How hard is a phone call?

I am looking at a large book I got out of the temple library called Love Your Neighbor sitting on my desk. It is a compilation of torah references that is supposed to be a practical guide in how to live your life. Considering the title, I knew when I got an email that a recent widow up the street was having a tough time, what I needed to do. I don't really know her, but still I called. Unfortunately I got an answering machine, but when time allows will take a walk down there and see if she needs a ride to the grocery store or whatever and I would be glad to do it. Reaching out to strangers is hard, sometimes for me, really hard, but the torah is pretty clear on this, "We must come to the aid of even a complete stranger." There has been alot of argument in sociobiology circles for years about whether altruisim truly existed or if the behavior of helping a stranger was in the long haul something that aids the survival of the species so it is directly beneficial. Some of us have spent so many years building up walls of cynicism it is difficult to respond in a direct and caring fashion to the needs of those around us. My daughter is just the opposite. She absorbs all the tsuris of the world around her and feels the tragedies of others lives as her own. She has always been the first to want to visit a sick classmate in the hospital, or bake cookies for someone who is feeling down. But sometimes she struggles with separating her feelings with those who are most directly effected. At least according to the Torah, her ability to feel others bad news as her own is a good thing, but there is a difference between a deep-seated empathy, a concern that emanates from this feeling and falling into a state of sadness and depression for something that is not directly impacting your life. In the movie, sex, lives and videotapes the lead female character is in a deep depression about the overwhelming about of garbage on the planet. Feeling sad, regardless of how close to home the reason is, can sometimes seem self-indulgent, but it is clear that it is okay but there are also other considerations. The true mitzvot can come from the comfort we provide, to those who are mourning, or struggling with illness. It is difficult to be a support to others, if we are wrapped up in our own feelings of sorrow. Last night my daughter found out that an acquaintance, a good friend of a good friend, had committed suicide and now she is struggling with her own feelings. But my hope and prayer and my comfort and compassion for her is that she takes those feelings and turns it into the greater mitzvot, of support and friendship for those who were closest to this young man. Our thoughts and prayers are with this young man's family.