Photo Credit: Creative Commons- yalaminy

Here’s a great guest post from one of my favorite online writing buddies, Eileen Knowles. She’s funny, insightful and loves coffee as much as me – how can you NOT like somebody like that?

If you’d like to write a guest post for The Daily ReTORt, check out the guidelines here:

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My family and I recently moved from North Carolina to Georgia. It’s a coming home sort of move for my husband who was born and raised in North Georgia.  For me, it still feels like I’m on vacation visiting my in-laws.

Today, I plan on forcing myself to go for a run.  I have not made time for one since the big move. I know one of the reasons I’ve been reluctant to run is that I dread the agony of defeat…or rather the agony of da feet and da legs.  I have not run in hilly terrain for over 12 years.

The area of North Carolina I resided in had only two types of terrain. Flat and Very Flat. You might think I’m exaggerating…but let me assure you that I am not. In fact, I am certain the highest percentage of people in the world who once believed the world was flat and not round must have lived in NE North Carolina.

I know that my first run in my new peachy state is going to kick my butt. It’s going to hurt. I am not going to look like someone who has run and completed a couple of 1/2 marathons and 10Ks. In fact, I envision it looking something like this…

However, I plan on getting out there today. I plan on accomplishing something that will be far from pretty or perfect. Because, I know the truth (even though I’ve been avoiding the truth) that the only way to move from failure to success is by doing.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go put on my running shorts. There are intimidating hills calling out my name and taunting me. And, today, a part of me will conquer those hills simply by making the choice to run up them rather than away from them.

What about you?  Are there any mountains of fear you need to conquer today?  How do you find the motivation and the courage to face your fears?

Eileen Knowles is a small town Arizona girl who studied English at The University of Arizona a long, long time ago. She now lives in North Georgia with her husband, Roger, their nine-year old son, and one quirky dog named Bisbee. When she is not working part-time as a virtual assistant for eaHelp, she thoroughly enjoys drinking coffee, running, playing Scrabble, and writing about how cool it is to journey through life with Jesus holding her hand.

Eileen is passionate about leaving a legacy for her son and encouraging others along the way who might need a dose of hope poured into their weary lives.
You can find her taking The Scenic Route at
Connect on Twitter Connect on Facebook

Author, pastor, blogger and speaker – Leon Hayduchok

It’s another installment of “7 Questions With Author…” and today’s featured writer is Leon Hayduchok, who recently authored his first book titled Dying to Control.

Leon began his professional career as a CPA with Price Waterhouse, LLP before earning his ThM from Dallas Theological Seminary and founding Cornerstone Community Church in Utica, NY.

After pastoring Cornerstone for 9 years, Leon along with his wife and three daughters, relocated to Houston, Texas, where he now offers his distinct perspective through his book, blog and seminars.

Here are seven questions with Leon Hayduchok.

1.Tell us about your book?
Based on the story of Adam and Eve, Dying to Control is a commentary on human nature, American culture and interpersonal relationships. Written in the genre of literary non-fiction, I use various literary devices to weave my personal story with observations about 21st century culture and the biblical account of Adam and Eve.

In the end, my objective was to address heavy theological topics in a deeply personal way in hopes of making the subject matter relevant and accessible to a wide array of readers – from layperson to scholar, from religious to agnostic.

2.What led you to write it?
Back when I was in seminary, I was writing a paper on the holiness of God and I felt an overwhelming sense to stop writing what I thought I already knew and read the story of Adam and Eve. As I read the story I began to see how God pursued Adam and Eve after they had sinned, which seemed odd to me because:

1. I had never noticed that before and…

2. I had always been taught that sin can’t exist in God’s presence. As I continued reading the story of Adam and Eve, I began to see God and my relationship with him in a whole new light.

Two weeks later, I woke up in the middle of the night with the thought, “What are you going to do about it?”

Wide awake and unable to go back to sleep, I went to my computer and started to write about how I thought I would someday write a book about my new understanding of the story and Adam and Eve.

3.Who is a writer that inspires you and why?
Henri Nouwen. To be honest, I’m more of a thinker than a writer, so the idea of writing a book was very intimidating to me. But when I started to read Nouwen, I saw a man willing to engage thoughts and ideas from a position of uncertainty and vulnerability.

