ALTRUISMO

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'"

-Mr. Rogers

There are times

when the hate

the dismay

the catastrophe

the bullying

of

everyday

for

others

and

for 

me

they fog up my soul

and my hope, my faith, it seems exhausted

There are times

many times

I can't watch movies

or the news

without turning it off

or without gasping for breath

because the panic fills me

for them

with them

together, they and I

I can't explain it

but it's not just a film

to me

because somebody's hurting

whether two years ago or 2,000 years ago

the person they show

is hurting

and I

feel

it 

too

There are times

when anguish fills me

at the sound of sirens

and the flash of red lights

and the crimson streak

of those trucks

because they're reminders
that somebody

is having the 

worst day of

their lives.

But there are times, too

when after the panic starts

when after the pain starts

I remember the helpers.

I remember the people inside the crimson trucks

and the blue and white police cars.

I remember the people in the hospital

who saved his life and mine

I remember the teachers who cared

after the cruel ones didn't

and he learned to read the blue book at 25 years old.

I remember the mentors

who are there for the learning

I remember the therapists

for those who are battling with their minds

I remember the fathers and mothers and father figures and mother figures

who weep with their children

and help them pick up their bodies, their bicycles, their believing.

I remember Christ, the greatest of all, who trembled because of pain

and then rose above it all

to thwart death and hell

to give me and them life in body and spirit.

And while I fear

because I'm human

and while I hurt

because I'm human

I hope

because my father in the cielos is a God.
He gave me His saving son.
And He sends His other children, too

as helpers.