Compassion for others is vital to our well-being. To feel for others, to “walk in their shoes,” and to help when help is needed is the source of true happiness in life. The more we nurture such compassion, the more generosity of spirit we feel. Though we may doubt our own abilities, if we are watchful we’ll find that we can all help others in our own way.
Few stories illustrate this so well as Aesop’s tale of the lion and the mouse. You know the story. When a mouse accidentally wakes a sleeping lion, the lion threatens to eat him. But the mouse pleads for his life, promising that someday he will return the kindness and help the lion. The great lion scoffs at the idea that a little mouse could help him but, nonetheless, lets the mouse go.
Some time later, the lion gets caught in a net. He tugs and pulls with all his might to free himself, but the ropes are too strong. The mouse hears the lion’s loud roar and comes running. He starts gnawing at the ropes with his sharp teeth and finally sets the humbled and grateful lion free.
This fable brings to life the importance of doing what we can to bless others, even if our abilities seem insignificant to some—even ourselves.
The well-known poet Emily Dickinson wrote:
If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain¹
What could be more gratifying than using our God-given talents to help another in distress? In the end, touching another’s life for good is what brings joy and meaning to our days.
Program #4020
¹The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, ed. Thomas H. Johnson (1960), 433