A nurse escorted a tired, anxious young man to the bed side of an elderly man. "Your son is here," she whispered to the patient. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened. He was heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack and he dimly saw the young man standing outside the oxygen tent.

He reached out his hand and the young man tightly wrapped his fingers around it, squeezing a message of encouragement. The nurse brought a chair next to the bedside. All through the night the young man sat holding the old mans hand, and offering gentle words of hope. The dying man said nothing as he held tightly to his son.

As dawn approached, the patient died. The young man placed on the bed the lifeless hand he had been holding, and then he went to notify the nurse.

While the nurse did what was necessary, the young man waited. When she had finished her task, the nurse began to say words of sympathy to the young man.

But he interrupted her. "Who was that man?" He asked.

The startled nurse replied, "I thought he was your father."

"No, he was not my father," he answered. "I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?" asked the nurse.

He replied, "I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, I knew how much he needed me..."

By Unknown

There was a blind girl who hated herself just
because she's blind.

She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend.
He's always there for her.

She said that if she could only see the world, she
would marry her boyfriend.

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her and
then she can see everything, including her boyfriend.

Her boyfriend asked her, "now that you can see the
world, will you marry me?"
The girl was shocked when she saw that her
boyfriend is blind too, and refused to marry him.

Her boyfriend walked away in tears, and later wrote
a letter to her saying.
"Just take care of my eyes dear."

Ugly

Everyone in the apartment complex I lived in knew who Ugly was. Ugly was the resident tomcat. Ugly loved three things in this world: fighting, eating garbage, and shall we say, love.

The combination of these things combined with a life spent outside had their effect on Ugly.

To start with, he had only one eye, and where the other should have been was a gaping hole. He was also missing his ear on the same side, his left foot has appeared to have been badly broken at one time, and had healed at an unnatural angle, making him look like he was always turning the corner.

His tail has long since been lost, leaving only the smallest stub, which he would constantly jerk and twitch. Ugly would have been a dark gray tabby striped-type, except for the sores covering his head, neck, even his shoulders with thick, yellowing scabs. Every time someone saw Ugly there was the same reaction. "That's one ugly cat!"

All the children were warned not to touch him, the adults threw rocks at him, hosed him down, squirted him when he tried to come in their homes, or shut his paws in the door when he would not leave. Ugly always had the same reaction. If you turned the hose on him, he would stand there, getting soaked until you gave up and quit. If you threw things at him, he would curl his lanky body around feet in forgiveness. Whenever he spied children, he would come running meowing frantically and bump his head against their hands, begging for their love. If you ever picked him up he would immediately begin suckling on your shirt, earrings, whatever he could find.

One day Ugly shared his love with the neighbors huskies. They did not respond kindly, and Ugly was badly mauled. From my apartment I could hear his screams, and I tried to rush to his aid. By the time I got to where he was laying, it was apparent Ugly's sad life was almost at an end.

Ugly lay in a wet circle, his back legs and lower back twisted grossly out of shape, a gaping tear in the white strip of fur that ran down his front. As I picked him up and tried to carry him home I could hear him wheezing and gasping, and could feel him struggling. I must be hurting him terribly I thought. Then I felt a familiar tugging, sucking sensation on my ear- Ugly, in so much pain, suffering and obviously dying was trying to suckle my ear. I pulled him closer to me, and he bumped the palm of my hand with his head, then he turned his one golden eye towards me, and I could hear the distinct sound of purring. Even in the greatest pain, that ugly battled-scarred cat was asking only for a little affection, perhaps some compassion.

At that moment I thought Ugly was the most beautiful, loving creature I had ever seen. Never once did he try to bite or scratch me, or even try to get away from me, or struggle in any way. Ugly just looked up at me completely trusting in me to relieve his pain.