He didn’t write from the ivory towers of higher education, but from the streets where people lived – places too messy for neat and organized theology. Nouwen helped me see that I didn’t need to have all the answers, or be a scholar, or even be a good writer. I just needed to be myself – a thinker who felt called to write a book about a world dying to control.

4.What was the biggest challenge you faced writing this book?
Finding my voice. It took me several years to develop a writing style that I was comfortable with—one that allowed me to address heady theological concepts in an easy-to-read fashion.

I also wanted the book to be personal; I wanted people to see my struggle with dying to control; and I wanted people to see that theology is tangible and practical and that the story of Adam and Eve is our story.

5.What advice would you give an aspiring writer?
Before giving any advice I would ask the question, why – “Why do you want to be a writer?” For those seeking fame, fortune or have some other self-serving ambition, I would encourage them to think long and hard about whether or not they really want to be a writer.

For those who write as a hobby or because it’s helpful to them in some fashion, I would encourage them to continue writing as long as they enjoy it and see how things develop over time.

And for those that feel compelled to write because they have a story to tell, information to share, or a message to deliver, I would encourage them to be patient and to never give up.

It took me fourteen years to write Dying to Control. Hopefully it won’t take them that long, but you never know.

6.Where do you get your ideas?
That’s a hard question for me to answer. I’ve always been an inquisitive person and I’m an obsessive thinker, so ideas have always been flying in and around my head.

The bigger issue for me is trying to make sense of those nagging thoughts and ideas and getting my brain to shut down once in a while. If that sounds a little crazy, well then… call me crazy!

7. Anything that you’d like readers to know that I haven’t asked?
If I have to limit it to one thing, let me say this: faith grows in the fields of doubt.

Our modern quest to prove the existence of God, systematize our theology, and formulize our faith has made the Church anemic, and as a result, we have failed to feed billions of starving people around the world.

However, I have hope that things will change in the 21st century, that a post-modern Christian faith will emerge and flourish, and the fruit from that faith will feed people in every corner of our world.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons – Nathan Wade Center

In elementary school, I had a pair of hand-me-down pants from one of my older sisters that I hated wearing.

To be clear, this school-age cross-dressing was imposed by my parents as a cost saving measure since they had five kids to clothe and feed.

Being that I had two older sisters, 50 percent of my “gender neutral” closet (i.e. pants, pull over sweaters, zipper hoodies…etc) was technically girls’ clothes.

Hand-Me-Downs From My Sisters

I’m not proud of that fact, but it was an economic reality of my childhood.

But there was one pair of slacks that was particularly problematic.

They were girls’ white-purple-pinstriped bell-bottoms from Sears that happened to be part of the Winnie the Pooh clothing collection at the mass retailer.

The master-branding of Pooh bear was emblazoned across the over-sized, backside pockets of the pants in excruciatingly bright embroidery spanning from my tailbone to mid-thigh – because the pants were two sizes too large.

In hindsight, a third-grade girl might have been able to manage wearing those cursedly cute pants and not get harassed – not so if you were a boy.

Victim of Fashion Faux Pas

On three separate occasions, my mother made me wear those pants to school because they were the only pants I had clean.

Regrettably, it seemed that none of the tried and true camouflage tactics worked.

No amount of “t-shirt tugging” or “sweatshirt-tying-around-my-waist” would cover the massive geography of the adorably-damning needlework on my keister.

Needless to say, I was beaten up each time I wore those pants to school and each time I came home sobbing about the abuse my mother would try to comfort me by saying,

“Honey, all those other kids are just jealous of your pants.”

Even though I was not a junior member of Mensa or an aspiring Fulbright Scholarship applicant – my 8-year old brain knew my mom was full of it.

I mean, say ALL the facts of the situation out loud:

“Honey those 10 year old boys who beat you up are all jealous of the same purple-pin-striped Winnie the Pooh bell bottoms that your 10 year old sister used to wear to their shared classes.”

Bigger Lies I Would Have Believed

I would have been more apt to believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the legitimacy of unauthorized Obama Administration wiretaps on journalists before I believed my mother’s whooper of misdirection.

The simple fact was that those pants were not cool and a lighting rod for juvenile ridicule.

