Changing the World One Moment of Generosity at a Time

All of us need help from each other, so sharing our generosity in a unified cause for good, we can, in a real sense, change the world for better.

This week, I've been thinking a lot about a concept that really was driven home by a documentary that I watched talking about the Thai soccer team that was rescued from the cave back in 2018, just three years ago. That event really captivated the worldwide news media for for several weeks. And it pulled in thousands of volunteers from all over the world. There were crews brought in from the United States, Europe, several Asian countries, and Australia. And it really brought the world together in a neat way.

One of the Thai leaders, towards the end of the documentary, talked about what it took to to get that accomplished, to rescue all twelve of the soccer players as well as their coach safely to save their lives when no one really thought it would be possible. And he talked about two things. He said it was based on generosity, and unified effort.

I don't think I've ever had that concept described in a more beautiful way in my life. WE talk about working for the common good a fair amount, but that doesn't quite encapsulate this concept. The added element of generosity driving that common good opens the door to ways of us working together beyond our differences. There were certainly differences among the countries that were involved. There might even have been political conflicts between countries at that time, but they all rallied around this one cause to rescue these thirteen trapped people in the cave.

What will be our unified effort today? We're not going to be involved in underwater cave rescuing probably. But what cause will drive us to be generous enough to join forces with people that might be different than us to accomplish something we couldn’t do alone. It could be as simple as just donating some food to a food bank. Or maybe it's inviting a friend who you haven't talked to for a while who might view the world differently than you do.

And all of us have needs, right? All of us could use a warm smile or hello from a friend. Everyone could benefit from a visit. It’s truly remarkable to think of what kind of influence for good we could have if we combined these little individual acts of kindness and generosity and rippled it out into the world.