Life lessons from the man on the street

I’m an optimist by nature. It’s just my (child-like) way, and as I mentioned in a previous post “People are awesome”. And y'know what? I do genuinely believe that for the most part, people are indeed that – awesome. So you can imagine how happy I am having just spent an afternoon in a room full of people who are doing more and more awesome things for other people. In short; I’m happy. I'm very happy. But I should explain…

I spent Sunday afternoon at a theatre in Putney at an event hosted by a charitable organisation, The Challenge, whose mission is to connect and inspire young people to help them strengthen their communities’ by involving15-16 year olds from across London to in activities that give them positive direction, and simultaneously benefiting their community; and St. Mungo’s. Both are great organisations, and if you're looking for a fun way to spend your summer, you should definitely check out The Challenge's summer programmes. But back to the event that I went to...

The event saw groups of 15-16 year olds who have given up their free time over the past few months to work with homeless people from all over the capital. Some of these people have had troubles of their own, and some have even been homeless despite being so young, but they are all putting themselves out there to help other people by raising awareness and challenging the issue of homelessness in this fair (to most, but not all) city.

Now I should point out that I’m not here to preach and tell you about how we should all give generously and help our fellow man – hopefully you know this and do so already – but seeing how some of these people are helping themselves, and others, was genuinely inspiring, and it would be a crime if I didn’t share just some of their pearls of wisdom…

‘Khalid’ is 20 years old. He was on the ‘wrong road’ from a young age and ended up getting kicked out of school at 14, out of his home at 15 and wound up in a YMCA shelter at 16. He said he thought that prison was just something that everyone from his neighbourhood went through. It was the norm. So he’s probably on the road to nowhere right? Wrong. Massively wrong. With the help of the YMCA, he’s now its youngest board member, and spends his days helping other people who find themselves in a similar situation to what he was a few years back, and he does this in-between attending promotional events like ‘Word Off The Street’ that I went to to get more and more young people involved. Oh, and he also spends every weekend volunteering at soup kitchens and charity shops. All in all, he’s a born-again saint. And he’s still only 20.

And Khalid's not the only one; the entire cinema theatre was full of people as positive, and affirming and inspirational people as him. All of them looking to help others, and to do some good. But what really struck me, was the enduring message Khalid and the others wanted to leave us with: “Don’t let it stop here’. Don’t sign a petition, and then forget about it. Don’t see someone on the street and turn a blind eye. If you see someone out there asking for change, don’t just toss them some money and walk on by – stop, ask them their name, see how they’re doing, buy them a coffee and a bagel…they’re people – treat them that way!

And don’t sit there thinking “but me speaking to one person isn’t going to make a difference” – wrong. So wrong. Other people see you doing it, and it spurs them to do the same. Then the same thing happens again 10 minutes later. And again. And again. And so on and so on and so on. But more importantly, it makes a difference to that person. Because for a change, someone is treating them like a person, and not a burden. 

I'm waffling and doubtless am not making much sense, so I think I'll defer to a much wiser man, and end on the immortal words of Mahatma Gandhi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Just a thought…