A gift we have to give with words and deeds

In his strong and convincing performance as Linwood Taylor in “Baltimore, You Have No Idea,” Kevin Richardson plays a lifelong mentor to the recovering Harry Calloway. At one point in a monologue about the difficulties of former inmates in recovery, Richardson’s Taylor says, “I figure, if you’re not encouraging someone somewhere at some time, you’re not doing your job as a human being.”
All adults need to remember what it was like to receive an encouraging or admiring word from a non-parent we respected – teachers, employers, coworkers, maybe an aunt or uncle. Supportive words from third parties give an immediate lift and stay in the brain a long time, even forever.
My Christmas Eve column, published in print today in The Baltimore Sun, suggests encouragement of the young around us as the best gift for Christmas. It’s not a gift we can wrap or transfer by app. It’s a gift we have to give with words and deeds.
The way the world looks right now – with war and famine and climate threats – and the way the country looks right now – with the Trump threat to democracy and a political system in which they have little faith – the young need all the encouragement they can get. They need to believe in the future – and that they can make a better, healthier, more peaceful world. They need to be encouraged to run for office and save the democracy, to build and run new businesses with a progressive ethic, to do all things with the common good in mind. They need to be encouraged to take the lead.
To that end, it will help, today and every day, if the rest of us “do our jobs as human beings.”