Helping HandsWe can use our hands to make someone's life better. Every community has people who are willing to lend a helping hand to keep us safe, make our community clean, keep us healthy, make sure the elderly are taken care of, and other acts of kindness. These helping hands are busy doing things for other people. Use your hands to help. Pick up trash, help someone cross the street, help carry groceries for an elderly person, feed people who are hungry, or create something beautiful in your community. Use your hands to do something good in your community. Helping Hands in the Community
Helping Hands and CharityMany people think of helping the poor when they hear the word charity. Helping the poor is an important act of charity. Every time we do something good we are practicing charity. The good acts cause more good acts, and charity spreads. It is good to volunteer your time to help people who need it. It is also good to give people things they can use, but cannot get for themselves because they do not have money. You can donate toys, jackets, food, and personal items for the homeless, the poor, sick, or anyone who needs help. Read about our trip to Jessie's Place Helping Hands Keep Us SafeMany community helpers are important to the safety of our community. One community helper who helps keep us safe and protects our community are the police. Police work in many different areas in the community. As an Environmental Policeman Andre's help is not noticed right away because he tries to stop trouble before it happens. He feels his job is to make sure that life is good for future generations. He says, "Everyone has a Constitutional individual right - everyone has the right to live in an environment that is ecologically balanced." When he tries to help people while on his job he does have difficulty with some situations. Many people in the community do not want to change the way they live to preserve and protect the environment. The traditional community has great difficulty in adapting their way of life to make sure the environment is preserved or protected. The area north of his city is growing rapidly. Another problem is that people are migrating from other states of Brazil and they do not have an occupation. There are more and more people who live in of a kind of bad construction called "favela" which contributes to the degradation of the environment. A policeman's job is difficult and Andre finds that it is not easy to be both firm and kind. "You have to keep the balance, politeness, and kindness in the most adverse situations without becoming part of the event and always acting within the law." His position on moral and ethical values in society today is "to respect any moral, ethical, or cultural manifestation in the society today, as long as the events do not threaten the rights of others, remembering that my rights end when the rights of the other start." In his work with fellow police officers, kindness is shared by respecting the individuality of each person. Andre asserts the principles of the Military Police which are "Loyalty and Constancy". He believes that kindness is increased by practicing honesty, ethics, and friendship at work. In his day-to-day work life he reflects on how he sees people's attitudes about kindness. "In the present society, kindness is almost in extinction. People do not respect each other. They want to know only of themselves. There is no more humanity. Kindness can be found in small attitudes such as pulling a chair, saying "have a good day", or just giving a smile. People are closed in their shells, just taking care of their own world and forgetting those who are around them. They will only know what kindness is when they begin to be kind to themselves." Danielle's interview with her father in Portuguese
Bicho-preguica (sloth) Environment Police found a wounded bicho-preguica on the road and took it to biologists. After his recovery, the Environment Police returned it to its habitat. The bicho-preguica is a nocturnal mammal who spends the day sleeping in the trees, hanging upside down. Community • Kindness Kids Speak Out • Helping Hands • A Kind Life |
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Some work traffic, some patrol neighborhoods, some are detectives, and some help keep the environment safe. André is from the 3rd Battalion in a city in Brazil and has received two medals of Personal Merit. 
