Several times this year I've mentioned the website WishUponAHero.com. It's a truly amazing site that connects people who have needs (called "wishes") with people who are willing to help out (called "heroes"). Since it's beginning only a few years ago, more than 92,000 wishes have been granted. It's an extraordinary testament to the willingness and capacity of people to help each other - even complete strangers. Tonight I decided to pick a wish to be granted.
Not all of the wishes necessarily involve money and, this time, I wanted to find one that was more about emotional support than it was about money. It didn't take long before I read the story that a woman posted about her husband and his challenges. It seems that he's only 48 but is disabled due to MS and a severe case of diabetes as well. As you might imagine, he's pretty down and his wife is asking for people to pray for him and to send him cards of encouragement. I sent her a message initiating the process so that I can send him a meaningful card.
Within about 15 minutes of having sent the message, I received a reply from the woman giving me her husband's name and address. I wrote out a card to him and it will be in tomorrow's mail.
I lead such a fortunate life with so much to be thankful for. As a result, it's often difficult for me to truly appreciate, in a visceral way, the suffering and the challenges that so much of the world's population faces on an almost daily basis - both in the US and abroad. Communicating with and assisting "real" people with "real" challenges helps me to connect in a way that's so much more than academic.
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