A week ago, I sent an email to encourage us all to prepare, to get ready for Giving Tuesday.

A longtime friend emailed her response.

Janice. Your story really touched me. As I lie in my warm bed tonight, I’m thinking
of the young woman I passed today. She was holding a sign, “I need milk for my
baby, please help.”

I drove past, but then later it nagged at me.

So I went to the store and bought four large boxes of milk that do not need
refrigeration. I tried to find the young woman with her baby at the spot I’d seen
her, but she wasn’t there. So I donated the milk to a food distribution site for the
needy near me.

But after reading your story again, I’ll make tomorrow my personal Giving
Wednesday. I’ll buy more milk and go search for that young woman again. There
are others with signs asking for help near my home, and I will ask some of them if
they know a new mother. It will make my holiday if I can find her.

Then a few days later, she emailed me this update.

I’m just home from a party where 23 members of my writing group listened while I
read your story to them and told them about Dreams InDeed. Then they dug out
their wallets and donated $350 for our local food distribution center.

Unfortunately, I was unable to find the young mother who needed milk, but I will
keep looking for her.

My friend’s heart was ready to respond to
the needy mother and babe before she
received my letter. That was the nudge she
felt. My letter only spurred her on.

In his doctoral research, David has explored
the reason for her ready-ness.

You see, we all have a contagious,
progressive disease with deadly outcomes.

David has named it the ‘audio-visual-cardiac’ syndrome. What are the symptoms, you ask?

Ears that don’t hear. Eyes that don’t
see. Hearts that don’t understand.

In the cacophony of soundbites and news
cycles, ears tune out ‘noise’ they just don’t
want to hear. Bombarded by flashy images or
brutal clips, eyes focus nearer and
narrower. Numbed to pain by trending violence,
hearts harden into cold stone.

And then the Self eclipses the Other.

Now don’t get me wrong. My dear friend has experienced incredible heartache. Disappointment. Suffering. She takes it head-on. The real deal. No sugar-coating.

Yet, she listens to that still small voice inside, notices that invisible person in need, and
responds to that nudge to take action from the heart.

She’s a living breathing parable. Her silent actions provoke thought. Her intriguing
stories invite dialogue. Her lived example inspires voluntary change.

To quote Mother Teresa, ‘It’s Christmas every time you let God love others through
you.”

Love never fails,

Janice L Hayashi Haskell
Vice-President of Programme