Article February 14, 2011 Issue

Not-so-hidden gifts

Kim Shippey

The Hidden Gifts of Helping (Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 2011) is a new book from the author of several volumes and research projects on compassionate care and giving, Stephen G. Post, of Stony Brook University, New York.

Post is a firm believer in the sublime truth that by helping others we help ourselves, which was dramatically confirmed by a family “crisis” two years ago, in which he (with his wife and two children) was required to move from a settled life in Cleveland, Ohio, to a new home in Setauket, New York. 

Suddenly, he had to practice what he’d preached for 20 years: How the Power of Giving, Compassion, and Hope Can Get Us Through Hard Times—which happens to be the subtitle of this modest little 191-page book. In six short chapters he shares his family’s reaffirmation of this healing truth, explaining how this simple activity—expressed in an infinite number of small or large ways (including relocations)—can help anyone survive the “curveballs life throws at us.”

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