This is the first one that comes to mind. I made this meme, myself. I remembered a meme with this quote that I encountered in a Buddhist class many, many moons ago. That meme is blurry and not in a good format. I could not find another with this quote, so I made one, myself!
I love this quote. As soon as I encountered it all those years ago, it stirred something in me. It inspired me. I have always held the philosophy that if we have something to give to those in need, it’s best to give it. We don’t have to have a lot to give something. We all have something that someone else needs, even if it’s our time or attention and not something physical.
I’m not always friendly or kind in my interactions with others. But one thing I always know is, underneath, we share the experience of sentience. If I can stop someone’s suffering, I will.
Sometimes, the pain of others can be overwhelming and drag us down, but instead, it can inspire us to act for the benefit of others. It can be in small things we do each day, or the paid work we do, or volunteer work. If ever you feel overwhelmed by empathy, maybe let it motivate you to reach out and love someone.
In February 2015, I took the Bodhisattva vows with a Buddhist Monk. I have broken them again and again. But still, I think of them as my anchor, and I always find my way back to them and see them as a lifelong goal to always reach for.
🩷💛
❤️And on a funnier note…😆💯 I’m planning to get this on a shirt one day lol
These are just a few of my favorite memes. 😍 I can’t choose just one!
The Carnegie Medal is a prestigious award considered one of the highest civilian honors in the U.S. and Canada.
I love this!!
There’s a medal of honor awarded to “ordinary” people who legit risk or even give their own lives or risk very serious bodily injury, to save another person’s life, often the life of a stranger.
They have to risk their own life to an extraordinary degree, to be considered for the award.
They said there are around 800 nominations a year, and only 11% are accepted to receive the medal of honor. That is amazing, though, that at least 800 people a year go to great lengths to save someone else’s life, even at the risk of their own.
They don’t just potentially risk their lives but actually have a significant risk of dying or experiencing serious bodily trauma.
To receive the award, the victim or survivor has to have been in a situation where their life was in imminent danger, where they would have died right then, if not for the person who saved them.
I’m reading a book about the science and psychology of altruism, and the Carnegie Hero Medal is mentioned. I heard of it before, but I decided to look it up now.
It’s very interesting. The website has many stories of people who were given this medal. Anyone can nominate anyone we want for it. The incident has to have been in the last two years, and the victim and “hero” had to have both been within inches of death. In some cases, the “hero” does die and receives the medal posthumously.
To receive the award, they have to come so close to dying that it’s a wonder they’re still alive. They don’t have to be injured, but many are. There has to be witnesses and/or media reports to confirm the incident really happened and is extraordinary enough to warrant receiving a medal.
They have to be people who risk their own life not as part of their job but out of the goodness of their heart, for no reason other than to save another human. And they have to know their own life is significantly at risk, to receive the medal.
I was skimming through the stories, there are hundreds. It is truly amazing and so heartwarming to read the lengths that people will go to save a stranger’s life. It looks like most of them are men. I was skimming through the list, and saw hundreds, and saw only one woman “hero.” That’s probably because men are more likely to take risks and are more likely to engage in physical things because of social programming.
They are also usually physically stronger. All of these situations are very physical. Many drowning incidents and pulling people out of burning buildings and vehicles and tackling assailants who are assaulting women.
There are probably more women/girls on the list, I haven’t looked at them all. A while ago, I did read a story about a 16 year old girl who received this medal for saving a drowning man. Jumped in and carried him out of an ocean.
There’s one where a stranger saved a man and his dog who were almost electrocuted. The dog bit him when he was saving them lol To receive the award, the victim/survivor has to be human.
One of the “heroes” is as young as 10 years old (he saved another child’s life). One is a 15 year old boy, he ran into a burning building to save a family in the middle of the night when he saw the flames across the street while he was staying in a motel with his dad. His dad was trying to convince him not to go through with it, but the boy wouldn’t listen. And he saved an entire family. He ran in like a super hero and woke them and pulled them out. The story is wild! The boy was injured by smoke inhalation. Everyone involved survived.
There were three teenagers who broke into a burning car and pulled out two women who were trapped. They went into the car after getting the women out, to make sure no one else was in there on the floor or anything. The car was burning down and could have exploded with them inside. One man gave his life for a stranger who was being attacked. She lived.
Just scroll through the list and read a few if you want to be inspired and have your faith in at least some of humanity restored. It’s a reminder that exceptionally good and brave people are among us. Ordinary angels!
It’s amazing and uplifting to see the extent people will go to save complete strangers, even knowing there is a very good chance they themselves will die trying. We see so much negativity in the news and on social media. So much violence inflicted on humans by other humans, wishing death on each other, arguing over politics, just walking by when seeing someone in distress or having an emergency…
Stories and people like the Carnegie medal heroes get overlooked and drowned out in all the negative things.
We need more people caring and more visibility!! 💚
I don’t necessarily recommend risking your own life to save someone else, but I do promote caring more than it seems society currently does and bringing visibility to cases where someone does go to this length, not because they want credit but because it restores our faith in humanity some, and it’s just uplifting and balances out the negative in the world.
Remember what Mr. Rogers said? Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.
I picked up the morning paper the headlines were no surprise a random act of senseless violence was committed again last night it seems the whole world has gone crazy and something needs to be done so starting today, I’m gonna find a way I’m gonna repay someone
With a random act of senseless kindness unexpected hand to help remind us a little bit of love is the cure for hate it’s easy to give up but it’s never too late a single step in the right direction person to person making a connection we can change the world that’s become so violent with a random act of senseless kindness