Ugly died in my arms before I could get inside, but I sat and held him for a long time afterwards, thinking about how one scarred, deformed little stray could so alter my opinion about what it means to have true pureness of spirit, to love so totally and truly. Ugly taught me more about giving and compassion than a thousand books, lectures, or talk show specials ever could, and for that I will always be thankful.

He had been scarred on the outside, but I was scarred on the inside, and it was time for me to move on and learn to love truly and deeply. To give myself totally to those I cared for.

Many people want to be richer, more successful, well liked, beautiful, but for me, I will always try to be Ugly.

Author Unknown

Aidpage motto: "People Helping People" --- Everyone struggles and has problems ... everyone has a story, and no one person knows exactly what it's like to be "you," except you. We each have our very own unique journeys, which are full of both good stuff and bad stuff, and it's simply unfair to compare one person's life struggles to another's, as they are all different, not to mention, equally as real and important.

With so much chaotic and negative energy in this world right now, the best thing we can do for ourselves and others is to show compassion, understanding and avoid placing judgement. We may never be able to step into another's body, mind and life, but trying to look at things, and people, from different perspectives, may go along way in supporting one another during a time that feels so difficult.

Story time ... I am the first to admit that I can get angry when I drive, and this is something I have been working on calming and improving for many years now. We've all experienced other drivers operating their own vehicles in reckless, careless, and less than intelligent ways ... and since we share the road, other's actions and inactions affect us on some level or another, even if it's just two slow moving vehicles blocking traffic. I know that I am not alone when I say that there are times when I have become frustrated, undone, angry or plain peeved with others on the road, but when someone does something and acknowledges it, and gives that "I'm sorry" wave, my frustration melts away. I am being completely truthful when I say that I have always practiced this courtesy ... if I've done something stupid and affected another driver, I give that wave, as we all make mistakes, whether it's driving related or not. With all that said, I was driving home one night after a long and emotionally draining emergency room visit, when my inattention caused me to piss off a fellow driver. They displayed some road rage even with my apology. That's when it clicked for me: Every single human being on this earth is living their own life and have their own problems which affect them in ways that many other's may not understand. I began to think about all the times I ever became angry or frustrated with another driver and how I did not put any thought into the fact that any given person may be dealing with something beyond that of the time spent to get from location a to b. The thing is, we don't know ... That driver who cut you off, the one who is speeding, or that one car traveling below the speed limit and blocking traffic could very well be occupied by a person who just lost a family member, someone embroiled in a nasty divorce, custody battle or infidelity, or someone who was just given a diagnosis of terminal cancer, you never know.
... Unfortunately, we all experience such things, and I don't understand why we can't give each other more slack, acceptance and forgiveness.

The point? We are all human. And to be a human, is to be flawed. We all know how good it feels to have someone validate, relate and understand our individual struggles, and we are thankful when someone shows us kindness and support over that of judgement and criticism.
People Helping People ...

well i got til monday to leave my home i couldnt come up with the rent money and truck payment i guess they will come get my truck now if any one know how i can get 200.00 please tell me i need help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hello how are you ?

I agree. I can't count how many times I cried to sleep asking what I did so wrong to deserve what I was getting... but now...

I have bore the thorns. I seek out and speak out - people who are victim to someone they trusted, or to their spouse or partner, who feel there is no way out, like I once felt.

I will find them and give them guidance and help. Just knowing someone has been thru it is often enough, followed up with support, acceptance and encouragement. No, it's NOT their fault. I do understand.

People keep telling me that I'm doing God's work. I don't know about that, but it's pretty cool bringing smiles and getting hugs.

Amen To That! We are not put on this earth to judge. It is Gods will that we all be Kind and Giving to others in their time of need!

                      Wing & A Prayer

These are two of my kids who are in need of help for christmas. I currently lost my job in may due to a medical problem that i will have for life. My children are my life and i applyed for ssi and i have to wait 5 months to 2 years for a desision on if i am accepted or not. My children never ask for anything but for us to stay together.My kids still beleave in santa and i dont want my kids to wake up and see nothing under the tree and for them to think they did some thing wrong.I am a mother who try to do the best thing for here children. I am not use to asking for help for my children, but some time we have to swallow are pride and do it for are kids. I need help and anyone who is willing to help me give my kids a christmas please let me now. My god bless all your kind hearts.

