"One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others."
-Lewis Carroll
The most remarkable life stories are those that inspire us.
A lot of people have inspired me. I've quoted Nick Vujicic several times in this blog. Mitch Albom, Jason Wade, and my parents have also been inspirations to me.
But today I'd like to talk about Rosie Hardy.
Rosie Hardy is a photographer currently based in the United Kingdom, and I learned about her through Flickr. Maybe not everyone would like her photography style, and she may not have inspired me religiously, but she taught me so much about being kind, even to people you've never met and probably never will.
Her creativity and talent are undoubtedly exemplary, but it was this photo that reached into the deepest corner of my heart and melted it down. Maybe it struck me so hard because I was struggling with something similar at that time (I'm over that self-pity and angst now), and having someone to assure me that it will be okay, that it will get better gave me so much hope.
It doesn't always have to be public figures. It doesn't always have to be martyrs. Sometimes, it's the ordinary people in our lives that extraordinarily change how we see the world we thought we knew.
And it doesn't have to be a great deed. Sometimes, all it takes is a friendly smile, or a comforting pat in the back, or--in my case--a short but sincere reply to an email.
We can inspire others. We can be ordinary people making extraordinary choices, even if it's only choosing to make other people feel less lonely, less unloved.
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
- Mark 12:30-31
No comments:
Post a Comment