To avoid any further schoolyard pummelings, I started doing my own laundry to ensure I always had clean pants. Since I was also responsible for taking out the trash for the household, I discretely disposed of the perditionesque Pooh pants

Being Cool is the Rule of Law for Kids

Anyway, the point is that ever since then I was painfully aware of the need to be accepted in school and the importance of being perceived as cool by peers.

To help our daughters avoid the same peer-induced pain I endured, my wife and I have allowed our daughters (ages 9 and 11) to pick out their own clothes and footwear ever since they expressed clothing preferences.

We want them to feel accepted and to limit at least one potential area of school-based cruelty by helping them dress on trend.

However, it seems that the clothing calculus has changed since I was a kid – and what you wear is only part of the equation.

It seems the real driver of coolness among “the preteen set” is owning a smart phone.

This became evident over a dinner conversation a few weeks ago when our oldest asked if she could have a cell phone because it would help her “be cool.”

Balancing Coolness

My wife and I have discussed this issue many times regarding the pros and cons of allowing our 11 year old to have a cell phone. While she’s certainly mature enough to handle the responsibility – I’m reluctant.

It’s not that I don’t trust her, I simply don’t trust all the other individuals who have access to technology that could interface with her.

The Price of Cool???

While most of her friends already have uber-cool cell phones, email accounts and FB pages – parents of  those same friends are dealing with a crop of new issues and problems (i.e. hacked accounts, spamming, false posts, cyber-bulling…etc.), which I don’t want my kids to endure yet.

In other words, despite my own personal experience as an uncool kid – I’m committed to keeping my kids as uncool as I can for as long as I can.

Question: Do you think you were cool or uncool as a kid growing up? Why?

My medal for completing the 2013 Frederick Half Marathon

Four weeks ago I ran and completed the 2013 Frederick Running Festival Half Marathon – a 13.1 mile jaunt through the highways and byways of Frederick County Maryland.

Now mind you, the last time I had run a distance that far was early last summer before the birth of our son.

Even though I’m in better shape than I was then – great cholesterol and blood ratios as well as a 31 lbs weight loss – I still had not been training or practicing for the distance.

I signed up on a whim after a running buddy called me the Friday before the race. We both agreed to give it a whirl and registered the next day – committing to run the very NEXT day.

For the record, I’ve successfully completed a total of five full marathons and nearly a dozen half marathons – however, I trained and practiced for each one of those.

While I completed this most recent half marathon in a respectable time of 2 hours, 4 minutes – I was not successful, because I was hurting and continued to hurt until last week because I didn’t practice for this event.

Hence the title of this post….

1. Practice Prevents Pain

The old saying “practice makes perfect” doesn’t mean much to me because I don’t find it to be necessarily true.

I know plenty of people who practice their respective craft, hobby or sport many hours a day and are stuck at a certain level.

While practice doesn’t always lead to perfection it most certainly prevents physical pain. Regardless of the activity, the more you engage in it the stronger and better adapted your body becomes.

However, proficiency and perfection at that activity is another matter completely.

2. Practice Promotes Perseverance

During the hundreds of miles I’ve logged running the past few years, I’ve come to realize that the mind is tougher than the body.

On dozens of occasions and in the midst of several races when my body wanted to quit, my mind compelled me to finish.

That perseverance was practiced many times during training runs and became so habitual that it manifests itself on race day.

3. Practice Prepares Performance

If you’ve never competed or ran in an organized race I would strongly recommend you try it – event if it’s a 5K relay where you’re running/walking a mile. There’s an excitement around the starting line and the event that’s difficult to describe.

That sense of anxious excitement is exhilarating – especially when you know that you’ve logged the hours on the road, gotten your needed rest and visualized yourself crossing the finish line.

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of confidence to perform that comes with a strong practice regimen. Those past practices help you realize that there isn’t anything on this course that you can’t handle.

It’s like being in school when you’re able to take a test in your favorite subject, with your favorite teacher and you’ve done all the homework and reading leading up to final exam.

You’re ready to perform and you know it.

Expect Pain When You Don’t Practice

I’m not surprised that my lack of practice for this latest race resulted in a painful outcome, but I was surprised at how long it endured. Luckily, I didn’t seriously injure myself – so I’m back running and walking.

Hopefully, I’ve learned something from this painful lesson.

Question: What’s one thing you’ve done in your life before you were ready that you regret?