These are two of my kids who are in need of help for christmas. I currently lost my job in may due to a medical problem that i will have for life. My children are my life and i applyed for ssi and i have to wait 5 months to 2 years for a desision on if i am accepted or not. My children never ask for anything but for us to stay together.My kids still beleave in santa and i dont want my kids to wake up and see nothing under the tree and for them to think they did some thing wrong.I am a mother who try to do the best thing for here children. I am not use to asking for help for my children, but some time we have to swallow are pride and do it for are kids. I need help

Hi Emil

I'd love to post the full article. It's so "aidpage".. you said.

I thought of that too when I read it today.

And not only that but the times we are living in way like the depression mom and dad went through especially recalling mom parents helping out strangers with food grandma had grown from the garden or bread she baked plus canned food for the winter in NE. They raise their own chickens and I remember mom telling me living on crackers and ketchup sometimes when she moved to Ca.

We have more resources now but they too are limited at times do to the needs of the people whereas I feel that when I grew up neighbors helped neighbors as I saw it in my neighborhood. I don't think people realized how needy each was or more needy than the next till later if even then. 

Keep posting great links to articles, Emil and take care.

Starshine

If you go to my blog page or profile page you should be able to find some help. If not let me know.

Greetings,

They will not take your SSI, although what they may end up doing it garnishing so much each month until it is paid off. I am on disability and when I was with my husband they did a review and I was told I was over paid almost a 1000 dollars. So what they did is took 67.50 a month out of my check until it is paid back. I have like four more months before I get the entire amount back. Call your SSI office, and explain to them what happen, where you are money wise and see if they can work with you to either you send in a monthly payment, or have a percentage taken from your check like they do mine. If you decide to make the monthly payment you have to make sure you send it in every month. Other wise they can decide to take up to 10 percent of what you are getting. If you try a monthly payment thing, you can send anything between 5 to 10 percent a month. Good luck and hope things work out for you. I am in the same situaltion you are, my husband took everything, and until he files papers *I can not afford to* they will keep taking his income into consideration and I will be the one who suffers cause they will keep taking money from my check.

 My thoughts are with you and I hope you get this resolved.

Most lawyers offer free initial consultation. Talk to them about this. As far as I know, the IRS cannot take you off disability. The IRS & Social Security are 2 seperate agencies. You are getting disability from being disabled which has nothing to do with you owing a debt. But, do talk to an attorney to verify.

Now, the IRS can garnish your bank accounts.

You can call them & ask for a payment plan. They will send you paperwork, make sure to do the plan in 'writiing'. You can offer to make small payments, what you feel is affordable & see if they will agree to it. Usually, they will work with you.

I hope this helps.

