Small Things Count

I like to think I'm a (far from perfect) humanitarian. I thrive on connecting with people, and believe in our responsibility as humans to provide meaningful relationships for eachother in order that everybody lives with dignity, respect, belonging and love. Along with this ideology, I am a firm believer that a little effort goes a long way. One doesn't have to try hard, or have elaborate plans to make a difference on the lives of others on a daily basis. Holding the door open for the person behind you; smiling and saying thank-you to the cashier at Tim Horton's (even if it is their job to give you coffee); giving up a bus seat to a stressed Mom who needs it more; all these things can make life just that little bit more pleasant for our neighbours.

While it may be naive, I have this wonderful notion of everyone making an effort to care for one another, to do the little things that make each others' lives easier, better. Im not talking about a utopic kingdom in which everything is rainbows and flowers and not a grey cloud is seen. It would brighten my day to feel that instead of focusing on themselves, someone took time out of their day to care about me. I don't think I am the only one whose day this selfless caring would touch. Now imagine everyone being thoughtful enough to hold that door open, smile and say thank you, give up that bus seat... and having your neighbour, a stranger, "the other" be affected by this effort and altogether know that someone else cares enough to touch their lives. Again, maybe this is naive, but in many ways I have adopted this attitude in my own actions, hoping to have an infectious influence on the people I encounter, willing that they might perpetuate the cycle.

My experiences in Beyond Borders thus far have only reinforced my wonderful, possibly naive, notions about everyone making a little effort to make a bigger difference. As mentioned previously, this term's focus is putting our educational training from last term to practice in our own community. In doing so, the group visited The Working Centre for an orientation of its resources and opportunities for volunteering. The Working Centre is an amazing community/resource centre where various projects seek to build a stronger community. An integral facet of this centre is focusing on providing a helpful service tailored to the needs of each individual as they come in, as opposed to offering a structured list of services to those whose needs correspond accordingly.

While getting better acquainted with one of its founders, Joe Mancini, the Beyond Borders group was posed with the question "Have you ever been asked to fix someone's shoe, or to mend someone's mitten?" These problems seem miniscule to those fortunate enough to have the means to buy new shoes, or use a different pair of mittens when one pair is unfit. But The Working Centre has realized how such issues can prove themselves to be deterring obstacles in one's life, and is a facility centered around caring enough to put the effort toward making small changes which have a profound difference in brightening and easing the difficulties in another's life.

So what I am trying to say is, while I have this idea of everyone trying to do something selfless for their neighbour in the hopes of trying to make someone else's life easier, Beyond Borders has given this a new perspective. Not only have my experiences in this program thus far showed me that selfless acts for others is a plausible way to make another's day easier, but it has given me the opportunity to explore a new community of people who hold this same value.