Think About It Like This…
Imagine the world is a puzzle. In this case, it has 7 Billion+ pieces since each and every individual makes up the world. Now, imagine you’ve decided to take on the challenge of completing this absurdly difficult puzzle.
Since each person serves as their own piece, if even a single piece is missing, the final picture looks incomplete. This means that everyone, including yourself, is a crucial part of the final picture that is the world. In other words, your actions really do matter in the scheme of things.
I mean, have you ever gotten to the end of a long puzzle only to realize you’re missing a piece? It’s a type of frustration that can’t easily be explained with words. The disappointment mixed with the fear that you’ll never be able to finish it simply because of a misplaced piece is a feeling I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy (not that I have any).
In real life-- when faced with a less imaginary puzzle-- you'd scramble around the whole house searching for just that one missing piece. So it’s safe to say that, when we don’t work together as a human race, we find ourselves with the very same feeling of dread.
That’s why caring for your fellow human is so important. You get to avoid that feeling of dread because you know for sure that your piece will help finish that puzzle. Now, here’s the important part. There will be no final picture if ALL individuals aren’t participating.
If you start to care for your fellow humans, you’ll be encouraging them to participate as a piece in the puzzle just as you do the same. You’ll see a ripple effect of your actions bloom into other ripple effects of their actions. And you’ll ultimately be helping to build a more compassionate and friendly world.
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The Benefits of Caring For Your Fellow Human
By helping people when you are able and going through life with a willingness to do so, you may find yourself with an increased sense of purpose. It’s like that feeling you get after doing a small good deed. It feels good!
So by making a point to do it whenever you can, almost every time you can, you basically multiply that good feeling by however many times you’ve done it. It’s sort of like the point multiplier on games like Temple Run and Subway Surfers.
With that increased sense of purpose comes more fulfillment in life which greatly helps improve your mental well-being.
For example, most of my emotional breakdowns have come at times when I have felt like there is no point for me to continue to live because I have no purpose in life. Now that I have a bit more of a handle on my depression, I have finally realized that the purpose I am looking for has to come from within me.
This is something that I know is not exclusive to me. I know for a fact that some of you reading this also feel a lack of purpose. That’s why I’m here to say this: Purpose won’t come from other people and it certainly won’t come from nothing. You have to choose your purpose and go from there.
I know that it seems like there really isn’t a purpose to anything at all if that is true, but hear me out. Purpose isn’t something that exists in real life, it’s just a concept. It’s mostly something people created so that they could better deal with the emotions they were having.
Remember when women were sent to psych wards because of their “wild” emotions? Yeah, people didn’t quite understand that hormones could be causing these emotions. So they surely wouldn’t recognize that feelings are in themselves over-complications of life as a whole.
You see, animals live very straightforward lives. They eat, they procreate, and then they die. They don’t have mid-life crises and they certainly don’t feel like they don’t have a purpose in life. Have you ever thought about why this is?
Animals don’t think the way we do, so they’re not able to think about the intricacies of life or why they’re even alive and so on. We as humans do, however, overcomplicate life. We ask questions like “Why am I here?” and “What should I do?” because we think there is some huge agenda for the world. I’m here to tell you that there is not one.
The answer to life has always been what people made it to be in their own way of thinking. If you think there is no point in living, then there isn’t. If you think there is a point then (Guess what?!) there absolutely is one. That’s why that feeling of purpose has to come from within. And when it does, the joy that comes from fulfilling it is like no other.
You’ll Create A Ripple Effect
Have you ever been at a drive-through, ready to pay for your meal, only to find that the person in front of you has already paid for you? That’s a little something known as “paying it forward”. It can be done in multiple different ways, but that example is a bit more well-known.
After your meal is paid for, you usually pay for the next person’s meal, and they usually do the same for the person behind them. This is the beautiful ripple effect that comes from doing a good deed every once in a while. It seems trivial, but honestly, it could make someone’s day. And if that person’s day has been made, they’re more likely to try to make someone else feel that way.
Things like donating food and clothes to people who don’t have homes, volunteering at soup kitchens, and other ways to care for your fellow human will never be harmful for the world even if it doesn’t ripple. So there’s no reason not to do a good deed every now and then!
You Can Contribute To a More Compassionate Society
All of these ripples and good deeds will have the ability to spread worldwide. It all starts with you. You can begin in your own community so that it eventually grows to be able to spread a positive message to other communities.
You can even begin at home by being nice to your parents just because you can. In turn, they’ll most likely go to work in a better mood and maybe get to make someone else’s day by providing better customer service. Just know that every nice thing you do will help in some way.
And really, doing nice things doesn’t have to take much energy out of you if you don’t want it to. Like I said, anything nice helps, so every good deed you do can help multiply those feelings of fulfillment.
You don’t necessarily have to DO something to help contribute to a more compassionate society, though. Simply understanding that people are possibly going through some hard times is also enough to add something positive to the world.
Examples include having a bit more patience with an irritated customer as they try to place an order with you (if you work at a restaurant or something like that). Lots of people who are mean to you are simply just having a hard time in their own lives and trying to take it out on you. It’s annoying, yes, but once you realize that they are just allowing their own emotions to control them it’s a bit better to deal with.
If you’re nice to that irritated customer, they’ll likely calm down and even be taken aback a bit since you didn’t give them the reaction they were expecting. I understand you’re human as well, and you’re likely to feel hurt when talked to in that negative way.
It’s important to try your best not to respond to disrespect with more disrespect. You can do this by simply doing what they ask and moving on after they leave. It is not an easy solution, I get it, but it is much better than them blue-toothing their bad mood to you. Plus, it shows how emotionally intelligent you are (Bonus!).
Now Get To Caring!
I’ll stop my blabbing because I think you’ve got the message by now. Let me know if you have any ideas on how you can better care for your fellow human beings in the comments below. Or if you disagree, kindly let me know why there as well.
Oh, and don’t forget that everybody may not like me, but they have no choice but to love me because I’ll always be there for them and accept them for who they are. Happy caring!