I RECENTLY GOT DIVORCED IN MARCH, I AM LIVING OFF OF 563.OO DOLLARS A MONTH DUE TO BE ON DISABILITY FROM LOSING THREE OF MY CHILDREN, TWO IN PREGNANCY AND TAKING MY SON OFF OF LIFE SUPPORT WHEN HE WAS THREE MONTHS AND 23 DAYS OLD. HE WAS TAKING OFF DECEMBER 26, 2006. I BECAME REALLY DEPRESSED, TRIED TO KILL MYSELF, MY HUSBAND CHOOSE TO LEAVE AND NOT BE THERE FOR ME. ON THE DAY OF MY SON'SONE YEAR OF TAKING HIM OFF LIFE SUPPORT MY EX HUSBAND WAS WITH HIS SISTER INSTEAD OF ME.WHEN HE GOT DIVORCED HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME. WE HAD A BUISNESS THAT WE STARTED TOGETHER, I DID NOT GET HALF. WHENI SAY HE GOT EVERYTHING HE DID. I COULD NOT AFFORD A LAWYER AND THATS WHY WE PRETTY MUCH GOT EVERYTHING. WHEN WE DID OUR TAXES IN 2006 MY EX HUSBAND MESSED THEM UP, NOW THREE YEARS LATER THEY CAME AFTER US SAYING WE OWED THEM MONEY. IN 2006 I DID NOT WORK BECAUSE I WAS HIGH RISH PREGNANCY AND I SPENT EVERY DAY IN THE NICU WITH MY SON. JIMMY PUT IN THE DIVORSE DECREE THAT I WOULD HAVET TO PAY HALF KNOWING THAT ALL I MAKE IS 563.00 FROM DISABILITY. I HAVE NO MONEY TO PAY THIS, MY HALF OF THE TOTAL IS 1300.OO DOLLARS. I AM SO AFRAID THAT I AM GONNA GET IN TROUBLE AND THAT THE IRS WILL TAKE MY DISABILITY FROM ME FROM NOT BEING ABLE TO PAY THEM 1300.00. WHAT I AM ASKING FOR IS HELP. . I WILL BE SURE TO PAY IT FORWARD WITH LOVE AND COMPASSION FOR OTHERS. 

 IF YOU COULD SEND ANYTHING I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT. THANKS SO MUCH, 

TONYA M DREESE

5413 ENCLAVE CR

FT WORTH TX 76132

Staying in a shelter where you have almost no bills, lots of friends and a support system can be a good thing...

Most shelters are faith based so be prepared to be faithful to stay there.

There is a shelter in Winslow that has a room for families and you can stay up to a year, if you work I think it is 100 a month.

There are lots of shelters and instead of being afraid of them check them out!!!

Consider it a vacation

It is nice to have a place to relax

I agree with you, very nice post.. Thank you for sharing it.

comment to Empathica:---You are truly a delightful soul and it is so caring and generous of you to share your love for all humanity. I enjoy your beautiful pictures and your words of hope and peace. I too meditate daily and constantly send positive thoughts out into our universe. We all have our higher power and call it many different names but when all is said and done there is only one true source and I call it God. I find my greatest peace and answers to questions during my mediations. We here on aidpage are honored to have you here, you have given us messeges of hope and to look for the good in people. I get great calmness reading your posts and you have indeed blessed us here on aidpage. Your Friend  sheshe030

In what area do you live? I probably have some resouces for you. I'm doing a free clinic this weekend so I will respond after that to get you in a direction once I know where you are.

Cassie Minor, RDH

Please visit my blog for information on how to get help. There are many resources available, it just takes some doing.

Be encouraged. Your daughter can get the help she needs.

Cassie Minor, RDH

Hello people i would lik to discuss kindness, love, compassion and lies... Today many people are in a badway whether it is financial,emotional are physical and then is when we should step outside or selfish selves and give or share , i am not implying that you should let anyboby walk all over you.. no i mean give to the person who is in need and don't be afraid! Love is strong word but in the context i am writing about is this if share what you have earned it will be appreciated by the person it was intended to uplift. But also be careful of those who will try to take advantage of you they are liers and this will cause aproblem for others, overcomr that by LOVINGLY give with all your HEART and will be rewarded a hundred fold.

Hello Mike19 how are you how is you health i have read your massage in Aidpage i am very confuse about you because your story was so sad and tragedy but what can i do because i am in Kabul Afghanistan by the way a know you are a good and handsome boy i wish i could help because i also need you OK my name is Naseer am living in Kabul Afghanistan am 18 years old.

by the way , can you send me your picture

my email address is: admns.wish@gmail.com or naseer_sherzada2001@yahoo.com

my mobile No is: 0093778357189 or 0093786188345 

thats really a great story from our American History. Thanks a lot!

your right some times we think ther is no hope god gives the strength to seek it and not give up with your life life is too precious,i almost did with my life when my house went for foreclosure and i lost my house my money my car even my own son who is autistic i took care of him all my life and i had to give him to his father. i didnt want to but i had no choice.