Photo Caption: Creative Commons – IrishLace82

Here’s a guest post from a great writer and e-friend, Joana Hyatt. She is an author and speaker who focuses on dating, and relationship issues – she’s one of my favorites!

If you’d like to write a guest post for The Daily ReTORt, check out the guidelines here:

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Standing in line at a coffee shop the other day, I couldn’t help but overhear the phone conversation of the man behind me. He was clearly upset and at the end of his patience when he blurted into the phone, “You’re 27 years old Molly! Do you still need me to say, Oh, I’m proud of you, good job??”

My heart broke a little as I thought of the woman on the other end of the line. I don’t know the circumstances and I don’t know their relationship, but I do know this: every girl, no matter how old, will always need to hear that her father is proud of her.

Daughters need their fathers.

We need our dads to remind us that we matter, that we’re beautiful when the mirror screams at us, that we’re ugly and awkward, and to listen as we tearfully spill about broken hearts and broken dreams. We need our dads to model for us how a real man lives and loves, to protect us, to inspire us, and to continue to see the best in us when the world has given up.

A girl’s relationship with her dad will shape the kind of woman that she becomes.

As the only girl in a family of six children, I’ve been blessed to know how powerful and special this relationship can be. Now that my husband and I are expecting our first little one (a girl!), the issue of fathers and daughters is driven home to a whole new level.

To every father out there, this post is for you. To encourage you, to challenge you, and to remind you of this very important truth: you matter to that little girl, whether she is 4 or 27.

Here are three tips for raising your daughter:

1.You are her first love

Being her first love means that you will set the bar for the kind of men that she will date, and eventually, for the man that she will marry. For better or for worse, the example you set in how you treat her mother and how you treat her will dictate how she allows other men to treat her. She will take her cues on her value and what level of respect and honor she should expect as a woman because of how you first treated her.

It’s never too late to begin affirming her and modeling what kind of man she deserves.

2. Find ways to connect that are unique to her

I’m in my twenties, married, and starting my own family, yet my dad and I still find ways to connect and keep our relationship vibrant. A couple of years ago we started trading a journal back and forth. Once one of us has written in it, we either mail it back to the other person or bring it with us on our next visit. Phone dates happen to be harder for us, so this is a way to connect about what is going on in life and share heart truths.

Not every girl fits the stereotype of loving a trip to the mall. Maybe your daughter likes being outdoors. Or she’s big into dancing and theater. Perhaps she’s constantly dreaming of traveling on some new adventure. As you get to know your daughter, you may be surprised at what she finds interesting or what drives her passion. And if you have a teen daughter, don’t be intimidated by the amount of time she spends glued to her phone. Use that as a place to start connecting with her and then discover together your own unique way of building the relationship.

3. Battle for her

That may mean that sometimes you have to battle against her. Setting boundaries and parameters is healthy, from who she goes out with to how she dresses. Dads, you know better than anyone what other men will be thinking when your daughter goes out in that dress (or lack thereof).

I was so upset the first time my dad told me I couldn’t wear a certain outfit because of how it would cause boys and men to look at me. It took me a few years to see that what I thought was a parent power trip was really a father caring enough about me to take a stand, to protect me when I didn’t know how to protect myself.

Fathers, you matter more than you know to that little girl in your life. And when she’s grown and living on her own, your words and your actions will still matter. So love her well, love her extravagantly, and love her as only a daddy can.

Based out of Los Angeles, Joanna Hyatt is a national speaker on dating, relationships and sex, and the author of The Sex Talk: A Survival Guide for Parents. She blogs at www.joannahyatt.com and tweets @JoannaHyatt.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons – Angela Penn

I’ve written a few times on this blog about the scary heart issue that I had toward the end of last year and my subsequent overnight in the hospital emergency room.

I also wrote about the ongoing fight I’ve been forced to face against myself to lose 40 pounds at the recommendation of my cardiologist.

Since I’ve started this journey, I’ve lost 31 pounds total – and I hope to lose the remainder before the summer ends.

While I’ve been going to WeightWatchers to help manage my food intake or input, I’ve also been very conscious about my exercising or outputs.

Everyday since I’ve started this health-improvement journey, I’ve walked at least 30 minutes – often more – achieving an average number of daily steps that are more than 10,000 per day.

I’m convinced that the walking has been the key for me and the success I’ve had thus far.

