Our brief and successful effort to help a teacher bury his son seemed very important to me, a symbol, a metaphor and a milestone for what I believe is a genuine revolution occurring in our lives and around our country. I call it a Compassion Revolution. It is built on trust and empathy and compassion, it calls up the true spirit of our wonderful country, this ethic of love and care is getting stronger by the day and will, I have no doubt, prevail.
I see it feel it and live it every day, it is now my calling and my work and my purpose.
Some letters just make me want to cry – I did cry, so did Maria – when I got this anonymous letter with no signature or return address. Inside was one of those sacred $5 bills that I get every day and that move me so much and that has done so much good.
Simple, humble people from every part of the country who are grateful for the chance to do go.
“This small amount wouldn’t help much by itself,” wrote the letter writer,
but when you put them all together, the Army Of Good can do great things.” There are small donations and larger ones, but the $5 ones reach my heart, every day, and sustain and uplift me.
They matter in many different ways.
Very true, we’ve done some great things in just the past few weeks, helping Kevin Reiss bury his son Milan, raising enough tuition money to get Ron Dre’ admitted to Bishop Maginn, getting school supplies and Ipads for the teachers.
This morning, the gofundme page for the Weiss Family Funeral Fund was up to nearly $6,900, closing in on the $8,000 the family requested. (I brought Kevin $1,000 from the money coming into my Paypal account, [email protected].)
They could use some rent support.
I hope people keep contributing what they can, the family needs all the help it can get. You can contribute to the family’s gofundme page here, they are in need. Because of our support, the funeral home is going ahead with the funeral of Milan, the son of Kevin and Mary Weiss.
Milan was 22 and suffered from Muscular Dystrophy.
He will be buried on Monday.
Our work is not just about one school, one family, one assisted care facility. We are really making a much larger point. Empathy and compassion are essential to the community, to life, to a proud and worthy country, to our sense of well being. Think of how good it feels to do this, and how bad it feels to hate and argue.
Lori Strout captured this in her very powerful message posted on my Facebook Page:
“I think one of the reasons the Army of Good operates so well is that most of us long to truly help others, to actually make a difference in the lives of others. But we can’t find what’s needed beyond a hug or a smile or pay for the meal of the person behind you, give a homeless person a sandwich.
Yes, these matter just as much as helping a man bury his son or making a school safer for the children, but I’ve always wanted to create real change. You provide us with that venue and opportunity, Jon. You’re in the thick of it, and we can trust you. We can each give at our own levels, maybe only $5 or $10, yet together we add up to a powerful force for good. We feel like we did something. A young man will have a funeral. A refugee can sell her art. Elderly people get warm clothing, stamps, art on their walls. A young woman receives help. A gifted student gets to go to a very good school. This speaks to my heart, truly helping. Really making a difference. Thank you so much for that. Thank you for caring so deeply. And thank you to the Army of Good!”
We are a community of love, there is no simpler way to say it, and love is a powerful force, it lives and grows.
Thank you Lori, and thank you, and my anonymous friend, for grasping the significance of what you do. Kevin Weiss told me yesterday that he believes in karma, that positive breeds positive, and negative breeds negative.
Thank you for joining this peaceful and positive revolution, we remind the needy and the vulnerable and one another and the wider world that compassion and trust live, I believe our revolution grows stronger by the day.
This is the country I love so much.
I am so proud to be a part of it.
Lori pegged it. I would love to send hundreds of dollars, and sometimes I get down in the dumps thinking there is no way I can ever make a difference. But knowing that 5, 10 or 20 dollars DOES make a difference in peoples lives, allows me to feel better about the times I can donate. Alone we may not make a dent, but all together, we can tackle anything. Its about hope for a better day, even if we aren’t around to see it. Thanks Jon , for organizing the AOG, and thanks to fellow members for reminding me of what is important . Have a great weekend!
This is so precious – thank you for sharing it. Thank you Jon for seeing the needs and letting them be known. Thank you to the Army of Good. What a privilege to learn about the Army of Good and the privilege of being a part of it, no matter how small, whenever possible.