Semper Paratus

This is one of my favourite photo. It has been my  top likes for at least 2 years now. And I'm wondering and pondering why this is so.

It's not the adrenaline rush associated with dangerous rescue missions, nor of the challenging obstacles that has to be surmounted. Rather, as I looked deep into my heart, it is that instinctive feeling of helping people, of making a difference, of saving lives.

This picture evokes for me the truth that technology alone is not enough. It requires courageous and sacrificial people who are competent, and have the requisite character as well as the compassion and passion to lay their own lives on the line for someone else. And while the persons they rescue may be strangers, yet there is the common identity that these strangers have loved ones, family and friends that they should come home to, alive, not lost.

I think we should live our lives being always ready to lend a helping hand to whosoever needs help. This is true humanity. This is love, as the Bible defined it - not with mere words, but with practical actions. Without love, we might sacrifice ourselves, even for noble causes - but that would be meaningless. But when love is present, we are always ready to respond and make the difference!

Semper Paratus!