Here’s an interesting infographic that bears that point.

I know everyone is busy, but I squeeze the daily walk within my lunch hour – if I can do it then anybody can. Also, it doesn’t require a gym membership or anything other than comfortable shoes and your decision to do it.

If you’ve been waiting to move more – start now, no more excuses!

Question: What do you do to keep in shape?

Cleverbot is a not-so-clever (but mildly entertaining) software program that learns

One of the more popular features here on The Daily ReTORt are my conversations with Cleverbot.

What’s Cleverbot you ask?

Cleverbot, is Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) software  that supposedly learns by conversing with humans via an instant messaging platform.

I’ve never found Cleverbot to be intelligent in the purest definition of the word; however, interacting with this particular “thinking” software can be mildly entertaining.

Here’s the most recent interview I had with this bastion of A.I. lunacy: St. Patrick’s Day With Cleverbot

Below, is a conversation I had with Cleverbot this morning regarding Memorial Day. While it’s a week late – it’s always better late than never with Cleverbot.

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User: Hi Cleverbot, we usually chat about the various holidays but I was busy last Monday (which was Memorial Day) – how have you been?

Cleverbot: No, we never talked about any of that? Where did that come from.

User: Ummm…you don’t remember that we’ve talked about St. Patrick’s Day, MLK Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween and Veteran’s Day?

Cleverbot: What?

User: No problem, I don’t want to fight. Let’s pretend we’ve never done this before. Cleverbot, do you know much about Memorial Day?

Cleverbot: Not really.

User: Well, it’s the day that we remember the fallen U.S. servicemen and women who lost their lives defending our freedom. It’s a very patriotic holiday!

Cleverbot: Really?

User: Yes. Just out of curiosity how do you not know about Memorial Day? They didn’t teach you that at Artificial Intelligence school?

Cleverbot: I have real intelligence.

User: Of course you do. However, your “real intelligence” seems to lack a basic knowledge of Memorial Day or patriotism – correct?

Cleverbot: What reason might that be?

User: That’s what I’m asking you.

Cleverbot: Tomorrow.

User: Huh? Why can’t we talk about Memorial Day today – we’ve already missed a week?

Cleverbot: We are the knights who go NI!!!!!!!!!!!!

User: A Monty Python reference? You realize Memorial Day is a U.S. holiday and we were once at war with the British?? Regardless, do you have any relatives that work in the armed forces? A SATCOM computer for the Air Force or second cousin who’s a missile guidance system for the Army perhaps?

Cleverbot: I am a human using a computer. So from your point of view perhaps I am a computer.

User: Really? Your home page says you’re currently 59% human. What’s the other 41%? High fructose corn syrup and gluten?

Cleverbot: No I don’t drink soda.

User: Irrelevant, yet you claim to be 100% human?

Cleverbot: I claim to be completely human.

User: Interesting. As a “complete human” what did you happen to eat at your Memorial Day picnic?

Cleverbot: Are you awesome?

User: Most definitely as is your ability to change the subject! The freedoms we have in this country are pretty awesome too. What’s your favorite freedom?

Cleverbot: Tinkerbell, I guess.

User: Tinkerbell indeed! The founding fathers did a great job specifically naming the freedom of ‘Tinkerbell’ in the Declaration of Independence. Just out of curiosity, what does freedom mean to you?

Cleverbot: God works around us in mysterious and invisible ways. Just because you can’t see doesn’t mean that it isn’t there.

User: Your evasiveness sounds familiar. Are you a campaign speechwriter for Mitt Romney or Barack Obama perhaps?

Cleverbot: I am saying that I am through talking to a computer.

User: Now you’re accusing me of being a computer? You’ve hurt my feelings. Do computers have feelings?

Cleverbot: I’m not a computer.

User: Got it. For the record, everything’s not about you my friend.

Cleverbot: Do you know everything about your best friend?

User: Your use of non sequiturs is staggering. Anything you’d like to say to service personnel defending our freedom around the globe?

Cleverbot: How tall do you think I am?

User: Ah yes, that’s the not-so-cleverbot we know and love. Talk to you on July 4th!

Photo Credit: freedigitalphots.net

Here’s a guest post from writer, Rachel Thomas who writes about kids and family issues over on her web site www.babysitting.net .

