Are we frustrated by all we cannot do to help the world? There are so many needs, pains and tragedies, so much suffering, and we’re willing, yearning to go at them with eager hearts, but feel we’re coming up short.
There are so many of us, and if each of us made a small effort toward salvation, what couldn’t we accomplish for the human race in one day?
The misguided souls of the universe need our help. We are the ones who must do it. Ignorance, wars, the suicidal madness of terrorism, insatiable greed, not just for material things, but to rule the world with ideas, religions, government policies, militant actions, stalk and haunt and threaten us all. Nothing good or permanent will ever come from these things.
It is only with day to day humble acts of love that we are redeemed.
We’re idiots to go the other way, to follow the thread of fear that leads to aggrandizement of power at any cost. It’s human nature to want more, to have more, but what is more when humanity itself loses itself? There is a balance that must be tempered with love, or the whole thing will fall on its head and crack open like an egg.
We must do small things with great love.
That is the answer. And small things, done every day, done well and enough, pile up and become bigger ones. They are contagious. They are within reach of every one of us. When we see the good deeds, the time taken by good people to help others in need, the homeless, the hungry, people suffering in other countries where disasters have occurred, such as Haiti, and more recently Nepal, our effectiveness increases by the contagion of wanting to lift up others, and it lifts us up.
It isn’t grand gestures that save the world, though we need those too. It is the small things, the unseen words and touches and acts. We can do this at home, in our neighborhood, on the street, in a parking lot, anywhere we are. We carry great power in our smile, in our willing hearts, helping a child or the elderly, the most vulnerable among us. Any small aid given to anyone, any small encouragement, any kindness, creates ripples across the universe.
We carry the fate of the world in our souls with simple acts of great love.
Please share if this story spoke to you, thanks.
Ron Clinton Smith is a film actor, recently seen in True Detective, a writer of stories, songs, poetry, screenplays, and the novel Creature Storms.
Kindness Blog 
I totally agree, I have always said that if each of us just concentrated on helping our own neighborhood, our neighbors, that in time the whole world would take care of itself… I know we can do this, it has already begun!
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This is such great advice. I always think of those words from “Oh Holy Night”: “Long lay the world in sin and error pining. And then he came and the soul felt its worth.” Receiving love fills the soul with courage, because it knows that no matter what happens to the body, all its sorrows will be redeemed by the love that seeks to embrace us all. Just feeding somebody because it is our duty does not make that connection – it is made when we feed their souls with love while we feed their bodies with food. That gives them courage as well as strength to go out and seek justice, even when the consequences may be fearsome.
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Ron Clinton Smith, your writing is beautiful, your concepts are critical, and your heart is full of immaculate spirit and the love of all our brothers and sisters. You are right: small gestures of kindness are brilliant and productive–helping the earth and its people grow closer to each other, on a small and grand scale all at the same time. Thank you, good writer, for taking the time to remind us of all the kindness we can bring to each other. God bless you, Ron…your friend, SONNY MATHIAS
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Yes, small unseen acts, like St. Therese, the Little Flower of Jesus.
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Reblogged this on Suburban Hobo and commented:
This is what really matters in life. Please go to original post on Kindness Blog to comment.
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Thank you, Ron!
This is an excellent reminder that even in the face of all the want, sorrow, hurt, fear and horror that is all around us–these little gems of kindness and love are life-saving.
I re-posted this on my blog, luluopolis.wordpress.com. It’s a beautiful message for us all.
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Much prefer this eloquently simple message to the one I saw on a bumper sticker the other day: “Kill them all, and let God sort them out.” Thank you.
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