"The Courage to Care" by Wendyl K. LeslieI got to poking through some of
old things I'd saved and came across a wonderful little article from an issue of "Guideposts Magazine." It's by Arthur Gordon and is titled "The Rewards of Caring."
He tells story of how once, as a small boy, he was witness to a near-tragedy. At beach, a woman stepped off a sandbar into deep, swift water and panicked. At least 20 adults in bathing suits watched, apparently paralyzed, until suddenly a young man ran up, plunged in fully clothed, and brought woman out.
As Arthur Gordon described episode later to his parents, his admiration for young man was matched by contempt he felt for those who failed to act. She was drowning, and they didn't even seem to care.
His father looked at him thoughtfully and said, "The world often seems divided between those who care and those who don't care enough. But don't judge too harshly. It takes courage to care greatly."
It does take courage to care, to open your heart and react with sympathy or compassion or indignation or enthusiasm when it is easier--and sometimes safer--not to get involved. But people who take risk, who deliberately discard armor of indifference, make a tremendous discovery: The more things you care about, and more intensely you care,the more alive you become.
Caring or not caring can spell difference between success and failure in a job, in a marriage--in every human relationship. As Emerson said, "Nothing great was everachieved without enthusiasm." And what is enthusiasm but passionate caring?
