As responsible citizens of this ever
changing world, we are committed to
living in harmony and peace. We are all
bound to support and help each other
regardless of our ethnicity, culture or
religion. As there are numerous people
in the world who desperately need
help, we must not ignore their cry. We
certainly have a role to ensure that
those less fortunate are helped and
healed. In the end, we may derive a
sense of purpose and achievement
from improving the lives of the
disadvantaged in addition to our own.
However, it seems as if we have
grown to accept inequality in the world.
Even in the United States, economic
disparities are so striking that some
people are extremely rich while others
are poor and homeless. These dispari-
ties are even greater when we consider
the rest of the world. Yet, we seem to
lead lives so self-centered, neglecting to
pay attention to our neighbors'
suffering.
It is important for people, especially
By Sarah Hyun
Why Helping
Others Matters
Sarah Hyun will be a senior at
Dwight-Englewood School in September.
She is very active in the youth group at
her church and plans to pursue
medicine as her life long vocation.
She lives in Palisades, New York with her
parents.
the youth, to take action in helping
others. The youth in the United States
live in a world of materialistic abun-
dance. We are often oblivious to the
rest of the world suffering from lack of
food, shelter, and other necessities. As
we are becoming more materialistic,
we are becoming less spiritual, too. We
are so wrapped up in our individual
lives that we have grown to ignore
others' problems. It has become hard
for us to put ourselves in their situa-
tions. Consequently, we have come to
lose important elements of human
connection and collaboration, both of
which make up the foundation for a
caring society. In other words, we are
slowly losing our sense of empathy, an
essential human element which
facilitates our connections and relation-
ships with the people around us.
This lack of empathy has made it
more difficult for us to help others.
However, as Christians, we believe that
one of the main purposes of life is to
help others. We believe in loving our
neighbors as ourselves, just as Jesus did.
We may help people in underprivileged
countries by alleviating poverty and
improving economic conditions. This
coincides with the mission of Hope5L2F
Foundation, an organization dedicated
to helping those in developing coun-
tries through not only providing
resources but through God's word.
Indeed, Hope5L2F Foundation may
serve as an excellent model of empow-
ering the disadvantaged with Christian
belief.
The youth play a definite role in
helping the less fortunate. Thanks to
the rapidly-growing availability of
technology, our world is not just a
global community but is a massive site
for networking and collaboration. Youth
can raise awareness of many global
issues and take initiatives to tackle
these problems through social media
and other means of digital technology.
Youth are prepared to take on chal-
lenges with newer, updated strategies.
Encouraging the youth to get involved
is crucial to the improvement of the
world, as the youth represent the
future.
The most effective way to help
people is to connect with them, live
with them, and thereby empower them
with the resources they have as
Hope5L2F Foundation envisions to do.
It is through these exemplary actions
that we follow Jesus' footsteps and
learn to develop more empathy for the
rest of the world.
Mission Journal
9
Voice of the
Next Generation