I'd love to post the full article. It's so "aidpage"...

Here are parts of the true story told by Ted Gup - grandson of the mysterious Mr. B. Virdot:

In the weeks just before Christmas of 1933 - 75 years ago - a mysterious offer appeared in The Repository, the daily newspaper here [Canton, Ohio]. It was addressed to all who were suffering in that other winter of discontent known as the Great Depression. The bleakest of holiday seasons was upon them, and the offer promised modest relief to those willing to write in and speak of their struggles. In return, the donor, a "Mr. B. Virdot," pledged to provide a check to the neediest to tide them over the holidays.

Not surprisingly, hundreds of letters for Mr. B. Virdot poured into general delivery in Canton - even though there was no person of that name in the city of 105,000.

[The letters] had come from all over Canton, from out-of-work upholsterers, painters, bricklayers, day laborers, insurance salesmen and, yes, former executives...

[...]

One, written Dec. 19, 1933, begins, "I hate to write this letter ... it seems too much like begging. Anyway, here goes. I will be honest, my husband doesn't know I'm writing this letter... . He is working but not making enough to hardly feed his family. We are going to do everything in our power to hold on to our house." Three years behind in taxes and out of credit at the grocery store, the writer closed with, "Even if you don't think we're worthy of help, I hope you receive a great blessing for your kindness."

Another letter came from a 38-year-old steel worker, out of a job and stricken with tuberculosis, who wrote of his inability to pay the hospital bills for his son, whose skull had been fractured after he was struck by a car.

One man wrote: "For one like me who for a lifetime has earned a fine living, charity by force of distressed circumstances is an abomination and a headache. However, your offer carries with it a spirit so far removed from those who offer help for their own glorification, you remove so much of the sting and pain of forced charity that I venture to tell you my story."

The writer, once a prominent businessman, was now 65 and destitute, his life insurance policy cashed in and gone, his furniture "mortgaged," his clothes threadbare, his hope of paying the electric and gas bills pinned to the intervention of his children.

A mother of four wrote, "My husband hasn't had steady work in four years ... . The people who are lucky enough to have no worry where the next meal is coming from don't realize how it is to be like we are and a lot of others... . I only wish I could do what you are doing."

Another letter was from the wife of an out-of-work bricklayer. "Mr. Virdot, we are in desperate circumstances," she wrote. They had taken in her husband's mother and father and a 10-year-old boy. Now the landlord had given them three days to pay up. "It is awful," she wrote. "No one knows, only those who go through it. It does seem so much like begging. "

Children, too, wrote in. The youngest was 12-year-old Mary Uebing. "There are six in our family," she wrote, "and my father is dead ... my baby sister is sick. Last Christmas our dinner was slim and this Christmas it will be slimmer... . Any way you could help us would be appreciated in this fatherless and worrisome home."

The wife of an out-of-work insurance salesman added a postscript to her letter, one not intended for her husband's eyes: She had just pawned her engagement ring for $5.

[...]

A week later, checks, most for as little as $5, started to arrive at homes around Canton. They were signed by "B. Virdot."

[...]

Of course, the checks could not reverse the fortunes of an entire family, much less a community. A few months after one man, Roy Teis, wrote to B. Virdot, his family splintered apart. His eight children, including a 4-year-old daughter, were scattered among nearly as many foster homes, and there they remained for years to come.

So why had my grandfather done this? Because he had known what it was to be down and out. In 1902, when he was 15, he and his family had fled Romania, where they had been persecuted and stripped of the right to work because they were Jews. They settled into an immigrant ghetto in Pittsburgh. His father forced him to roll cigars with his six other siblings in the attic, hiding his shoes so he could not go to school.

