Tzu
Chi USA Vol. 3 No. 3 October 2004
By
Ken Hsin
The container, forty feet long,
spans eight volunteers in length.
Earlier this year, I was blessed with the
amazing and memorable opportunity to participate in a book
drive designed to help school children halfway across the
world. Initially the drive was devoted to raising books for
schools in South Africa with much needed educational tools.
These seven schools were all built by Tzu Chi, and as a continuing
effort to help these kids, a committee was formed to help
organize the logistics of collecting used and new books. At
first, the task at hand seemed somewhat daunting: the collection,
sorting, and shipment of over 20,000 books. But, seeing as
there were more serious problems in the world and children
at need, our problems didn't seem too bad.
The project quickly expanded from
a book drive to include computers, stationary, athletic equipment,
and other useful items. In the beginning, we were concerned
about how we were going to get all the books, but our efforts
quickly transformed into how we were going to ship the large
quantity of donated items. Once the wheels got turning on
this project, the enormous generosity of people quickly shined
through, quickly dispelling our worries of whether or not
we would have enough to send to the children. In addition
to the donated items was the invaluable contribution of a
shipping container and its transportation costs. In the end,
we filled a forty-foot long container to the roof, embodying
in a very physical manner, the power of goodwill.
While helping out with this project, I
was repeatedly impressed by all the people who I worked with,
whether they were volunteers, committee members, or donors.
To have so many people contributing their time and efforts
to help a group on the other side of the planet, people who
they may never meet, was very inspiring. This was a labor
of love and a true act of kindness, not something done for
acknowledgement or credit. Our reward was knowing that our
efforts would help benefit fellow human beings and brighten
the life of future generations.
Ken and James, both volunteers for this project, are moving
the boxes that contain books and stationeries.
One of the things
that I learned in joining this project was how small the world
truly is. In light of modern day media, telephones, and the
Internet, we've grown accustomed to how connected people are;
however, this "closeness" has always been in a figurative
sense. When we physically sent these gifts, it was surreal
to think about how each of the individual books we sorted
and counted would be in the hands of the school children an
ocean apart in just a month's time. Footage and video greetings
were also sent to South Africa, providing a visual and tangible
image of the folks who helped make this project possible.
I believe that this project will succeed in showing both the
people who helped here in the U.S. as well as those in South
Africa how interconnected everyone is, and how a helping hand
can reach out to amazing lengths.
This project took months to coordinate
and carry out, but its lessons can be applied to everyday
life. Having the ability to help other people is a privilege
that must not be taken for granted. Charity work can take
the form in all sorts of ways and doesn't have to be on a
global scale. To think that one person can't make an impact
on this world or to believe that efforts aren't worth it if
they only succeed in benefiting a few are both incorrect notions
in my opinion. An act of kindness and generosity, no matter
how big or small, will be appreciated by those who receive
it; and to them, it makes all the difference.
I'm reminded of a story of a girl who noticed
a lot of starfish stranded on the beach because of the high
tides that had brought them in. In an effort to save them,
the child picked up as many as she could and tossed the starfish
back into the ocean. She continued doing this despite the
incoming waves, which brought with them new starfish. A man
approached the girl and said, "You should stop rescuing
the starfish, there are too many of them on the beach. It's
not going to matter how many you throw back." The girl
just replied, "It mattered to that one," and continued
picking up the starfish.