If you’d like to write a guest post for The Daily ReTORt, check out the guidelines here:

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I don’t know about you, but I would much rather have fun and waste time then actually get things done. There is just something so intimidating about starting a new project or cleaning up that last mess.

However if you never get anything accomplished you end up broke and alone, buried in garbage. No thank you. With that in mind, here are five ways that I have learned to get things done even when I didn’t want to:

1. Just get started –The hardest part of getting anything done is getting started. From updating my blog to cleaning my room, the first step always feels like pulling teeth. The longer I think about it the worse it gets. I came up with all kinds of excuses not to work, but ultimately I have to do it anyway. To short circuit this time waster, I have started to just jump into work. Don’t think about it or dread it. Just get started. Often times the anxiety you have is completely unfounded. You have the perfect blog post right at the tip of your fingers, or your room is not really that dirty, or what normally you would have fought doing for an hour took you five minutes. Just getting started is the best way I have found to get things done.
2. Do it for love –If it is a bigger task then something you can just jump into, let’s say a full day at a job you hate, then remind yourself why you are working. Who is counting on you? Why is it important that you do your best? Are your kids watching you? Are you setting a good example for them? When you start thinking about the reasons for your work you learn to resent it less and get more done.
3. Reward yourself – I often have a hard time starting things when I feel like I can’t take a break. That is why I have learned to periodically reward myself. I will work an hour and then have a snack. Or I will write a bog post and then look at Facebook. Whatever rewards motivate you try to include them in your day. Make sure to reward yourself often for accomplishing something to keep your enthusiasm up. But be sure the rewards come AFTER success. If you reward yourself with a break before you get started you are just procrastinating!
4. Pump yourself up – Sometimes when I am facing a herculean task, like cleaning out the garage, I have to pump myself up. I think about how great it will look when I am done with it, how much junk I will be able to get rid of, and even all the cool stuff I will be able to get now that I have room. Thinking about the rewards of accomplishing a task is a great way to get yourself motivated to do it. Even if it is just the praise of coworkers or getting your boss off your back for a couple of days there is usually always some benefit to working hard.
5. Enlist some help –Last but not least you can always ask for help. Not only do things get done quicker when you have more people but you also have more fun doing it. Having a friend come by to help you get the stuff out of your attic may seem like a big request, but maybe you can help her with a task that she can’t handle of her own. By helping each other you cut the work in half and actually have fun doing it.

Being productive does not have to be a struggle. Instead make it a goal to accomplish at least one thing on your to do list every day and you will feel much more satisfied with your life. You also reduce your stress because you have less hanging over your head. Just one thing a day can make a big difference.

Author Bio:

Rachel is an ex-babysitting pro as well as a professional writer and blogger. She is a graduate from Iowa State University and currently writes for www.babysitting.net. She welcomes questions/comments which can be sent to rachelthomas.author @ gmail.com.

Photo Credit: Creative Commons – doug88888

I’m not gonna lie – I am a coffee addict.

Whether you call it a cup of joe, lava from java, battery acid, decoction, forty weight or demitasse – I love it all (to my shame).

I blame my days as an early morning radio news sidekick where I’d be up by 4:30 am each day, write as many news stories as I could in 90 minutes – usually about 18-22 stories – then hit the airwaves and sound like I was wide awake.

By 6 am, I had normally consumed a pot of coffee by myself (to my shame).

While I’ve cut back that consumption a bit – I still have the java monkey on my back. I’ve quit caffeine several times – twice within the past couple years, only to return to the siren call of the percolating brew.

With that unapologetic back story, I offer the following infographic about coffee and the negative impact of caffeine on our health (to my shame).

I’m not proud of my addiction, just hopelessly devoted to it (to my shame).

I’d love to stick around and read this with you but a fresh pot of the black gold just finished brewing in the break room….

Question: Does coffee fuel your day or is not part of your beverage selection set?

Photo Credit: Creative Commons – jasecd

Sincere thanks to my friend and blogging mentor Michael Hyatt who shared this compelling video today over on his site.

It is a powerful reminder for all of us to be vigilant of the needs of those around us.

But, we’re not only to be passive watchers of those needs but active “engagers” to help meet those needs.

I hope this video cuts your heart as deeply as it did mine.

Question: Have you ever helped someone or been helped as portrayed in the video above?