20 Types of People to Truly Encourage, Affirm and Love

THERE are still too many in our richer First World societies that have had life so comfortably good — who have never had it bad — that cannot empathise with another portion of the world that have rarely had it good — or who have had it so bad it transformed them. The vulnerable deserve our encouragement, affirmation and love.

These are just some who deserve every bit our encouragement, affirmation and love:

1.     The single mother or father who supports their children diligently and sacrifices much so they are fed, clothed and educated, and still finds time to work, to study, and to better themselves.

2.     The person with a disabling disorder or mental crisis who gets up out of bed each day, who gets dressed and puts their shoes on, walks out to life, even in their grief, depression and anxiousness.

3.     The one who has come to the end of one life through no circumstances of their own making and is forced to make of life a new life.

4.     The cancer patient.

5.     The parent with a disabled or impaired child, where many days are simply arduous, and some days are hellish.

6.     The abused person, or the person who lives in the shadow of an abuse that should never have occurred.

7.     The lonely person who has either lost a partner or has never had a partner.

8.     The person happy on the exterior, but calamitously lonely or fearful on the interior.

9.     The discriminated against. Nobody deserves to be ostracised or condemned.

10. Those affected by the tragedy of sudden paraplegia or quadriplegia.

11. The person who lost a child.

12. The child who lost a parent.

13. Those for whom humiliation has occurred; where they are segregated from a community they once belonged to.

14. The family member who lives in the hell of another family member’s drug or gambling (or other) addiction, and the one who has overcome their addiction.

15. The person entrapped in a cycle of poverty beyond their own means or making.

16. The exploited person.

17. Any child not able to routinely access peace, hope and joy.

18. Anyone who does not know if they will eat tomorrow; anyone without a roof over their head, warmth in winter and cool in summer.

19. The forlorn prisoner.

20. Anyone who provides leadership with a heart to genuinely serve.

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The greatest gift we can give to the poor, to the vulnerable, to the abused and the exploited, is the gift of encouragement, affirmation and love.

The greatest gift we can give the needy is love with arms and legs, hands and feet.

© 2015 Steve Wickham.