About Service

I just finished watching the Movie About Schmidt. I have seen it several times before and always enjoyed it, and it is one of those movies that touches you each time you see it. It truly is a brilliant comment on our world and our place in it. The story follows the life of retired Warren Schmidt and the struggles he faces after retirement, losing his wife, and watching his daughter marry a man that he feels is not good enough for her. At the end of the movie there is a monologue where he ponders his life and comes to the conclusion that it is meaningless because he has touched no one. He tried to live a life the "right" way, only to find that he left the important things out. At the beginning of the movie he decides to sponsor a poor child in Tanzania. Most of the information we find out about Warren's inner life is narrated through letters he writes to the child, Ndugu, and most of the humor comes from his self absorption and ignorance. At the end of the movie he receives a letter back from the nun who is caring for the child and a drawing of two people holding hands done by Ndugu. He begins to cry, having received far more from the child than the $22 a month he sent to help.

This reminded me of a quote sent to me by a friend some time back by Oscar Romero:

"We should not feel superior when we help anyone. Those who give materially receive spiritually. There is an exchange of property that is understood only in a true spirit of poverty, which makes the rich feel they are close brothers and sisters of the poor, and makes the poor feel they are equal givers and not inferior to the rich. The giving is mutual, 'that there may be equality,' as St. Paul says."

I truly feel that when we practice service and give of ourselves to someone else we do receive as much if not far more from the person we are serving than they receive from us. It's easy to watch the movie and feel a certain bitterness towards Warren, and justifiably so in a sense, because he doesn't seem to realize how much he does have in relation to the boy he is sponsoring in Africa. I think it's important to remember, though, as I discussed with another friend this weekend, that suffering is relative. We all, in our own place, have our hardships, and it is wrong to feel that one's sufferings are invalid because they are seemingly so much less than another's. We are all struggling to make it the best way we can and should be sympathetic to those around us. I think if we all could practice some sort of service to those around us we would all benefit from the act. The good done through the service is just icing on the cake.