This post was inspired by many things that I've experienced, including the article When you touch a life, you’re changing generations by Winnie Auma, which is worth a read. Here's an impactful quote from the piece:

There’s joy in giving back to the community that helped build you. That’s is what shapes society and has helped communities reach great heights.

Isn't that a killer line? And so true as well.

I've shared with you all about the speech handicap I suffered from as a boy. This made me an outcast in my neighborhood which actually had the POSITIVE effect of keeping me out of trouble, and allowing me the independence of building my own person, without the corrosive effects of peer pressure.

In short, I had nothing, therefore I had nothing to lose.

There was a neighborhood-wide ban on interacting with the weird kid who couldn't speak properly. While this may have seemed sad, I was the type that was just fine in my own skin, and it puzzled me why so many other kids seemed to "need" to be liked, and couldn't exist without the approval of others. They clung to their faux popularity with all their might, and were devastated when they lost it.

To my logical mind this was so alien to me. Knowing that they derived their value from what others thought of them, instead of having an innate sense of who they are as a person.

When I watched old episodes of Star Trek, I always identified with Spock more than the others. So yes, I know what it's like to be an outcast, but its never affected how I felt about myself.

I just had a speech handicap, but my brain was just fine, thank you very much.

But it was their ignorant reaction to that that was so telling.

It was almost like something out of The Salem Witch Trials.

The embargo on interacting with me was broken by a few brave souls who saw that it was bred by pure ignorance. Those precious people taught me the value of having a strong inner moral compass, and added their valuable contribution to the layers of the onion which made me into the man that I am today.

Ripples in Kindness

I'll never forget Mrs Mary, an older neighbor who I'd see when we traveled to Pennsylvania to visit my grandmother. She knew I was in the bathroom with my encyclopedia doing my daily word exercises and trying to learn to speak properly. She always encouraged me; "Keep going. I know you're going to make it, and someday you'll be able to speak like everyone else."

What a wonderful woman. Always willing to share a kind word. She touched my life in so many ways. Sometimes little things like that are the winds beneath your wings that help keep you moving forward. If there's a Heaven, Mrs Mary is in it.

Back in New Jersey Herbert became a friend of mine. He was also an outcast because he was different. Herbert was shunned because he had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot. They were perfectly formed digits, and he was shocked when I told him I thought it was AWESOME that he had them.

Kids were afraid of him. Their parents said he was a child of the Devil, as the Biblical giants also had six fingers and toes; I kid you not. The pure ignorance in that neighborhood was astonishing.

We became best friends along with a wonderful kid named Kevin, who was outcast #3 because he had the skin disease called vitiligo, that singer Michael Jackson also suffered from, this was confirmed by his son Prince and in the autopsy report.

We all supported each other.

Kevin was an amazing kid, but he went through hell in that neighborhood, and was even attacked in church because of his skin condition. He had the same sensitivity to the Sun that MJ had, so when I saw videos of Michael with someone holding an umbrella over him, I immediately got it, as Kevin had the same issues.

I'm so glad that Herbert and I were able to bring some joy and comfort to his life. I thought I had it bad with the way I was treated due to my speech problems until I saw what they put Kevin through. It just highlights the fact that no matter how bad your current circumstances are, there's always someone going through something worse.

Always try to lighten someone's load whenever you can. Think beyond yourself, and be a giver instead of always being a taker. Don't engage in mass downvoting, outcasting, or shunning on Hive due to differences of opinion, political or otherwise. The community is small enough as it is, and it will only hurt Hive in the long run, as people aren't knocking down the doors to get in here in case you haven't noticed.

That's why when one of the leaders over on LeoFinance (InLeo today), spoke recently about the "outcasts" in that tribe, I was like: "We have outcasts here? Who decided that? Is there a list? Here we go with that bullcrap again."

If you care about Hive as I do, you want this community to grow.

We can't afford to continue losing good people in order to feed someone's ego. If we keep it up, we're going to shrink into oblivion, and those seeking to burn the witches of Hive will be the kings of nothing. We've got to stop.

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I've shared how when I was 10, I was attacked by a 16-year-old kid as part of a gang initiation. He was told to go after the nicest kid in class which was me, and I ended up in a coma for 17 hours. My family moved me to PA for my own safety, and I never saw Herbert or Kevin again. But I carry the lessons I learned from them about empathy and compassion, and put them in action throughout my life. Whenever I see someone being ostracized, I always step in.

The communist in Navy boot camp that I've written about, who was seconds away from being beaten by the mob for his political beliefs; until I stepped in between him and them... The Pagan (or was it Wiccan?), who was blocked from joining groups in Job Corp, so I invited her into mine. The conservative in this very liberal city who was about to be fired because he supported the "wrong" Presidential candidate, until I shamed my co-workers into backing down.

I don't think I was placed in those situations by accident. Always speak up. Make a difference. You may be the only one who does. Only you can decide what kind of person you're going to be today.

Life is a test. I firmly believe that you will be dropped into situations just to see what you'll do. Doing the right thing sends ripples throughout the lives of people you touch, and can reverberate from person to person. Random acts of kindness carry a lot of weight. Be your own man, and don't always follow the crowd. Every day above ground is a good one, so use them wisely. You never know when you'll take your last breath, so leave a legacy behind that you can be proud of.