My faith in humanity restored

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Like many of you, I have been on the receiving end of bad people. You know the ones; They are the people who use you and abuse you and then throw you to the side. They are the people who take any advantage they think they can use, and they do NOT care who they step on or destroy in the process. There are people who take all they can get with no thought of sharing in their abundance and people who are just so bad, the only nice thing you can say about them is they didn’t stay long.

I have seen so much of that selfish behavior in the human race, I had almost give up hope of ever seeing compassion and loving-kindness again. I know I am around people everyday who give of themselves willingly, but I saw them as a shrinking minority who I surrounded myself with because I felt and believed the same way. Then I saw this thread posted on my favorite social media site Plurk.com. (I’m AndyG1128 if you’re looking for me)

To summarize it for you, a fellow Plurker LillyAnn, whom I was not following at the time, had medical issues that suddenly turned for the worse. LillyAnn’s daughter Gabrielle, who was not supposed to be on social networks per her mother, decided the risk of facing the wrath of her mother was outweighed by the need to inform her mom’s online friends of her condition. It turns out LillyAnn’s condition was a direct result of not receiving a medical treatment because she was unable to afford. She has no insurance to help pay for the treatment and could not pay out of pocket. By not being treated, she had further medical issues which resulted in her being admitted to the hospital and placed in Intensive Care. Now most of us on the Nets hear a story like this more often than we should. We usually rant on about politics or needed healthcare reform or some other such drivel which puts more words and polarization into the Nets. However, that’s NOT what happened this time.

This time was very different. Instead of just talking about how bad it was LillyAnn was in this predicament, instead of going off on rants about the nation’s healthcare situation, or vilifying the insurance companies pricing insurance too high, a group of dedicated Plurkers DID something about it. They began a drive to raise the money needed for the treatment, some volunteering their time and energy to create a special PayPal account for donations, others giving Gabrielle encouragement and advice. Typing prayers and well wishes regardless of their personal beliefs not necessarily being those of LillyAnn or Gabrielle. They posted in other timelines asking for help, each one reaching out to another friend or fan in an effort to help this family in a time of crisis. These people, these fellow Plurkers, decided that talking was no good and instead, they SHOWED they cared for their fellow human by DOING and not talking about doing.

I know some of you will post about other times this has happened, or how it isn’t the first time a group of loosely knitted friends came through in a crisis, and I also know it won’t be the last. from my perspective, however, this time is different as it came in front of me at a time when I had almost completely lost hope. It has increase my once flagging faith in the human race. We are not as lost as I had once feared. We are still capable of compassion for our fellow person. If you have a chance, read the link and see real love in action.

*****Update*****

There have been questions, hard questions raised about the validity of the claim made by LillyAnn/Gabrielle.  While I hope the doubts raised turn out to be false, I recommend you read the story with a grain of salt.  My post still stands because it is not about LillyAnn’s claim or call for help, but the unselfish way fellow humans jumped to her aid.  If the claim is indeed false,  it in no way diminishes the selfless act of those who have responded.

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Tags: compassion, hope, Plurk