It has been a while that I have started reading James Altucher's book, Choose Yourself. I am going to write a post about how I actually found it and what an effect it has had on my life. To be honest, I was going to not start this blog until I had more time and could write an appropriate long-winded introduction to me and my blog and everything else I might want to talk about (yes, I am talkative). However, something very nice, warm and fuzzy happened to me today that I thought needs to be written down before I forget the moment.
I've always enjoyed helping. I enjoy it so much that sometimes I wish I could spend some time for myself. I do remember my girlfriend yelling at me seven or eight years back (when I was about sixteen) to "stop taking every single call and helping every single person with their every single problem". I refused, saying that people needed help. I said that I believed in karma. That the person I help today might help me in the future. That the word will go from ear to ear that Parham is the nice guy around here. That whenever someone needed help, they'd seek me out. But then she slammed the final nail in the coffin.
"Many people don't do that," she said, "and they are living great lives."
I was stunned into silence. Of course. All of this crap I had said was just made fun of by the world itself. If karma existed, wouldn't these people be groveling in the dirt, yelling that they needed to help someone so that their life would get better and the world would stop pushing them into the dirt again and again?
Years later, as I got more experience, as I sampled more of the world around me with my wonderful girlfriend, I realized I didn't care what karma (or the lack of it) did to other people. I realized I didn't want to be the happiest person in the world, or the most successful, or the most powerful. All I needed was to be happy. Happy enough to wake up every day and say, "It's going to be such a perfect day!" Happy enough to look forward to the future, no matter which way it would throw me.
So, back to the topic of this post. I was reading a chapter about coming up with ideas and what strategies James' friends have suggested. One of those ideas was a nice one: the person had said that they search on Twitter for specific keywords to find ideas. I'm not sure if "I wish" was in there, but I did search it. And I did find some pretty neat things.
There were all sorts of tweets: someone had wished that she was a scorpion. Another had wished his crush would text him first. Many had wished they'd pass their math or whatever exam. A girl had wished that her boyfriend would just wake up and text her.
But among all of these, I found something very, very different:
Wish I had a mom though AHHHHH!
Merely reading it made my heart ache. Who was this person? Where was she? Why was she missing her mom? Was she an orphan who had never seen her mom, or had her mom just died?
The enormity of it hit me then. How bad she must be feeling. This person that I had never met, that I hadn't even known existed, posting a tweet from the other side of the globe (I'm Iranian, so the chances are pretty high she is literally on the other side of the globe from me). I wondered if I could help her (or him – I don't even know their gender). I wondered if there was something I could possibly do to make them feel good.
I wished I lived near them. I wished I was their friend. I wished I could talk to them and comfort them through the phone, or Skype, or anything. I wished I could meet them in person and hold them, offer them a pat on the back, anything.
Tears filled my eyes in desperation. I needed to reach out, but didn't know how. I wanted to make them feel that I cared. And then suddenly, the solution came to me – it was much, much simpler than I had thought.
I sent them a tweet.
That's right. I didn't buy a ticket to the USA (i would first need to get a visa, which would take a lifetime). I didn't invite them over to Iran. I didn't go and call them on the phone, or on Skype. I just sent them a tweet, and I filled up all the 140 characters of it with all the good emotions and positive energy I could muster.
I'm sorry you don't have a mom. I hope you let your friends fill up her place in your heart.
Soon my tweet was favorited by them. They sent me a tweet saying that the world needed more people like me. My tears vanished, replaced by a contented smile.
That is how I helped someone today. It wasn't as hard as I had thought!
What about you? Have you ever wished you could help someone? Did you do it? Did you not? Tell me in the comments!
