Chapter 45 Section 4: To be kind to others is to be kind to yourself

Margaret Taylor Yates, the most popular woman in the U.S. Navy, was also a writer, but none of her mysterious novels was more interesting than her own experience. The story happened on the morning of the Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet at Pearl Harbor.At that time, Mrs. Yeats had been lying in bed for more than a year because of a heart attack. She had to lie there for at least 22 hours a day. Getting out of bed and walking was nothing more than going to the garden to bask in the sun, and she had to be supported by someone.Mrs. Yeats felt like a cripple, and she once told me: "If the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and drove me out of my self-pity, I might never have experienced real happiness in my life.

"After the bombing started, everything was chaotic. One of the bombs fell near my house and shook me out of bed. There were military trucks near the base, and the army and navy families were being transferred to public schools by trucks. , and then call those who have spare rooms to shelter them. The Red Cross knew that I had a phone next to my bed, so they asked me to record all the information for them. I did this, and sent all the Army, Navy The places where the dependents and children were sent were recorded. At the same time, the Red Cross notified all Navy and Army personnel to call and ask where their families were being resettled.

"Soon, I learned that my husband, Colonel Rob Yeats, was safe and sound. I tried to cheer up the women who didn't know if their husbands were alive or dead, and tried to comfort the widows. The casualties continued to mount, and the Marine Corps 2,117 soldiers were killed and 960 missing. "At first I was lying on the bed to answer the phone, and slowly I sat up to answer it. Because of the busyness, I didn't remember that I was still weak, and I got out of bed and walked to the table unconsciously. When I was helping others, I forgot Myself. Since then, I have never lay in bed except for normal sleep. Sometimes I think that if the Japanese hadn't bombed Pearl Harbor, I might have been semi-disabled all my life, lying comfortably in bed all day enjoying The care of others let the chance of recovery slip away from me in disguise.

"Pearl Harbor was an unprecedented tragedy in American history; but personally, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. It was the crisis that gave me strength, and that strength was myself What I didn't realize before, it made me focus not only on myself, but on others. It re-purposed my life and made me a new me. I stopped thinking about myself all day, for my own The situation is worrying." People who need to see a psychiatrist!As long as you do what Margaret Taylor Yate did, 1/3 of you can heal yourself if you want to!Not only I think so, but also the famous psychologist Jung, who is an authority in this field.

You might say, "It's no big deal, I've hosted two orphans on Christmas Eve, and if I happened to live through Pearl Harbor, I'd be brave enough to do what Margaret Taylor Yates did." but I am not like them, my life is so unstimulating, my work is so boring, nothing dramatic happens. How can I be interested in helping others? Why should I help ordinary people ? Does it do me any good?" Let me answer your series of questions.No matter how mundane life is, you actually meet people almost every day, how do you treat them?Do you just look at each other, or do you try to understand their life?For example, if you see a postman who walks hundreds of miles every day to deliver a letter, have you ever tried to ask him where he lives?Are his feet sore?Those grocery delivery kids, newspaper sellers, and people who squat on street corners to shine your shoes, these people may have their own troubles and dreams, and they also long for someone to share their happiness and sorrows. Have you given them What about chance?Here's my answer: You don't have to be Nightingale or a social revolutionist to change the world, you can start tomorrow morning, by helping the people you meet and change the world.

Is there any advantage to doing this?It allows you to get spiritual satisfaction, make your heart happy, and let you be filled with comfortable comfort.This attitude towards life is called "beneficial selfishness" by Aristotle.Zoroaster, the leader of the ancient Persian Zoroastrianism, said: "Doing good deeds and helping others is not a responsibility, but a kind of happiness. It makes you healthy and happy." Franklin said more directly: "Being kind to others is to be kind to others." Own."