Charity has become a part of our life.
If ten years ago the habit of regularly donating money to charitable foundations seemed like the lot of the rich and famous, now it is becoming the norm for the most ordinary people.
Some get involved and become volunteers, while others start their own projects to help those who find themselves in difficult situations.
There may be many motivations with which people begin to help others, but one thing is indisputable: charity and help give us the opportunity to become involved in the miracle of saving or improving someone else's life, no matter how small our personal contribution to this.
Charity and help give us from childhood a forgotten belief that miracles happen, and good eventually triumphs over evil.
Unfortunately, miracles don't always happen.
It is very painful to transfer money to fundraising a sick child, and then find out that the operation was unsuccessful and the child died.
Unfortunately, there is no other way in charity and volunteering, and keeping silent about this means lying to donors and volunteers.
And to ourselves.
Last week, trouble came to the RT project Children of War.
We have a little ward from Donbass died.
The operation seemed to be successful, there was yet another one - 14-year-old Andriy Shevchenko had end-stage renal failure.
The boy was discharged from the hospital for recovery, but then complications began abruptly.
And Andrey was gone.
Everyone who deals with the situation discusses it among themselves deliberately casually, so as not to break into a scream.
In order not to ask each other a terrible question: how is it, why do children die ?!
Once again they repeat the diagnosis to each other, discuss issues of the place at the cemetery, funeral, paperwork, rules for communicating with the relatives of the deceased.
Everything so as not to discuss that the news cut you in half too.
And so it will be every time.
When we go to charity, volunteering, help, we really want to color our life with stories with a happy ending.
Participate in these finals.
To be a little bit, but wizards.
Unfortunately, not all stories in our world have a happy ending.
Unfortunately, if you are engaged in helping people, then, in addition to successes, there will be such days.
If you engage in helping sick children, then some of these children will die anyway.
The same applies to adults, old people - and everyone who needs help.
Someone will not live to see help arrives, someone will have an unsuccessful operation, and in some situations it will not be possible to do anything at all.
And here it remains only to recall the formula that the late Elizaveta Petrovna Glinka constantly repeated: "If a person cannot be saved, this does not mean that he cannot be helped."
And we must understand all this from the very beginning.
And we understand and we know.
And still every time - like the first.
And your personal inner cemetery is expanding, expanding, because you still remember everyone and still visit each of these graves from time to time inside.
And then the question arises: how to tell these stories to others?
And is it worth telling?
After all, people are engaged in charity work and volunteering for the sake of hope, miracle and light, and in someone such stories with tragic endings can kill this faith.
There will always be someone who blames the same volunteers for the failure.
But we need to talk about it.
First, because honesty is the most important thing.
I am sure that if the donor is deceived and said that everything went well, or they simply don’t tell the end of the story, then this is much worse than saying honestly: “The miracle did not happen.
We tried, but it didn't work. "
Secondly, as I have said many times, first people come to charity and volunteering for the sake of being involved in a miracle. And then the stage comes when they remain in it with the full awareness that this miracle may not happen. And most importantly, so that you are not ashamed afterwards for passing by. I am ashamed of my unwillingness to "let negativity into my life." It's a shame that you turn away, because, they say, it's still hopeless. Because only then do you understand why you are actually doing all this - you donate, volunteer, organize. In fact, you are not helping others in this way. First of all, you help yourself to become at least a little better, not forgetting that we are all just people.
And fairy tales and miracles are born only from this very basic honesty.
From that kindness that does not tolerate kind people.
The kindness that accepts the fact that not all stories will be happy.
And the tragic ending of one story is the reason to go not back, but forward, to a new story.
In which, perhaps, something else can be changed.
The point of view of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.