Smile on Your Brother

We often quote a famous line written by the English poet John Donne: “No man is an island.” It reminds us that we all need each other and are not fully sufficient on our own. The Bible confirms that we were all created to live in community with others. Even though we have different personalities and inclinations, we were designed to need others and to be better together. Which also means that what we do affects others. We cannot live as if we alone are all that matters. But welcome to the 21^st century.

A firsthand story: My husband just spent the last week at home fulfilling a mandated furlough without pay for all employees at his business in an effort for the company to save some much-needed money and hopefully recover from a very difficult couple of years. This action of the company was precipitated by a lengthy strike by 33,000 of its union employees who have been expecting unrealistic demands to be met before they will return to work and help the company survive. Through no fault of his own, my husband lost 25% of his salary this month while faithfully fulfilling the duties of his management position. The actions of other people affected him and everyone else still willing to work at his company on a daily basis.

Selfishness seems to fuel so much of our society. The company leaders have made selfish decisions and serious financial mistakes in the past leading up to where we are today. The striking workers have been told repeatedly by the union leadership that they have to fight to get what they deserve; and they have been convinced that this is “their time” despite the fact that the company is working hard just to stay afloat. And the union leadership has not even been willing to bring previous offers to the strikers for a vote. Everyone seems to be thinking about themselves and forgetting that we’re all in this together. But what we do affects others. And now the latest news from the company is an upcoming ten percent reduction in the overall workforce that will soon affect everyone company-wide. It seems that when everyone looks out for number one, no one really wins.  

I keep hearing a song from my childhood playing in my head:

Come on, people now
Smile on your brother
Everybody get together
Try to love one another right now.

I guess not much has changed since Chester Powers wrote these words in 1963 and The Youngbloods made them famous in 1967. Humans are self-centered and have to be reminded to work together. And natural loners like myself have to work even harder at this. But we can all do better, and we need to. Now, more than ever.

Blessed By Kindness

I thought she worked for Southwest Airlines. Her “faith, hope, and love” t-shirt should have given me a clue, but I didn’t notice until later. She observed my predicament and humbly served me with kindness. I will never forget her act of love.

I was returning from an amazing trip across the country visiting a dear friend I hadn’t seen in many years. Because of my physical limitations, I always request wheelchair assistance at the airport when I fly. This usually ensures that I am transported to my departure gate and down the jet bridge to the airplane door and then picked up again as I exit the plane at my arrival gate. If there is a layover at another airport along the way, I am guaranteed wheelchair transport between arrival and departure gates. But something else was in store for me on this trip.

As I exited my plane at my layover airport, I was greeted with a wheelchair as expected. But when I got to the end of the jet bridge, I was asked to get out of the wheelchair and to climb up (unassisted) onto a motorized cart that carried six people. Apparently because my departure gate was twenty gates away, this was the preferred transport in order for the airline helper to save steps. I was about to find out just how much this particular worker lacked an attitude of service when he tried to drop me at the wrong gate (and argued with me about it) and then reluctantly stopped at a restroom as I had requested along the way. By the time we reached my actual gate, he was not interested in providing any assistance for me to climb down off of the vehicle. Without moving from the driver seat, he pointed over towards the window at my gate when I asked where my wheelchair was.

Enter my blessing from above. Another passenger on my upcoming flight (who I mistook for an airline employee) noticed my struggle and grabbed a wheelchair to assist me. As I sputtered unneeded words about the rudeness of the actual airline employee, she quietly helped me and asked if there was anything else she could do for me. Thankfully, I later realized my mistake and was able to apologize and express my gratitude.

But this incident got me thinking about my own servant heart. When was the last time I randomly served a stranger, expecting nothing in return? When was the last time I went out of my way to be a blessing to someone else? Am I known for my compassion, kindness, and humility? Food for thought, as there is always room for each of us to improve.