Acts of Kindness During Tough Hawaii Economic Times

I would like to share the following article with you. I am posting it here with the author's permission. It originally appeared in the Hawaii Reporter

How To Make A Difference In Hawaii's Tough Economic Times
By Daniel de Gracia, II, 7/13/2008 5:23:04 PM

Fifty-three years to this date on July 11, 1955, the 84th Congress of the United States passed H.R. 619 as Public Law 140, an act "to provide that all United States currency shall bear the inscription of 'In God We Trust.'"

Today, as our dollar continues to lose ground to the Euro and the price of petroleum drives higher and higher the cost of services and products, more than ever that motto rings true for the elderly, the retired on fixed incomes, and those with low paying jobs struggling to make ends meet.

We are living in tough economic times and more and more people are becoming calloused and bitter in their outlook towards themselves and others. This is not an easy time to work, live, and play, but if you ask me, it is an outstanding opportunity for us to learn what it means to be a human being and to make a difference by showing generosity and compassion to those in need around us.

Just a few weeks ago while I was pumping gas into my Toyota at a Kunia gas station near my house, a young man approached me and said, "Excuse me. My car is right over there, and I ran out of gas.

Can you please spot me some cash so I can make it home?" Without hesitation, I reached into wallet, gave him half of all of my cash and wished him good luck. The man was shaken that I had done such a thing so reflexively and without any hesitation that as he went to pre-pay for his gasoline, he almost looked like he was going to cry.

That incident, as strange as it was, was not the only time something like that has happened to me: on two other occasions random people have approached me asking for help in paying for gasoline, and countless other times people have walked right up to me asking for money in general, only to be surprised when I give them a wad of cash in return.

The principle that I exercise every time someone asks me for help is this: how would I feel if I was in the unenviable position of having to ask for favor from a total stranger? When I find myself realizing that I'd be sweating it out hoping they don't say no, I make it a point to live my life as best as possible with an attitude of "Yes!" towards my fellow man. I don't like to be told no, so I always make it a point - as is possible or practical - to tell others "Yes!" when they ask for my help.

The fact of the matter is that no matter what is going on in the world around us, generosity enables us to change the world for good. Last week, one of my friends was fired from one of his two Honolulu jobs (he had one to pay rent, one to pay for food) and so, because he needed someone to complain to, I decided to take him to the Oceanarium Restaurant at the Pacific Beach Hotel.

As we arrived, there was absolutely no parking available, so we had to park at the metered stalls at the zoo instead. My friend who was in an already agitated mood from being fired watched with annoyance as he saw Honolulu Police Department officers marching up and down the rows administering tickets to anyone whose time had expired. "I can't believe that they're [expletive] doing that now," he said.

At first I tried to reassure him that HPD was just doing their job, but then I realized that this was an outstanding opportunity to demonstrate to my friend how generosity can change any situation.

Since I carry quite a few quarters in my car from the regular need of having to park at the State Capitol or other government buildings, once I paid for my own meter, I immediately took as many quarters as I could get and walked from meter to meter, dropping in quarters for anyone's car who was about to get ticketed by the HPD for being in the red (or close to it).

You can imagine the looks we got from people who saw me checking each meter individually to see how much time was left, but I was not ashamed. When I was finished, I told my friend that the action we had done had turned a negative into a positive. My friend, now deeply surprised by what he had seen, agreed that we had done something that took us from being out of control to being in control.

Some of you might recall from Sunday school a story of a certain man who, knowing that he was going to lose his job, started contacting all of his company's clients and either reduced or canceled out completely their outstanding balance of debts in the hope that people would remember his generosity in his time of need and welcome him with open arms (Luke 16:1-9). There's a lot of practical applicability of that story to our lives, and what it means for us is that we need to be seeker-friendly to those who come to us in need, because we ourselves never know when we'll be out looking for help.

If you're waiting for our State Legislature or our Federal Government to come in and reverse the economic crisis, as the saying goes, don't hold your breath: in this season of want, all we have is one another, and its time that we as a community band together and start looking for ways to help one another. The issue here is not distribution of money but rather the distribution of mercy to those who are in need.

I honestly believe with all my heart that working together, we can soften the blows of this difficult time and use it as a pretext to get closer to our neighbors and sow the seeds of aloha. In this world, what we do for ourselves dies with us, but what we do for others and the world is something that lives forever. Meeting each other's needs is an important part of being human and staying human.

One of the Scriptures that I live by is found in Ephesians 6:8 which says, "whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord" (KJV). Said another way: what goes around, comes around. If you see people in need and you have the power to help them, help them out, because you never know when you'll need assistance in another area of life. I truly believe that as we give into other people's lives, we will receive back into our own lives in all the areas that we lack in. So until this crisis is over, my advice to all of you is this: give, keep on giving, and you shall receive.

Daniel de Gracia, II lives in Waipahu. Reach him at mailto:daniel.p.degracia@gmail.com