Have mercy
“You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.” - Nelson Mandela.
How do you define mercy? Is it simply kindness shown to someone? Is it a legal action delivered by a judge to a person that deserves a greater sentence? Is it that word you often hear in religious services? For illuminAid, mercy is something more. Mercy is what drives our mission.
We see mercy in every country that we serve. We see it on the faces of those who deliver services to people in need. Mercy is on display in every video we help someone create. We see it in the face of the young man who managed to escape the poverty of his hometown, get an education and return as part of a non-profit or NGO. It’s demonstrated when he comes back to bring help and hope to his people. It’s found in his team that spent hours carefully crafting a video that the people will be sure to understand. Mercy is in every frame.
It’s important to stress that mercy is not condescending. It doesn’t look down its nose at the needy. Mercy lifts up. Mercy stems from caring. It understands that those caught in poverty didn’t choose their position. Mercy doesn’t want to hold someone in their place, but attempts to lift them up. Condescension rushes in to offer momentary assistance to make themselves feel better, but, in the end, very little changes. Mercy says, “I see you.” Condescension says, “Look at me.”
Mercy is often a two-way street. We’ve experienced that as well. It’s not uncommon for illuminAid to connect with an agency to provide services to those in need. When local governments see what’s taking place, they show us mercy as well. They might offer more freedom to move about and do our work. They might open doors of opportunity that might have been closed. Mercy comes full circle.
Of course, we also see mercy from our donors. Each one chooses to give to illuminAid because they see the need. They recognize that we can’t do what we do without their help. We can’t bring support where it’s needed and we can’t go to the people we serve without them. Our supporters participate in the compassion work that we do. The mercy flows from them, through us and directly to those in need.
It’s also clear to us that mercy is desperately needed both at home and in the countries we serve. We will only see societal wounds healed with acts of mercy. We will only see poverty’s effects diminished with mercy. We will only see peace come from chaos with mercy. All it takes is each one of us making small changes in our attitude and our actions. It takes all of us to take a step toward mercy.