Fraternity with those who are sad and lonely

Let’s face it: we’re surrounded by sad and lonely people. You just have to look on the bus stop, in the market place, at university... As Youth for a United World, we want to dedicate the month of March to draw close to those who are unemployed, alone, depressed... giving them all the love in our hearts.

By Mother Teresa of Calcutta

“Solitude is the worst kind of misery.

The poor people we gather up every day are those whom society rejects. We try to give back to these people human dignity. As children of God they are entitled to it.

We met with people whom we knew only through their address. However, do we really realize that these people truly exist? Who knows, maybe it’s someone who is very close to us, or perhaps walking on the other side of the road. It may be a blind man who would appreciate our reading him the newspaper. It may also be a person rich in money, but who has no one to visit him. The rich person often has lots of goods, but these very goods isolate him. He has no contact with other people, which is what he really needs in order to be a human being.

Don’t be satisfied with giving money. Money is not enough, and it’s easier to find than a helping hand to assist or a heart that loves.

Where do we normally find elderly people? They live in old people’s home or institutions. Why? It is because no one wants them, because they’re a burden. I remember some time ago I visited a beautiful home for the elderly. There were about forty boarders, and really nothing was missing. But everyone was seated, staring at the door. There wasn’t a smile on their faces, and I asked to the nun who worked there: “Sister, she don’t these people smile? Why they don’t they stop staring at the door?” And, in a very gentle manner, she told me the sad reality: “Every day, the same thing happens, Mother. They hope someone will come to visit them.” This is the real poverty.

There’s no need to walk in slums or shanty towns to find lack of love, poverty. Without any doubt, there is someone who is suffering even in our neighbourhood and our own family.”