One would give generous alms if one had the eyes to see the beauty of a cupped receiving hand. ~ Goethe

“The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.”~ Albert Einstein

"Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness” ~ Leo Tolstoy

Having just recently finished reading Michael Lewis' The Blind Side , a sharp analysis of the evolution of football deftly woven into the inspirational biography of Michael Oher and the Tuohy family, I have been pondering the example of love and determination shown by this non-traditional family. I look at the sheer will to survive of a young impoverished boy who manages to make it to the 10th grade living by his wits. I consider the heart of a mother who takes in this wandering child and the family who makes him their own. There is a quote from Leigh Anne Tuohy in the Lewis book that has left its deep and abiding mark on me.

'God gives people money to see how you're going to handle it,'she said. And she intended to prove she knew how to handle it.

The willingness and the instinct to give the best that one has to make the lives of others happier and even healthier is a principle too often burried in the cynicism and individual sense of powerlessness fueled by today's pop culture and media. Not that I have the opportunity presently to help another human being in the way the Tuohy's so often did, but the means of making a difference in someone else's life, in allowing for compassion and empathy to be expressed to lift the downtrodden and discouraged, that is not limited to those who can offer financial support and aid. In fact the most meaningful statement of what the Touhy's gave and received by taking Michael Oher into their family is this statement made by Michael to the author, "When I moved in with Leigh Anne and Sean, I felt loved...like part of the family." What turned this young man's life around was the ability of the Tuohy family to express, give, and receive love, a priceless skill that benefits all, not just the self.