Sometimes the curious ask will open up doors of possibility that we didn’t even know were hidden behind the faces we see each day. Sometimes if needs don’t seem evident around us, it’s not a matter of searching out a different set of people, but perhaps finding a different set of questions. Jerry was intrigued by Common Change; he had caught the vision and started to believe in the disruptive power of relational abundance. There was just one problem – he didn’t think there was anyone in his life who had the kinds of need that he imagined would require such radical generosity. Not that affluence and excess surrounded him, but no one was coming to him asking for real help. He attended a Generosity Dinner and was challenged to look at his life shaped by different questions. Questions can often seem intrusive, but the real magic comes in a simple and consistent presence. Jerry knew the places and people that were a regular part of his daily life, so he just needed to find new ways of getting behind the same old pleasantries that defined their interactions. It may not be standard business practice for a business owner to broadcast his needs, but regular customers can come to feel more like family than a sales transaction. Jerry began slowly but eventually, as one question led to more profound and more engaged conversation, he discovered a need buried not too deep beneath the surface.
Action: Think about your regular interactions and listen for the little bits of information a person shares that can be transformed into compassionate follow-up questions.
How does that make you feel? What are you looking forward to?
You see the traveler standing at the intersection asking for spare change. The guy in your neighborhood who walks around with his two kids in a too-small stroller asking for help buying baby formula for his youngest child. A co-worker’s friend needs bus fare to travel 200 miles to attend her son’s funeral. The instinctive reactions for many of us go something like this: I wish I could help but what difference can I really make? Maybe I could give a few dollars here or there, but is that person’s life really improved? How do I really know the need is real?
Common Change is a community of people who seek to get up close and personal. We hear the news, but we want to look behind the curtain of headlines and click-bait. We push beyond the sensational to find the sacred, often hidden in the faces of those in need. Those rich stories hidden within ordinary lives belong not just to strangers far away, but also to our neighbors and co-workers, and friends.
A woman is totally exasperated because just as she thought her child-rearing days were over, she suddenly becomes the caretaker of a young child. A young woman flees an abusive situation and must pay for the same harm from which she escaped. A family sacrifices the familiarity of home for the risks of a border-crossing in order to save their lives and seek a better future. The tears in their eyes, their shoulders drooping. But to be lifted up by the hands of those they do not even know can allow them to tap into reserves of strength and fortitude to carry on.
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When unexpected events bring with them a serious financial impact they are referred to as ‘income shocks’. Over a quarter of the UK adult population (i.e. 14 million people) will have suffered at least one income shock in the last year. Millions of us have neither ‘rainy day’ savings nor access to family and friends who may offer temporary assistance in such a time of crisis.
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