Look Out!

"Look Out!"

U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Lilliana Lavende

When someone shouts, "Look out!" - your first instinct compels you to duck, cover your head, protect yourself.  Your brain rockets into self-preservation mode.

But I would suggest that you consider another view of that phrase.  Because to "look out" could also mean stepping away from a completely inward perspective.  Seeing more than yourself, and instead seeing other people, their needs, the emotional gaps in their lives, the ways in which they may be hurting - and to then act to alleviate those sources of discomfort, pain, and anxiety.

The late Joan Rivers exemplified this spirit of actively helping other people as a means of lessening her own personal pain.  Most people know Rivers as the raspy-voiced comedienne who had been on TV for decades, doing live stand-up comedy, and selling cosmetics and fashions on QVC.

But she was much more than those public personas.  Rivers had a favorite charity, "God's Love We Deliver," a non-profit organization in New York City that prepares and delivers nutritious, individually-tailored meals to people too sick to shop or cook for themselves.  For more than 25 years, she helped to cook and personally bring meals to countless people through the charity.  When she won first place on a season of "The Apprentice" television show, she donated her $500,000 prize to the group.

Perhaps the most remarkable part of this story, though, comes from the fact that Rivers' involvement in "God's Love We Deliver" began following the death of her husband, manager, and confidante, Edgar Rosenberg, by suicide in 1987.  In the depths of that despair, she refused to wallow in self-pity and depression.  The pain must have been enormous, but Rivers found a way up and out of that dark place by finding a way to see and help others.

The great faith traditions of the world agree on this.  The best way to "deliver God's love" to this spinning planet home of ours is to shift the focus off of ourselves exclusively.  To help other people with our time, talent, and treasure.  To silently shout inside our own minds: "Look out!"

 

Be Well,

~ Eric