I was talking to my wife about your situation, and she, being wiser than me, pointed out how few… | by Philip Temple | Medium

Philip TempleFollow2 min read·Feb 4, 2023 --

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I was talking to my wife about your situation, and she, being wiser than me, pointed out how few people really care enough to do anything.My own thinking was that you felt good because you

had done something nice, but that child's life had not changed (and it wouldn't), nor had all the lives of those other children. And perhaps having tasted something of a better life, she

might suffer more, because she might live with some regret for the rest of her life knowing now how things could be better, but were not, and would not be. Once she is older few will look

kindly on her, or help. The appeal is her young years, not more generally her shared humanity. But perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle.How can I possibly know that harm might come

her way because of your act of kindness.This is just my imagination, and not a fact of the world, even though it could be.Doing nothing because one of an endless number of possibilities,

might be true, is no justification for doing nothing at all.If we never do anything, the world will never change.This raises the deeper question for me, and I mean this is my question for

me, and what I am doing to improve the lives of all these children, so there is real change, and not just something that makes you feel good in the moment.This is not meant as criticism of

you. I agree with my wife, when we can do something, we should.The fact that you have such a good heart, tells me that there are lots of good people out there in the world trying to do good.

And bless you for trying to help .One good meal, sometimes can be the difference between life and death.But what your post reminded me, is how easy it is to sit comfortably in our own

worlds and ignore the suffering of others.There is something in our human psyche that let's us ignore the reality of others because it is not real to us in some fundamental way, and so we

can turn our eyes away and not care.It is a wakeup call for me, because it tells so much about us having caring hearts, and actually doing something in the world to change things.I mean this

sincerely, kudos to you for caring enough to at least do something.Small things can lead to big results.My own reaction, not out of indifference, just a real concern, would have been to do

nothing.That would have meant that I would have done nothing in the world to help, even if it only meant little in the grand scheme of things.That one meal, might have changed her life for

the better, even if we cannot imagine clearly how.Doing something, generally, is definitely better than walking on indifferently, and doing nothing.Thank you for being in the world.