My grandfather later worked on a barge and in a coal mine, swabbed out dirty soda bottles until the acid ate at his fingers and was even duped into being a strike breaker, an episode that left him bloodied by nightsticks. He had been robbed at night and swindled in daylight. Midlife, he had been driven to the brink of bankruptcy, almost losing his clothing store and his home.

By the time the Depression hit, he had worked his way out of poverty, owning a small chain of clothing stores and living in comfort. But his good fortune carried with it a weight when so many around him had so little.

Like many in his generation, my grandfather believed in hard work, and disdained handouts. [...] But he could never ignore the brutal reality of times when work was simply not to be had and self-reliance reached its limits. He sought no credit for acts of conscience. He saw them as the debt we owe one another and ourselves.

Read the full story in New York Times...

Problem is...there aren't enough "rich souls" to cover the need of everyone....

Even if someone would give only $100 to families for Christmas, giving it to just 100 families would already be $10.000, but we all know most here need a LOT more then $100 and to be fair, the average person here needs like $1000 or more to make any real difference at all, now it's already $100.000 to help ONLY 100 families in need. Every single day I would estimate 50 families seek help here......our millionaire would have exhausted his million after only 3 weeks.....and neither one family would have gotten much more, but bought a little time before the bills pile back up. Our millionaire could easily exhause around $1.5 million here EVERY month...it better be Bill Gates.....

We don't need a 'rich guy" here, we need compassion to keep those in hope that need it until hopefully this government of ours steps up to the plate and puts our taxes to use for other things then 1st class airline tickets and fancy dinners......

Hi every one on Aidpages. I read most of your comments and it breaks my heart. I have my own post and I am in the same situation. My problem is I am sixty three years young and very ill and not able to work and my husband is disabled. If i do not receive help soon I am going to lose my home of twenty eight years.

If I won the mega lotto of two hundred and seven million dollars I would help all of you in this sad situation. But I am sorry to say I did not win.

One other thing I want to say is all the Grants they advertize on this site are not true. And most of them you have to pay and that still does not get you a grant.

We have to pray and do not give up hope that some rich soul will read our sad stories and help us. We need  a God send. All my love goes out to you all. This is a very hard place to be in no one knows till they are here. Grace

HI ROBERTA, MY NAME IS KIMBERLY I HAD GBPS ON 10/23/08 AND AM DWN 52 LBS WHAT STATE R YOU IN BECAUSE THE STATE DOES PAY FOR IT EMAIL ME AT K.JONESADAMS@YAHOO.COM I WILL EXPLAIN OK

TAKE CARE

KIMBERLY 

Hi You should be very proud that you have taught her so much. Many of us are here because we have needs to be met. I always keep in mind that there are many worse off then me. I also thank GOD that I do have what I do, a warm house to sleep in, family, and the skills and talents he gave me. There are so many in the world who have no home, and children with no parents, or whole families homeles, or terminally ill people. I know it does not make our worries less about our situation, but like you said it sure does put it into perspective......Lisa

Last night I learned a valuable lesson from my oldest daughter.  She is fourteen years old, and I have to say she is a wonderful child.  She has the typical teen issues, but over all she is a wonderful girl.  We went to the store to pick up some things from the grocery store.  I always get a bit sad at the store.  I see things we would like, or that we haven't had in forever, but we just cannot afford them.  I keep my chin up for the little ones, but it is disheartening to not even be able to afford cookies for them when they deserve the treat.

We were driving home, and she saw a man with a will work for food sign.  I had had a buy one get one free lid for soda, so I bought us both a soda.  She had not yet opened hers, and she gave it to this man.  When I asked her why she did it, she told me this:

"I know we are having things a bit hard, Mommy, but at least we have a warm place to sleep.  He doesn't even have that.  You taught me to care about others."

That snapped it all into perspective.  There's always someone worse off, and we cannot afford to loose our compassion for others despite what ever it is we are facing.  My fourteen year old reminded me of that.  I guess I am raising her right.