Breath-taking generosity

Subject: Breath-taking generosity
From: Cappuccino
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 01:11 PM

As there's been so much bitching in certain threads over the past couple of days, with people getting depressed and people getting angry, I decided to post a true, and very recent, story of triumph over depression.

Many of you know that we recorded a Christmas album in aid of our charity, Health Help International – many Catters were supportive, and one even drove two separate 200-mile trips to help us perform it live (take a bow, the actress of Essex.).

Well, before the last show, 48 hours before Christmas, disaster. My favourite ex-girlfriend of the last ten years chose the festive week to tell me she'd gone to marry someone else. Black depression – you can imagine it, no sleep for days, bitter self-recrimination, and my faith punchdrunk and on the ropes, when I eventually turn up to play the show, at a church service if you please, unshaven, haggard, and in a dangerous mood. If the pastor had said 'bless you, my child', I'd probably have hit him.

And what happened? It all went into the show of my life. I could see my co-performers standing astonished at the raw emotion of it, and the audience/congregation were transfixed in their seats. All performers know that wonderful Nirvana moment when half your brain says, quite clinically: 'you've got them in your hands – tell them to go and jump under a bus and they'll do it', while your automatic pilot is carrying on with the show, and doing a great job at that.

So the church elders, stunned by our performance, hold a conference and write out a generous donation to the charity. And a couple of days later, something even more incredible happens. A quite unremarkable married couple, just two average people, who had been sitting at the back of the church, are so moved by it all that they give a donation to the charity of One Thousand Pounds.

I'm too old, cynical and manic-depressive to learn much, but this teaches me two things. One – that disaster and triumph are a hairsbreadth apart, and you can reach to one from the other. Two – that for every bastard you meet, the next person is quite likely to be an angel, and that most ordinary, average, everyday people, just like most of the folk on this forum, really are Wonderful People.

It really is a funny old world. God bless.

- Ian B

Subject: RE: Breath-taking generosity
From: Wesley S
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 01:17 PM

Great story - Thanks Ian

Subject: RE: Breath-taking generosity
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 01:23 PM

Moving story Ian. I sure would like to have been there !

Murray

Subject: RE: Breath-taking generosity
From: SINSULL
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 02:44 PM

Ian,
It sounds as if you gave more than anyone else. You could have crawled into bed and slept or drank the holidays away. Instead, you pulled yourself together and gave everything you had. The money that came in is just a reflection of your gift. Be well.

Subject: RE: Breath-taking generosity
From: katlaughing
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 05:15 PM

Takes one to know one, Ian...those angels knew they were in like company. Goodonyadarlin'!

luvyakat

Subject: RE: Breath-taking generosity
From: CapriUni
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 05:28 PM

Breath-Taking, indeed!

(And breath-giving, too!. That's what it's all about: take and give, give and take)

What Kat said...

Subject: RE: Breath-taking generosity
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 06:01 PM

Thanks for posting the story, Ian. It's far too good to keep to yourself. As you know, I saw some breathtaking generosity myself a couple of months ago. My wife and I have been going to a small church near our new home, and they've been struggling for years, trying to put in an elevator. It's an enormous challenge to help carry someone up two flights of stairs in a wheelchair. And dangerous, too. When we first met the Pastor, I offered my gospel Quartet to do a benefit concert for the elevator. When we talked about it, we figured that maybe we could bring in $300-400. That would come from seventy or eighty people that make up the congregation, and it's very much a working class church. The night of the concert, there were 125 people jammed into the church, and the next morning, the Pastor called, his voice filled with excitement. We had raised $1,600! The next day, I got an even more excited phone call from him. A couple in his congregation who were unable to make the concert were so moved by the generosity of the people who were there that they added another $1,500 to the pot! After all these years, they finally raised enough money to put the elevator in, and it was installed and running for Christmas. For the first time in the history of the church, the wheelchair-bound members who had stopped coming were able to come to the service. What a blessing for us to be able to help in that way!

o.k., Mudcatters... that's two instances of breath-taking generosity. Howzabout some other good stuff that's been happening in your lives. Not talking money, just unexpected blessings.

Jerry

Subject: RE: Breath-taking generosity
From: DancingMom
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 06:14 PM

Great stories. It's true. You get what you give, and more.Sharon

Subject: RE: Breath-taking generosity
From: Amos
Date: 24 Jan 02 - 07:29 PM

Thanks, guys I am uplifted! :>)

A

Subject: RE: Breath-taking generosity
From: Genie
Date: 25 Jan 02 - 12:39 AM

So nice to read these heart-cockle-warming stories, Ian and Jerry--especially in the face of the occasional gripe thread!

Funny how folks sometimes deliver their most inspiring performances in the face of personal turmoil or tragedy. Maybe it makes you come from a place that connects to the audience in an extraordinarily powerful way, and this translates to greater generosity on their part.

Thanks for sharing the stories.

Genie §:-)