A point that has been rammed home in the past few days in Sri Lanka.
Once one of the nation's fiercest sporting rivals, Shane Warne was the first global star to visit after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami that killed 31,000 people in the island nation alone.
After taking a call from Muttiah Muralitharan, Warne travelled to the ravaged coastal village of Seenigama and local charity centre of Foundation of Goodness, run by Muralitharan's manager Kushal Gunasekera.
The likes of Steve Waugh, Ian Botham, Greg Chappell and Doug Walters have since followed - raising awareness and providing financial help.
The clean-up effort around Seenigama took six months, but within two-and-a-half years the foundation had rebuilt over 1000 homes across the country.
Warne himself contributed to that through both awareness and donations, as well as helping raise $1 million to rebuild the Galle International Stadium.
Today the Foundation of Goodness centre remains a charity organisation, assiting with women's empowerment, dentistry, diving and technology.
Their sports academy also includes the likes of Test spinner Ramesh Mendis, as well as Sri Lanka A player Pulina Tharanga, who lost his mother to the tsunami and was orphaned shortly afterwards.
One of Gunasekera's key principles is that good things must come from bad situations.
And that was how he found Warne.
"He was the first one to come," Gunasekera said.
"What Shane did when he came and because of the way he presented the case it went all around Australia.
"All the connections would not have been possible (if Warne did not visit) ... He created waves of compassion that flowed across Australia."
Jason was given a two-hour tour of the Foundation of Goodness on Monday, 30 kilometres north of Galle.
"It's been pretty emotional," Jason said.
"We're here because of what Shane did in 2004. It's been great to come over here and get a sense of why he wanted to do it."
Warne is revered around Sri Lanka, with banners placed in the capital of Colombo mourning his shock death in March.
It was a far cry from the days of his on-field battles with the likes of Arjuna Ranatunga and Muralitharan.
"Over the last few months it has continually been something else," Jason said.
"It's sometimes hard to get your head around that my brother who I used to just go up to the nets with and have a bit of fun has left such a legacy."
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