Helping Ease the Hurt
If you have read the story of how Stanford University started, then you would agree with me that it is such an inspiration to so many. The Stanfords, Jane and Leland lost their only child to typhoid at the age of 15. The couple had every right and every reason to turn their backs against the world at that time, but instead, they channelled their grief and their pain into an act of grace. Within a year of their son's death, they had made the founding grant for Stanford University, pledging to do for other people's children what they were not able to do for their own boy. The Stanfords had suffered the worst thing any mom and dad can ever endure, yet they understood that helping others is the way we help ourselves. And this wisdom is increasingly supported by scientific and sociological research. It is no longer just woo-woo soft-skills talk. There is actually a helper's high, a spiritual surge you gain from serving others. I have come to learn that if you wan...