Solidarity is a principle that, unlike many others, doesn’t always seem necessary: we feel the urge to be supportive at Christmas, because we think we all should be kinder, or when we are going through a hard time, because we realize many others are worse off than us…
Let’s be a bit more honest with ourselves: Solidarity is not just a good deed, nor is it a gesture done occasionally to ease our conscience. Solidarity must be a modus vivendi, a way of being; it is a bond that unites us because we are human beings, social creatures born to live in a community of individuals similar to ourselves. Solidarity is the deep awareness that we are all part of one single human family — it’s part of our DNA, imprinted in our genetic makeup.
Solidarity is a bond, a strong union between people and generations, because it makes us recognize that we all belong to a single unit that, to grow in the best way, must know how to welcome and protect every individual, recognizing how much the value of each person is essential for the well-being of the community.
This is why being supportive, in concrete ways, every day:
DOES GOOD TO OTHERS AND… MAKES US FEEL BETTER, because it corresponds to an unspoken inner need of ours that, if listened to, makes us fully human.
“Whoever has lit even just one small candle in the dark hour of someone’s life has not lived in vain.”
— Mother Teresa of Calcutta