I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Melinda Gates’s new THE MOMENT OF LIFT. Gates has spent the past twenty years working to improve health conditions in developing nations. Her book sets out compelling stories of the people she’s met as well as jaw-dropping research on their circumstances.
Gates says that every time she visits a developing nation, she schedules an extra day at the end of the trip to spend on her own, “to allow [her] heart to break.” She sits with the pain of all she’s seen for a full day, so that when she gets back to work at the Gates Foundation, she can think clearly about how to help. We often rush past pain—we skim the headline, avoid eye contact with the homeless person. This may be necessary to protect ourselves, but that refusal to absorb the impact of what we’re seeing is a barrier to assisting others.
I can’t imagine all that Gates has seen. Her bravery in gazing unflinchingly at that pain inspires me to open my eyes, as well. When we aren’t afraid to feel, we can take the steps to act.