Last Sunday I went to a party for my friend Dan who was celebrating surviving three years of law school. There was some really good food there too. Somebody made some shawarma that was fantastic.
I met a guy there named Mike and decided to give him my $10 for the day.
Mike E. (Photo: Reed)
Mike is married and lives in Burtonsville, MD with his family. He got a degree in Engineering but decided that a career in engineering wasn’t what he wanted and went back to school at the University of Maryland at College Park to study kinesiology.
Kinesiology, from the Greek words kinesis (movement) and kinein (to move) and ology (branch of study), is the branch of physiology that studies the mechanics and anatomy in relation to human movement.
Mike has been working at a physical therapy clinic in Rockville, MD for three years. “I love the gym and I love sports,” he said. “This was just a natural fit for me.” Mike’s work is truly rewarding. He shared with me a story about a woman who slipped and fell and pulled her hamstring as a result. She didn’t take care of it and the problem got worse. It got so bad that she couldn’t sit for a year. Mike then got the opportunity to work with her and she started to improve and was finally able to sit again. Mike added, “When you are able to help someone feel better, you feel good too!” It’s not so different than my experience of daily giving.
You know how when you meet a lawyer, you feel compelled to ask some legal questions. If you meet an accountant, you’re certain to think of some obscure tax question that you have wanted to get resolved…well, I am no different I guess. So I have been suffering from neck and back pain which results in numbness down my right arm and in my hand. I shared this with Mike and he asked me some questions about the pain.
This is where my back pain seems to stem from. And no, this is not me!
Before I knew it, I was lying down on the floor and Mike was working on my neck. He got it a lot looser and improved my range of motion. I still had pain and numbness, but there seemed to be some improvements just after 20 or 30 minutes. Mike gave me some exercises to do at home to try to reduce my pain. It was so incredibly nice of Mike to take time to try to help me feel better. Thanks Mike!
I also have an appointment with a physician later this month, but I am looking into trying to do some physical therapy as well. Anyone who has ever had similar pain knows how much it starts to affect your life. I can’t wait until I am pain-free.
Mike decided to donate his $10 to Freeset, a fair trade business that offers meaningful employment to women trapped in Kolkata’s sex trade. According to the group, there are more than 10,000 sex workers in Kolkata, formally called Calcutta. These women were forced into prostitution by trafficking or poverty. Freeset offers them a real choice. When they choose to work at Freeset, they can start new lives, regain dignity in their communities, and begin a journey towards healing and wholeness.
Year of Giving 