Excuses? What is the use? The bizarre part of excuse making is that no one needs to explain themselves. Why? It is your money or time to do what you want, as you want, and "No" is a perfectly acceptable answer. But I became profoundly curious, why people even bother to create an excuse? Do people feel some sort of obligation to have to explain themselves when they reject an offer whether it is declining a date to a party or dessert at a restaurant?
I considered the possibility that perhaps people are nestled snugly in their own comfort zones and to say yes would mean a change of some sort and, as we all know, change is perceived as painful. Even if change is actually good for you. Whether it is losing weight, to quitting smoking, starting an exercise routine or stepping into a new relationship. Resistance is part of our intrinsic human nature. We tend to pull away before we even have a reason to pull back. We have all walked into a store with the intention of actually buying a product and when a sales person asks us, "May I help you?", what is our automatic response? "No thank you, I am just looking." We are so afraid to make a bad decision that we make no decision. Even when a decision is necessary, important, time sensitive or clearly beneficial for you or others. Human inertia. It cripples us.
At Changes for New Hope, here in the Peruvian Andes, we reach out to literally hundreds of children living in indescribable conditions of destitution and impoverishment. We are able to do that with funding and materials supplied by donors and supporters who resisted saying "No" and instead chose to touch the lives of children in a part of the world that most folks could not find on a map. We are not at the end of the earth, but we sure can see it from here.
What happens when someone resists the automatic response of excuses and reach out to help us? Children suffering with malnutrition and anemia receive multiple vitamins. Children wearing rags, shredded shoes and holey socks are able to burn them and put on new, properly fitting clothes and shoes that won't hurt their feet. Children that have never had a new toy in their lives open boxes and excitedly scramble through the packaging to play with their new toys and games. Children receive school materials that are always in short supply and able to pursue an education, which they all know is the easiest and cheapest way out of their impoverishment. And perhaps most importantly, their self esteem is developed and maintained by the ability to be able to use their creativity and intelligence and see it manifested by better grades, art exhibitions in national museums, and the implementation of new ideas, just to name a few. When someone's heart resists saying "No" and sends a simple post card with a message of hope and encouragement, that is received by the children as solid gold. Money cannot buy hope. Love sent to them from around the world lets them know that they are not so alone in the world tucked away in the harsh and rugged mountainsides of third world Peru.
It is not a one-sided experience. Our friends, those whose hearts are with us, share that they feel a melting away of apathy. They describe it as an incredible feeling of love for those who they may never meet but know that the children are so much better off because of their gift of compassion. Those feelings are in full living color and explode into smiles and joy when they open their mail boxes and find a handful of drawings, a letter and hearts drawn on paper saying "Muchas Gracias!" by those same grateful children. The awareness of what we are doing here in the high Andean mountains becomes part of their reality too. They become part of the Team from afar and the victories that the children are winning against all odds become their personal victories too. And who doesn't want to feel like winner?
At 58 years old, those mountainsides look a tad higher every time I pull myself up them to meet with the children. At the top, there are always a swarm of children running to meet me, their faces bright and happy. They hold my hand and offer to carry my backpack. Whatever panting exhaustion I was feeling passes as I catch my breath. I live with a perpetual feeling of joy and love for these little winners, these children who, against all odds, will have a chance that so many other won't experience, because some special folks, somewhere out there in the world, had a compassionate heart that excuses and automatic resistance could not quell. If you believe, as I do, that what goes out from you comes back to you, it is evident twenty fold among our beautiful children and the extraordinary people who love them around the world.
Would you like to experience the love and joy for yourself? How about becoming part of the Team and put your compassion in action. A post card with a message of hope, a small package with some old things out of your attic you will never use again, or just a small financial gift. Whatever you might be comfortable sharing, will be received with such appreciation and excitement you will be glad that you resisted the urge to say "No" and instead said "Yes", to the children and also to yourself.
Details can be found right here on our website at. See what we have accomplished so far. Want more information? Write to us at [email protected]. Thank you kindly.
~~~ Jim Killon