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When fifteen year old Bobby Hill read a book about the work of Nobel Prize winner Albert Schweitzer, he decided to do something to help the medical missionary. He sent a bottle of aspirin to the Commander of the Allied Forces in southern Europe, asking if any of his airplanes could parachute the bottle of aspirin to Dr. Schweitzer's jungle hospital in Africa. Upon hearing the letter, an Italian radio station issued an appeal, resulting in more than four hundred thousand dollars worth of medical supplies. The French and Italian governments each supplied a plane to fly the medicines and the boy to Dr. Schweitzer. The grateful doctor responded, "I never thought a child could do so much for my hospital." Even thought the boy could not give much to the hospital, Bobby gave what he could, encouraging others to give what they could. Some people give willingly, but others need encouragement, like the villagers in this next story.
Two travelers trudged down a road in a strange country. They were tired and hungry, having eaten nothing for two days. The travelers saw a village down the road. The villagers also saw them. Now, these villagers were very selfish and when they saw the travelers, they hid all their food. When the travelers entered the village, they stopped at the first house and asked if its occupants could spare any food. They said they had had a poor harvest and couldn't give the travelers anything. The travelers went on among the houses and asked at each one for food. At every house, the reasons were different, but the results were the same. No one had any food they could spare. The two travelers stood in the town square and talked. Then they called the villagers together. Since no one had any food, the travelers were going to make some stone soup. They borrowed a large pot and filled it with water and added two small stones as the water heated. The one traveler stirred the soup and said how it would be good with a little salt and pepper, but since they didn't have any, they could do without it. One of the villagers spoke up and said that they had a little they could give. So the spices were added. The travelers stirred the soup and tasted it again. They thought it needed a couple carrots. So one of the villagers brought some carrots that were added. This went on until each of the villagers had contributed something. Then, when the soup was ready, every one sat down and had a bowl. The villagers were amazed by what a good soup could come from just a couple of stones.
In an orchestra, one musician cannot make the beautiful music by himself, but it takes the contributions of everyone to make the concerts so wonderful.
Helping others is like that. You only hear about the people who donate large amounts of money to organizations to help others, but most of the money comes from people, like us, who can only give a little. Many people do not give anything because they don't think what little they can give can make a difference. Look beyond that. Everyone can make a difference. There are easy things that you can do, such as giving old clothes to places like Goodwill, Salvation Army or the Comea Shelter, make donations to those places or even just giving a canned item to a food drive. There are so many things that we can do to help people less fortunate than us. Whatever you do, don't ever think that you can't make a difference.
Please, if you use this paper, be sure to give Lecia Beck credit for her hard work.
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