Compassion
Dear Friends,
In the movie About Schmidt 66-year-old Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson) has retired from his job as an insurance actuary. He’s miserable and after his wife suddenly dies, he also feels lost. He travels the country in his campervan, hoping to stop his daughter’s marriage and find some kind of purpose to life.
Throughout the movie he writes his personal thoughts to a 6-year-old African child, Ndugu, who he sponsors for $22 a month. As Warren is travelling back home in his campervan, he begins contemplating the meaninglessness of his life. (He shares his thoughts in letters to 6-year-old Ndugu). In the voice-over we hear: "I know we’re all pretty small in the big scheme of things. I suppose the most you can hope for is to make some kind of difference. But what kind of difference have I made? What in the world is better because of me?" He briefly explains how he failed to stop his daughter marrying a loser. Then he says, "I’m weak, and I’m a failure.
There’s just no getting around it."He arrives home and picks up a stack of mail. The voice-over continues: "Relatively soon I will die. Maybe twenty years. Maybe tomorrow. It doesn’t matter. Once I’m dead and everybody who knew me dies too, it’ll be as though I never existed. What difference has my life made to anyone? None that I can think of. None at all. Hope things are fine with you. Yours truly, Warren Schmidt.
"He sees an envelope with an international postmark and opens it. The voice-over voice changes to that of a nun. "Dear Mr. Warren Schmidt. My name is Sister Nadie Guchier of the Order of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart. I work in a small village near the town of Enbaya in Tanzania. One of the children I care for is little Ndugu Emu - the boy you sponsor. Ndugu is a very intelligent boy and very loving. He is an orphan. Recently he needed medical attention for an infection of the eye, but he is better now. He loves to eat melon and he loves to paint. Ndugu and I wanted you to know he receives all your letters. He hopes you are happy in your life and healthy. He thinks of you every day, and he wants very much your happiness. Ndugu is only six years old and cannot read or write, but he has made for you a painting. He hopes you will like this painting. Yours sincerely, Sister Nadine Guchier.
"Warren unfolds the paper and stares at it. We then see it up on the screen. It’s a drawing of two stick figures of a boy holding the hand of a man. Warren stares at it and starts to cry. His tears of grief turn to tears of joy, knowing that his life matters to a little African orphan boy. The movie ends.
One of our fridge magnets at home says, 'To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.' So true.
This week would you consider how God can use your time, talents and treasure to help others? Don't wait until you near the end of your life to realise what God can do through you… like Schmidt did in the film.
And why not consider sponsoring a child through Compassion? Check out www.compassionuk.org or email my friend Mal Howard, for further information at malh@compassionuk.org
Agape,
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