How Can I Help? Stories and Reflections on Service [B1277]

1985 PB. Discover how giving of yourself can lead to some of the most joyous moments in your life-in a book that "deserves a special place on that shelf reserved for truly practical wisdom" (Harold Kushner, author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People). Not a day goes by without our being called upon to help one another--at home, at work, on the street, on the phone.... We do what we can. Yet so much comes up to complicate this natural response: "Will I have what it takes?" "How much is enough?" "How can I deal with suffering?" "And what really helps, anyway?" In this practical helper's companion, the authors explore a path through these confusions, and provide support and inspiration for us in our efforts as members of the helping professions, as volunteers, as community activists, or simply as friends and family trying to meet each other's needs. Here too are deeply moving personal accounts: A housewife brings zoo animals to lift the spirits of nursing home residents; a nun tends the wounded on the first night of the Nicaraguan revolution; a police officer talks a desperate father out of leaping from a roof with his child; a nurse allows an infant to spend its last moments of life in her arms rather than on a hospital machine. From many such stories and the authors' reflections, we can find strength, clarity, and wisdom for those times when we are called on to care for one another.

From recent Amazon/GoodReads reviews: "Excellent! A book you will revisit and get more from each time."; "I read this book decades ago in grad school and re-read it recently 'for fun.' I loved the stories. They inspired me to want to be a better helper. The idea that we work on ourselves to help others, and then that work with others works on ourselves. Yes. There were several quotes that resonated with me."; "Arguably the most important thing I've ever read."