you are my hero!!!

Good for you!

I feed stray cats.

If teaching children is a good thing, then I attended my daughter's school (in the USA) and talked about life in England.
Later they were having a math lesson, and I got to teach them the lattice method of long multiplication, so much by the end of the hour class they all could multiply two 5 digit numbers with ease, which the teacher was impressed with. They still had to learn the standard way (with columns, etc), but they could then check their answers themselves by using the easier method!

it comes naturally to me, but i see people's creativity and talent and remind them to tap into it and to use it for the rest of their life. nothing formal, but it has changed a lot of people's lives.

i remember being drunk one night at a pub in SF and teasing one young girl mercilessly as she talked about how she admired her friends art talents, yet they had both gone to art school. she was working in a law firm. my teasing grew more intense as the alcohol flowed, and i made a point of calling her a week later to apologize. she happily announced that she had quit her job, and taken a job as a photographer's assistant and submitted some of her older work to an agent to rep her. she *thanked* me for my drunken ranting.

i do a lot of other stuff too (volunteer, support artists financially, protest at political rallies, help with fund raising campaigns, even moderate tribes here), but encouraging people's creativity is the thing that i contribute most to. it happens at the grocery store counter, it happens anywhere and everywhere.

i give of myself to others, i give honestly and freely, i give what i know ,what i think, what i feel, what i have experienced, adn what i have suffered. i try to spread happiness as much as i can.i offer help to those that need it, i give compasion an trust, i give love and caring. its harder than it looks,

I sing to people. Yeah, I love singing and making music for myself. But the best part is when someone gets a lift or sheds a tear or remembers family and friends and good times. Our audiences are still small enough to see those tears and smiles.

I volunteered with a community service group called Rotaract in my youth (a spin off of Rotary). I held a blind girl's arm while she showed me how to see the world through her eyes. I volunteer now with Cubs and Scouts and watch 40 kids discover the world in their own ways.

It isn't much, but I give out random hugs to people who need them. So far I haven't offended anyone. I just seem to know when people need a hug. I always need one....so maybe it is selfish?