
Last weekend, my husband and I attended a small gathering of a local Amnesty International Group. While we were expecting to meet interesting people and to learn more about the local group, I was not expecting my heart to be touched so deeply, nor to be inspired to act.
During this meeting I listened to a woman speak about her experience as a political prisoner in Burma serving what was suppose to be quite a long sentence. (As there is reason for her to maintain a low profile, her name and other identifying info will be omitted). As a prisoner, her only outside contact was with her parents who were able to visit her for 15 minutes each month. She had no access to news or any information regarding the world, her community, or the efforts by Amnesty and another organization to free her.
Over several visits with her parents she learned about the efforts of individuals, from different countries and backgrounds who banned together to try and win her release. After her birthday one year, her parents told her that hundreds of people came together to celebrate her birthday, life and honor her work. This was quite astonishing to her, that people actually traveled from around the world to attend a birthday party for her! After many years, all the efforts payed off, and she was released.
When asked what kept her going all those years, she said that it was knowing that ordinary people; people she had never met; cared about her and took the time to write letters, make calls and celebrate her life. That in the solitary confinement of the prison, she felt in her heart that her life mattered and it provided her with strength to keep herself alive.
Ordinary people, taking moments or an hour of their time to respond to a crisis, or to provide humanitarian support may feel like a "drop in the bucket" in the moment, but the cumulative response and what gets set in motion, has a rippling effect we may never comprehend. For this particular prisoner, it provided her with hope and meaning, that regardless of the outcome, her life was important and her spirit could not be imprisoned.
It is not in my nature to "join" a group, or even a cause. I usually keep to the edges of any efforts, providing support in a nondescript manner. This weekend caused me to question my comfort zone. As a result, I decided to step-up and join this local group, because I now believe that any small effort, combined with many people, can have an extraordinary impact.
A secondary note: this happens to be the 8th story, which in and of itself represents the infinity symbol pictures here (an eight turned on it's side). Our lives may be finite, but the impact of every action, thought and deed is infinite.
Comments
Post has no comments.