A Symbol of Humanity

There is this Indian woman in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE) who utilizes the social media to help locate the former Lebanese employer of her father who helped him in the 1980s. (Read more here.)

For a grateful person who knows how to look back to appreciate the help of people who made it possible for her father to survive it all so the family could get through, it matters to reconnect with them to at least express the gratitude.

Her father told her the story about the man who he has perceived as "a symbol of humanity".  His story did not end in simple storytelling.  The minds and hearts of his family members are open to listening to him, to know the value of that help, and to thank people who served as 'bridges' to transport him from darkness to light.

In an uncaring world, when a father/mother tells about his/her story to children, the latter just ignore him/her. In their minds -- "They have nothing to do with my life. Why should I care?"  They do not even give a minute to listen as it is for them a waste of time. The feeling of entitlement -- that they have the right for parental support no matter what is behind that support -- makes them blind as to basic beauty of gratitude.

Elie Wiesel is right --

When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity.

I remember when typhoon Yolanda struck Central Visayas, killed 6,000 people, displaced millions and left the Philippines devastated. There were many Jewish communities who extended help because they appreciated what our former President Manuel Luis Quezon bravely did to save their ancestors many decades ago, and they wanted to pay back. Filipinos are generally hospitable. President Manuel L. Quezon never did that expecting something in return, but for humanity's sake.

Federico Pascual, Jr. (Philippine Star) wrote, "While Adolf Hitler’s Nazi hordes were systematically slaughtering millions of Jews in Germany and Austria in the Holocaust during the last world war, at least 1,300 of them were able to escape and find refuge in the Philippines."

(To understand this more, watch Schindler's List, 1993. Wikipedia related information >> )

Dalai Lama said,

(The) World belongs to humanity, not this leader, that leader or that king or prince or religious leader. (The) World belongs to humanity.

My mother is a good storyteller, and humane.  In whatever way she can, she wants to help others despite limited resources. When she told me about her past struggles, there was a special place in my memory bank with the names of people who helped her particularly at that time when she got sick. In my little own ways, I reached out to them to personally thank them.

There are many symbols of humanity in my life. The real people behind those symbols are always in my prayers as "Thank You" will not be enough. There are very special human angels who have inspired me since I met them, and visualizing their faces in my imagination motivates me to never,  never surrender in my battles.

Love dwells in every symbol of humanity. Love can be a strong force to defeat the evil/s tormenting a person or a group of people, no matter what the religion or nationality is.

At one or more points in our lives, we experience unfairness, injustice, humiliation, mockery, rejection, bullying, scarcity, illness, isolation, darkness, and others that put our faith to test. But our Almighty God in His divine power sends us human angels. They are symbols of humanity. They have pure love in their hearts as they do good things without expecting anything in return, and without boasting it. They know the purpose of their lives, aligned to what Albert Schweitzer's belief --

The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others.

My human angels, my great, great symbols of humanity, never stop amazing me by their silent heroic ways. I am passionately magnetized by them!

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Photo Credits:  Pixabay