Lessons from Boston: The Power of Helping others

By Alan Weiss

The tragedy at the Boston Marathon demonstrated clearly our capacity and willingness to help others without spending time debating the need. Strangers, bystanders, passers-by, employees of businesses all rushed to assist people who needed aid, sometimes savings lives in those acts.

People were compliant with authorities' requests to stay at home, despite inconvenience and lack of information. There was no whining, no law suits, no demands for exceptions.

Enough people have written about the circumstances and content of what transpired. I want to talk about the process. We are all capable of such charitable and selfless acts every day, but we often deny or elide them in our behavior as we would omit a "silent" part of speech. The contractions in our speech become contractions in our behavior, and sometimes we're the poorer for it.

How often are we providing a compliment for someone doing a good job and not expecting the praise? How difficult is it to say "thank you" to a vender or delivery person? I'm constantly amazed at people who request of me a free sample or a correction in an address without so much as a "please" or "thank you."

I've seen 40 drivers pass a car in the opposite direction waiting to turn left against their line of traffic, without one of them allowing the maneuver. What kind of blow to one's ego is it to wait three seconds to allow someone to turn? Ironically, I find that people attending mass at my church, to whom I may be serving Communion or vice versa, don't allow me to make that kind of turn into the parking lot! Their Christian charity apparently begins at the door!

Robespierre observed once that "No man can climb outside the limitations of his own character." It seems to me that our society has to be composed of small acts of kindness every day, whether a door held open, some good-intentioned advice, a gratuity, or time invested in a good cause. We simply become better people by helping others.

It shouldn't require a catastrophe to demonstrate character.

Alan Weiss is friend, mentor, colleague, internatinsl business consultant.
http://www.summitconsulting.com