There is also good in the world

When there is so much negative things going on in the world it’s very hard to see beyond the bad. Each day we are assaulted with what is “wrong” in the world. How this person screwed the pooch or how this person killed their family. It can really do a number on your psyche, to the point where you continue to look for the bad things and eventually fail to see the better side of life.

I found myself caught in this same trap recently, I have gotten so wrapped up in the BP catastrophe that I found that I had blinders on saw nothing else. I traveled down this really dark rabbit hole of corruption that made my outlook on the world and humans in general very dark. I began to lose hope in humanity.

However, today I found a small blurb in the paper about a 84 year old retired insurance salesman in Australia who lives across the street from Australia’s most notorious suicide spot, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbor call the Gap. He keeps an eye out and if he sees someone alone standing to close to the precipice he hurries to their side, and simply asks if they’d like to come back to his place and join him for tea. He is offering them an alternative and helps those who are suicidal think beyond the terrible current moment.

How many times have you walked past a questionable situation, where part of you thought maybe you should do something but continued on about your business because you do not want to intrude? How many times do you see stories on the television where securities camera have caught a struggle or kidnapping out in the open with people just sanding by ignoring what is happening? Have we become so selfish and wrapped up in our daily lives to stop caring what happens to others?

This gentle man does not sit idly by and let the world go to crap around him; he takes action by showing a simple act of compassion to some one in a time of need. He has personally walked 160 people from the edge and offered hope where none was before.

The story has reminded me that I too need readjust how I interact with the world around me, I have been absorbed in the entropy of the world that I failed to appreciate the power of a smile, and beauty of a sun rise. That there is more to the world that just how I feel about it, that others feel the same as well, and if I just offer a smile more often and a few kind words I just make that persons day a little bit better.

As you all well know who have read so far, I am a HUGE fan of sustainable energy, and I found the best form is in a smile. A smile can be the spark of happiness, and happiness is true sustainable energy. Please don’t let the folly of others in the world distract you from what makes you happy. There is also good in the world.


Here is the article from TBT June 14th 2010

THE MAN WHO SELLS LIFE

In those bleak moments when the lost souls stood atop the cliff, wondering whether to jump, the sound of the wind and the waves was broken by a soft voice. “Why don’t you come and have a cup of tea?” the stranger would ask. And when they turned to him, his smile was often their salvation. For almost 50 years, Don Ritchie has lived across the street from Australia’s most notorious suicide spot, a rocky cliff at the entrance to Sydney Harbour called The Gap. And in that time, he has shepherded at least 160 people away from the edge. How wonderful, the former life insurance salesman said, to save so many. How wonderful to sell them life. “You can’t just sit there and watch them,” said Ritchie, now 84, perched on his beloved green leather chair, from which he keeps a watchful eye on the cliff outside. “You gotta try and save them. It’s pretty simple.” If he spots anyone standing alone too close to the precipice, he hurries to their side. He asks if they’d like to talk and invites them back to his house for tea. Sometimes, they join him. “I’m offering them an alternative, really,” Ritchie said. “I always act in a friendly manner. I smile.” By offering compassion, Ritchie helps those who are suicidal think beyond the terrible current moment, said psychiatrist Gordon Parker, executive director of the Black Dog Institute, an Australian mood dis¬order research center. “They often don’t want to die, it’s more that they want the pain to go away,” Parker said. “So anyone that offers kindness or hope has the capacity to help a number of people.”