May 2024’s Poem of the Month, Helping Others (Help Themselves) is a subject very dear to my heart. Since high school days I have been involved in one charity fund raising project or another. And while I am scooting around, putting effort into the various projects, I am feeling so rewarded to be of some help to others…

Some of my favorite charities come together in the spring to invite their fans to celebrate the season for giving with Galas and fancy parties. It’s always fun to get dressed in formal wear and go with my best beau to a party. (Am I revisiting high school Prom nights??? Maybe…)

It’s also rewarding to volunteer… at a puppy shelter, or a food bank, or putting back-to-school packages together for school kids whose parents need some help in that part of their kids’ lives. There are so many needs!!!

Cicero, who is mentioned in the poem, said this about helping others:

“NON NOBIS SOLUM NATI SUMUS”

which, translated, means

“Not for ourselves alone are we born.”

So many great minds have commented on the subject… one of my favorite’s is by a gentleman named Charles Gill:

“There are many wonderful things that will never be done if you don’t do them.”

And, do them with love… whatever the question, love is always the answer!

HELPING OTHERS (HELP THEMSELVES)

Emerson said it well and, of course, there were others
Who pondered and then commented on our purpose for being.
It’s being useful, and honorable, and compassionate in our dealings,
And to have it make a difference in the lives we are seeing.

Charles Dickens said that “No one is useless in this world
Who lightens others’ burdens” (said with emphasis).
This world is a place for us to learn that we need each other.
Our rewards in life are in direct ratio to our service.

Denzel Washington is credited for sharing this thought:
“It’s not about your success” [your money-making knack}.
“It’s about who you’ve lifted up; who you’ve made better.
It’s about what you’ve given back.”

It’s said that the smallest act of kindness
Is worth more than the grandest intention —
Yes paying lip-service to a generous thought
Cannot compete with the actual kind act, I would mention.

One cannot do all the good the world needs,
But the world needs all the good that one can do.
Helping others is the path to a happy life.
Happiness is a by-product; kindness begins with you.

Tom Brokaw is credited with the words that follow.
When pondered for a moment, they really make sense.
Contemplate them before you discount their power:
“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s harder to make a difference.”

Some plain-spoken words from Winston Churchill:
(Discovering them, I became most appreciative.)
There is no doubt about the meaning behind them.
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Down through the ages, from Cicero to Gandhi,
Great minds have pondered the purpose of life.
As we lose ourselves in the service of others
We discover our own lives with happiness, not strife.