This is Susan's post, reprinted from her blog Visual Voice with her permission:

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.

~ Emily Dickinson

I look at this proud and dapper robin in combination with this poem and, for some reason this morning, homeless people come to mind. I attended a gallery opening a couple weeks ago. A friend of mine's creative writing was included as part of an exhibit on homelessness in DC. All of the work was created by kids age 8-25, and included writing, poetry, painting, sculpture and new media. What made this project so interesting, though, is about HALF of the pieces were created by homeless children living in our nation's capitol.

In a word, it was sobering.

One of the girls was awarded posthumously. She had suffered from bi-polar disease and committed suicide one month after submitting her paintings, which were both haunting and wonderfully executed at the same time. I stood in front of her work as tears ran down my soul and pooled in the wells of my feet from the inside. What a terrible waste. What the hell are we doing in this country? We spend billions of dollars on a meaningless war, yet cannot figure out how to rid the streets of our nation's capitol... the supposed shining city on a hill Reagan spoke so eloquently about, while over 12,000 people have no place to call their own in the capitol of the richest city of the "free world".

I won't preach. The facts are enough to drive the thesis home to the heart, where it certainly belongs.

I know, I know... the world is overflowing with these problems, which are everywhere. How can we fix such a broken and weeping world?

I found an answer from the kindest and sweetest 14 year-old girl who presented a documentary slide show on cd in the basement of the gallery. She has fed homeless people in the district for 10 years through her church and decided to interview a handful of them, take their pictures, and share their stories with us.

When asked what we adults could do to help these people she said something along these lines, "I'm not asking for your money, what I am asking for is that when you see these people on the street, look them in the eye. Let them know you see them. Talk to them, show them dignity and respect."

Seems to me a bright, humble, intelligent and young version of Emily Dickinson was standing in front of me that day.

Show respect. Recognize and honor one another's humanity. Give the gift of truly seeing each other. Help these people, many of which are in dire straits because of unbelievable chaos and illnesses which, if we had to endure on our own, would render us homeless too. Giving dignity and vision to everyone is the first of many steps toward bringing our hearts back into their nests where they belong.

Do not live this life in vain. Bring peace into your world.

This was my comment:

the enormity of the problems in our own country overwhelm me... the rest of the world boggles my mind. It makes you feel helpless and left wondering what can we do? But, I keep reminding myself that any little thing that each of us do has to add up to something - right?

Posted by: aola at April 7, 2007 11:08 PM

And, this was her personal response to my comment:

Dear Aola,

Interesting that you posted this comment, because just last night I
was at a party discussing this very question. The world is so broken,
and so much of it is a mystery to us, but I think we're called to act
"as if" all were well, and "as if" our actions DO add up. To believe
what we do has no impact and doesn't matter will not bring us peace.
It will just lead us to focus on ourselves, dig ourselves into a
hole, and ultimately block us from others... possibly bringing us to
point where we become so narcissistically focused we only think of
ourselves, which is precisely what every major faith on this planet
encourages us not to do.

I can only speak from personal experience of Buddha and Jesus, but
understand that all the major prophets who have walked the face of
this planet have taught of selflessness, compassion, and our
interconnectedness. Can we know for sure this is TRUE? No... we
can't. What happens after we die is the big unknown. I am reminded of
an interview with Buddhist Nun, Pema Chodron who was asked the
question if she knew for sure if Buddhism was "true" by Bill Moyers.
She answered she didn't know for sure, that perhaps, when she dies
she will find she was wrong, but what she does know is that leading a
life focused on lovingkindness has made all the difference in her
life, has brought her happiness, and brought her fulfillment. Any
great teacher will tell you not to believe something just because he
or she tells you it's true. Take their words and put them into action
in your life.. test what they've taught you and see if it works for
you. Do you become more peaceful, more compassionate, more
understanding, less selfish, and less fearful? If so, then you're
moving in the right direction, yes?

I share your grave concerns, and I wonder out loud quite a bit if
we're past the point of redemption with this planet. Individually, we
only have control over ourselves and our attitudes and how we treat
ourselves and others in our circle. Start with radically accepting
yourself. Start with holding yourself with compassion, and it WILL
radiate out and touch the world around you. Ghandi said peace starts
within each person... so did Jesus, as did Buddha.

I hope this helps. Writing it out this afternoon is helping me put it
into concrete words.

Peace,

Susan

Our world seems to be such a mess. It's slightly hard for me to comprehend since none of touches me much in my day to day life. I live so blessed and peaceful and contented it's hard to remember the chaos of my past life or imagine the pain other people live in.

What can we do other than love one another, try to be the best person we can be and when an opportunity arises .. help someone.

Your thoughts, please.