Hi to all,
I recognize the people that dad writes about in this story especially one . . . Me. I had to stop volunteering to play at the ‘Coffee House’ for special needs adults due to back issues that required surgery.I can’t be moving musical equipment by myself all the time, now. But, I see many of the folks in my work and they remember me fondly while I have some wonderful memories of them.
As a part of my job as an Employment Training Specialist, I take my friends (persons I work for), as part of their training, to various volunteer sites including the Salvation Army, Gleener’s Food Bank, Sunrise Assisted Living, etc. The people are always appreciated and are almost always very helpful and productive doing tasks that would otherwise have to be done by other volunteers or paid employees. They do not mind volunteering and most consider a smile and thank you from the employees and customers/residents at these places enough of a reward for their hard work . . . I like my job!
After I retire in a couple of years, I may find myself volunteering to work with special needs persons just because the task is so rewarding to me.
So, when you see or meet persons with special needs, try to remember that they are probably doing something, at least in a small way, to enrich your life. Take the time to thank them and you will receive even more thanks in return.
I hope you enjoy this story about the generosity of the people who don’t make it onto the front page of your news media. They could be your neighbors or friends who don’t advertise how generous they are.
Thanks for reading,
David T
p.s. You can write comments below each story. Comments are very much appreciated.
“Generosity Abounds”
By Don Tschirhart
Excerpted from the unpublished book “It’s a Wonderful World II: A Retired Reporter Looks At Life“
Generosity Abounds
The longer I live the more I appreciate the morality and generosity of most people. It goes along with my general optimism. I believe if most people had to decide between right and wrong, they would choose right.
Despite America’s high murder rate, despite the high divorce rate, despite the Janet Jacksons’ and the Hugh Hefners’ of this world, despite television and movie violence we are generally a nation of people with high standards and morals.
I was reminded of this the other day when driving to the Lapeer Community Center. I had just made my turn from Newark to Clark when I spotted a car at the road side. Nearby a woman was trying to capture a small fluffy white dog who was walking in the middle of the road.
I stopped to lend a hand and soon two other cars and a pickup pulled over. We corralled the dog and one woman volunteered to take it to the animal shelter. I’m sure the cute little girl dog would be adopted quickly if the owner wasn’t found.
I thought, “How wonderful that five strangers would stop to aid a helpless animal. They’d also stop and help a child or grown humans if needed.”
Over the years I’ve seen a lot of good deeds. There was a little old arthritic black woman who walked four long blocks three times a week in all kinds of weather from her home in Detroit’s tenderloin district to Children’s Hospital where she sat in a rocking chair for hours holding, feeding and nurturing sick infants.
“I love to do things for others and what is more helpless than a sick baby,” she told me.
What about the hundreds of people who work long hours and then volunteer their expertise, time and enthusiasm to help churches or charitable agencies. If you want to do something with your extra time, call the United Fund. Someone will direct you.
There is one job I would never volunteer to fill, and yet there are some people who do and we all benefit.
That job is membership on a school board. There are times when no matter the decision, they are criticized. Board members get paid a fantastic salary — ZERO. I’ve never figured out why they run for election. It’s the kids, isn’t it?
I have a son who is paid to work with physically and mentally handicapped people. He has an agreement with his bosses. Every Wednesday afternoon Dave puts his musical equipment in his car and heads for a Waterford Township hall. For two hours he puts on a one-man free concert for that area’s handicapped men and women.
“I’ve never known a more appreciative audience,” Dave said.
There were some bitter cold nights when my editor asked me to cover major fires in Metro Detroit. At all of these fires a panel truck is parked a short ways away with its side window open.
The Salvation Army is there to dispense hot coffee, hot chocolate, sandwiches and donuts to tired and cold fire persons.
You think Grosse Pointe and Birmingham/Bloomfield women attend tea parties all the time? That isn’t the case for one group of women who help the Christ Child Society’s home for battered children on Detroit’s west side.
I wrote stories a year apart about this home where beat-up and sexually abused children are rehabilitated.
The area near the city of Lapeer isn’t known for its homeless people, yet there are always some and they are helped by city churches.
Volunteers from these churches register and prepare meals and warm beds for those in need.
You won’t find these good people in headline news stories or on the top-of-the-hour newscasts.
Please understand and remember. What you read in newspapers or see or hear on TV and radio are really life’s oddities. Media doesn’t have the space or time for every story. They choose the most newsworthy ones — the murders, major fires, etcetera.
Stories about the good people in this area, nation and world are mostly ignored. But you can feel their presence all around you.
Just look beyond yourself. You’ll see them every day helping their “friends” who are everywhere.
Don Tschirhart
