Stories of Kindness from Around the World

"To those whom much is given, much is expected." There are so many of you on this site, living out the second part of this quote on a daily basis - being kind in unexpected ways, sharing the bounty of your lives with others.

I, like many here, volunteer some of my time in order to give back just a little of what I am so blessed to have. This month, I had an incredible opportunity to step up my game a little, and step out of my comfort zone a lot. I volunteered to go to Guatemala with an eyeglass team from International Relief Teams - an organization I have supported in other ways for many years.

Our team went to a small town in Guatemala, San Augustin. We set up our tables and packages of pre-made glasses in the dirt courtyard of a clinic, put up the Snellen chart taped to a wall, and began seeing people. Young and old, they came from many of the surrounding towns - most having to take off of work and ride for an hour or more on a bus to get to our clinic. Most had never had an eye exam before.

They waited for hours patiently in the sun, never complaining. If we could help them out, their gratitude for a simple pair of glasses was overwhelming. Some only left with eye drops or sunglasses, and even these people were grateful. All of them were very free with blessings and hugs, and smiles.

We saw over a hundred people a day - and a good portion of those we saw got glasses. It's so easy to overlook how much difference something very simple and very available here in the United States can make in the lives of people who simply do not have access to these things.

We heard over and over from people who knew their eyes needed help that they had not gone to a doctor because it was too expensive, or had not got the glasses they needed for the same reason. We saw children who were kept out of school because they could not see the board, we met teenagers depending on group study and on their friends to get by. Seamstresses who could not see to thread needles, drivers with difficulty seeing road signs.

These were not complicated glasses like we have here in the U.S. The reading ones were simply magnifiers like you can buy in any drugstore. We are not optometrists or doctors, and there were several people we could not help. But for those we could, we watched as their lives changed. What a gift sight is - and what a difference being able to see clearly makes.

We have so much. And from us, much should be expected. Here at Kindspring, people do the extraordinary every day. And every day, those actions change lives. No action is too small, no action is ever wasted. We have so much. In San Augustin, Guatemala, I returned from the trip with so much more than I took with me "to give." I am beyond grateful to have had a chance to share gifts with so many, to look them in the eye and say "Gracias" to them in response to their heartfelt thanks to me.