Video Transcript
Edmund:
To what lengths would you go to help someone you care about? Would you learn an entirely new language?
The small town of Newton, Massachusetts did just that. When residents in town learned that a child, Samantha Savitz, who had recently moved there was born deaf, several neighbors decided to change as a community. Jill McNeil, one of the neighbors to Samantha’s family, explains that she and her fellow neighbors signed up secretly for private classes on American Sign Language. Soon more than 20 neighbors had signed up. Samantha, who is a young girl, is able to move around the neighborhood more safely now that her neighbors can communicate with her. This act of community kindness had such an impact that the town started offering free public classes to support the growing demand to learn sign language.
What’s inspiring about this story is the effort a group of people working together took to learn a new skill for the good of not just this one girl, but the common good of the community. Acts of kindness towards each other are definitely inspiring. But we all know how hard change is, let alone learning a new skill. And the willingness to devote yourself to the hard work of change in order to help someone else is what makes some stories so inspiring.
In 2018, a group of teachers from a school in Kerala, India, learned Braille to assist a visually impaired student in their class. This effort not only helped the student’s learning but also inspired other schools to undertake similar initiatives.
During his imprisonment, Nelson Mandela learned the Afrikaans language, spoken by the majority of prison guards, to communicate with them more effectively. This effort not only helped to build rapport with the guards but also contributed to the eventual end of apartheid and the establishment of a democratic South Africa.
Several communities have organized mental health first aid training programs to educate individuals to recognize and respond to mental health crises. This initiative has equipped participants with the necessary skills to provide initial support to those experiencing mental health challenges until professional help arrives.
The interesting part of all these stories is the personal transformation that comes with learning a new skill, habit, or behavior in order to help someone else.
Many parents of children with disabilities often adopt a new way of life, including specialized caregiving techniques, altered daily routines, and adjusted expectations, to provide the best possible care and support for their children. Their dedication to ensuring the well-being and development of their child motivates them to embrace new lifestyles centered around the specific needs of their children. And it has an impact outside of the home as well.
A report from the American Psychological Association highlights findings indicating that parents of children with disabilities often exhibit greater emotional resilience and adaptability compared to parents in the general population. The report suggests that the unique challenges and demands of caring for a child with disabilities contribute to the cultivation of resilience and emotional strength in parents.
This is what might strike you about people like Rosaria Butterfield, author of The Gospel Comes with a House Key. Rosaria shares how she learned to be Christ to people in her neighborhood by just being open to the everyday situation in her neighbor’s lives and the front door is always unlocked. Her home became a place that neighbors frequently walked in, unannounced. There’s always a big pot of coffee and some warm food on the stove. When she goes to Costco, she texts all the families in the neighborhood and asks if anyone needs anything. Rosaria and her family have opened their home to the neighborhood and learned to practice radical hospitality. And God has transformed people’s lives through this simple, daily practice. This wasn’t easy for her and her family to learn, but it transformed not just the neighborhood, but their whole family. Rosaria explains “The Gospel comes with a house key, not because it is easy, but because it is hard.”
These stories inspire us, and people in our lives who are in need motivate us to change. But this also might leave you wondering what choices we have in becoming a person worth admiring for their dedication and self-sacrifice. Who might you be capable of becoming if you chose to dedicate your life to growing in new ways for those around you?
