An Unforgettable Three Minutes

Generosity and goosebumps.

Last week, at the Great Canadian Awakening conference:

The auditorium is dark except for the stage, with a bright screen suspended on either side. The speaker at the podium is explaining his David versus Goliath struggle. In passing, he mentions that they’re out of cash and that a fundraising campaign will launch soon.

As the speaker carries on with his remarks, an audience member rises from his seat. In the darkness, he makes his way to the front of the room, to the foot of the stage. He reaches up and hands the speaker a fifty-dollar-bill. Several seconds later, as the speech continues, someone else in the audience follows his example. Then someone else does. Soon, multiple people are moving forward at the same time.

The Master of Ceremonies, waiting in the wings, grabs a small bucket and brings it to the edge of the stage. The bucket overflows. In the words of the MC, “Wow, this is very metaphorical. The generosity of people in the freedom movement. It literally overflowed. We could not contain it.”

Probably three dozen people participate in this spontaneous and spectacular outpouring of generosity. The episode is over in less than three minutes.

An amazing thing to witness. It gave us goosebumps.