienced homelessness to make soap, which is sold to keep the program sustainably funded, as well as to provide the soap bars to the recipients of the service. This service not only offers the obvious benefit to people living on the street to get a shower and clean up, but it gives them hope that they can build on to take the next step in their journey. Take a look:

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This amazing initiative reminded me of the small pizza shop in Philadelphia with a similar program that I wrote about a couple of months ago. It’s just another testament to how much of a difference each of us can make.

“Once upon a time, there was a wise man who used to go to the ocean to do his writing. He had a habit of walking on the beach before he began his work.

One day, as he was walking along the shore, he looked down the beach and saw a human figure moving like a dancer. He smiled to himself at the thought of someone who would dance to the day, and so, he walked faster to catch up.

As he got closer, he noticed that the figure was that of a young man, and that what he was doing was not dancing at all. The young man was reaching down to the shore, picking up small objects, and throwing them into the ocean.

He came closer still and called out “Good morning! May I ask what it is that you are doing?”

The young man paused, looked up, and replied “Throwing starfish into the ocean.”

“I must ask, then, why are you throwing starfish into the ocean?” asked the somewhat startled wise man.

To this, the young man replied, “The sun is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them in, they’ll die.”

Upon hearing this, the wise man commented, “But, young man, do you not realize that there are miles and miles of beach and there are starfish all along every mile? You can’t possibly make a difference!”

At this, the young man bent down, picked up yet another starfish, and threw it into the ocean. As it met the water, he said, “It made a difference for that one.”

– Loren Eiseley

Keep doing your “dance”, it makes a difference!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!