Chicken Soup for the Soul entry
Written January 2003
I am part of a discussion board called
Sheroes (www.sheroescentral.com). We are a group of people who discuss everything
from books to the environment, from homework to music, from religion to writing,
and from politics to our lives. We are mostly teens and girls, but there
are your occasional guy or adult members.
Recently, one of our few guys and adults posted a message Josh
Shaine is an adult who pays attention to us, respects us, and listens to
us, instead of looking down on us because of our youth. One recent post by
him is a very inspiring one. A clip from it is:
“Worthless? If I could have the
average member of government care or think half as much as the average member
of Sheroes, I would be thrilled. If the average citizen would care about
his or her fellow citizen as much as you, members in a community of relative
strangers, care for your fellows, the world would be moving on the right
path.
If you do not understand what I am saying here, then look at the flow of
posts from yesterday and today, alone. These, by themselves, tell a story.
Two members posted: one in agony over the feelings of being a bad person,
a bad friend, a user of this group; the second in doubt about the worth of
her own life. But the first's agony was over not feeling up to meeting a
friend's pain, of fulfilling a need. (http://www.sheroescentral.com/dcforum/DCForumID25/998.html)
And the second replied to the first: You have helped me. Please allow me
to help you.
The goodness inherent in just this simple act, this simple exchange is AMAZING!
And it is repeated here almost every day, to one extent or another.
Who has NOT sprung to defend a friend? Or would not - and if you have not,
don't doubt yourself. Know that there are things that move each of us - and
those things are not, can not be the same for each of us.”
This post touched many people, especially me. You see, I am
that second person. Less than a week before that post, I had gotten very
upset over making the mistake of skipping school and getting caught. I tried
to kill myself over it. Josh’s post helped me realize that I need to live,
if not for myself, then for others. I can help others, as I had offered to
help the first person in Josh’s example. I will think of this next time I
feel as I did that night; I will remember Josh’s post. We are all worth something.
If nothing else, we can help others—we can make a difference in their lives.
We can do it. And nothing can stop us.