Inspiring Short: You Are the Gift | Sharon Eubank

Sharon Eubank says that humanitarian aid is more than donating hygiene kits and digging wells. This Christmas season, may we take the time to find and help the "strangers" among us.

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"Sister Burton asked us each to think about the strangers among us. Is there anyone who doesn’t participate in society for some reason? Somebody who is on the periphery? Somebody who—because of language, background, disability, religion, family status, life choices, or anything else—is not fully participating within the circle? And can we think of them as brothers and sisters? Can we serve them?

Since Sister Burton gave that address in 2016, I have been in awe of how many examples have been shared relating to that great call to action. I want to share one with you. I took this story from the Deseret News. It took place in Lincoln Elementary in south Salt Lake City, which has students from fifteen different countries.

On the first day of school, the Hamed brothers, who recently had arrived from Syria, were greeted by Principal Milton Collins. He is this larger-than-life personality, and he does this crazy bobcat (the Lincoln Elementary mascot) growl—I can’t imagine what that sounds like. He makes sure every kid has a backpack, and he tells them, “Oh, by the way, high fives are mandatory. Whenever you see me in the hall, you must give me a high five.” And if students feel bullied, they are to go straight to an adult.

Milton Collins’s job is to be the principal—he is doing his job—but he is going beyond his job in order to be an unforgettable force for good in the lives of kids. They have experienced bombs, hunger, the death of loved ones, and uncertainty. And now, on the first day of school, they are scared to death. They don’t know if they are going to fit in or if they are going to have any friends. And their parents are even more scared than they are. As true disciples of Jesus Christ, we should have with us all of our lives the habits of having fearless courage, of being willing to serve and help people with their problems, and of thinking of others in terms of their being our brothers and sisters.

The big humanitarian crises that are going on right now and the ones that have happened in the past when people have been driven out of their homes and lands are, at the heart, failures to remember that we are brothers and sisters and that God is the Father of us all. That is the root cause of what is happening in the world. And when we respond in a humanitarian way, we can send bushels of food, we can dig wells, we can build latrines, we can put up schools and health care centers, and we can settle people into apartments. But if we don’t do something about people feeling like strangers instead of like our brothers and sisters, then the whole thing is in vain and will just feed the cycle of ­emotional and spiritual misery.

Ammon, Sister Burton, and Milton Collins are all using as a foundation what King Benjamin taught: that to serve others is to serve God—or, as Jesus Himself said, “As I have loved you . . . , love one another.”

There are many, many organizations and people who do enormous amounts of good in the world with their limited resources and their Benjamin-like desires to serve their fellow beings and to serve God. I am privileged to work with many of them, and I get to see what is being done in the world. I am going to speak to you from my own experience now about what I have seen that accomplishes the most lasting good. If you want to be involved in humanitarian service, this is the way—and I hope this is the thing that you will remember from the forum today. You are the gift. You yourself are the gift. It is not the clothing, the hygiene kits, the school desks, or the wells. It is you." - Sharon Eubank