Two news stories today highlight the heavy cost of dedicating our lives to the cause(s) of our choice. However, along with that, I also see the reminder that while the cost may seem disproportionately high relative to the apparent resulting effect, the effort shouldn’t be considered in vain. The effort should still be considered admirable. Maybe the relevant quote to keep in mind here is: “God’s delays are not God’s denials”.
I can’t even find one cause that captures my attention so much so that I can even come close to choosing to dedicate every ounce of my soul to fight for it (though, I hope to find one some day.) So, regardless of the controversy over the methods these two individuals chose to use, in my opinion these two souls can only be admired for their intent and their selfless dedication.
One is Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who just got out of jail after serving eight years for an assisted suicide death that he was responsible for. His intention, to ease the suffering of terminally ill patients, no matter what your religious belief, is truly a noble intent. Unfortunately, the inherent flaws in his methods and the philosophies of Catholic leaders, were no friend to his intents. His commitment has at least kept the issue alive thus leading to discussions for alternate solutions.
And, we have Cindy Sheehan who today threw in the towel in her anti-war protests inspired by her son’s death as a soldier in Iraq. Politics are so complicated. She did a lot to keep the memory of her son alive and to fight to end the fruitless war responsible for his death. In my opinion, her son, and all soldiers have not “died for nothing”. The fiasco of this war, and its many casualties on all sides, will live on for generations. It can only highlight the need to have more responsible decision making at the earliest stages possible to prevent these kind of things from happening and growing into such impossible-to-end quagmires.
Jack and Cindy’s sacrifices (though totally different from each other) may seem to have been in vain, but their dedication and sacrifices to their causes will keep them alive in history for others to be inspired by, and maybe lead to new and better solutions in the future.
Having just seen the PBS Special featuring Suze Orman and her new “Women & Money” book, I thought it would be appropriate here to re-iterate her recommendations regarding volunteering.
Since women tend to be nurturers and think of others before themselves, Suze points out the need for balance, to think of others and ourselves. While generosity is only one of her “eight qualities of a wealthy women” (the other seven are: harmony, balance, courage, happiness, cleanliness, beauty and wisdom), the key is proportion. A great summary of her PBS program and in particulat her point about generosity can be found in the “Escape Brooklyn” blog:
“Generosity - This is too easy for women. True generosity is when it is a gift to the person and to yourself. You must be empowered by what you are doing; you are given what you have been giving. She’s not against volunteering, but it must be in proportion to what you are giving to yourself as well.”
And I would add that I think this can apply to anyone who is generous at heart….including men.
Raising money for a charity doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. A worthy example of this is Jimmy Fallon’s campaign to raise money for the cause of his choice, which is the troops being care for by Fisher House.
Check out Jimmy Fallon’s iTune’s song “Car Wash for Peace”. A simple tune, a MySpace page with a simple message and call to action, some publicity from the usual entertainment circuits, a worthy cause, and a well-timed Memorial day weekend announcement.
While the average Joe may not have the same tools at hand as Jimmy Fallon does, we need to notice that what Jimmy Fallon is doing here isn’t that complicated. Get that good idea, then act on it. “Don’t Almost Give“. Just do what you can with the resources you have at hand. As Anthony Robbins would say: “…the ultimate resource is resourcefulness.”
We’ve got politicians from both sides of the aisle, each doing what they truly believe is in our troops’ and our country’s best interest.
As per CNN, regarding today’s compromise Iraq funding bill that was finally passed by Congress, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is saying:
“I think it’s a giant step to begin the end of the war.”
At the same time, as per an MSNBC article, what’s being said about President Bush’s stand on this issue is that:
“this summer will be a critical time for his Iraq troop buildup strategy and predicted heavy fighting in the weeks and months ahead”
So, in this climate, and with the Memorial Day weekend before us, I think it’s only appropriate to highlight a few non-profit programs (that I’ve heard about recently) that are working to make our troops lives just a little more tolerable.
One is “Cell Phones For Soldiers” which collects money and recycles cell phones in order to purchase calling cards for our troops.
The other is this weekend’s Fisher House “Hero Miles” program where airlines will match all donated airline miles, with the hope of issuing up to 10,000 tickets to assist servicemen and their families affected by injuries sustained due to deployments to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Please contribute if you can. Or, at least send a letter of thanks through “A Million Thanks.org“.
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” — Anne Frank
It’s not only adults that can make a difference in the world around them. Kids can also play a vital part, too.
Some kids have the initiative (and support) to create their own charitable groups, such as Zach Hunter, featured as one of CNN’s Heros, who is working to end modern day slavery. Oprah also had a program on kids making a difference.
Paying attention to kids’ needs is important to their growing up to help others, as demonstrated by the Sprint-sponsoredConnectWithKids.com program (which has a pretty good blog, too.)
Another program is GlobalNomads.org which teaches kids to understand other cultures and to get a general global understanding of issues affecting the world around them.
All hands on deck. Age need not be a factor.
“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can” — Sydney Smith (1771-1845), writer, clergyman
I recently heard about, and have just now tried out, two new free widgets anyone can create and use to raise/contribute money to their favorite charities.
One is the new beta “Ebay To Go” in combination with Ebay’s, MissionFish-sponsored, “Giving Works” program. While the charitable contribution icon doesn’t yet display on this beta widget, it is there when one clicks through.
The “Ebay To Go” widget let’s you feature an Ebay find on your blog or website (and specify what categories should show up after 120 days). And, the “Giving Works” program let’s you contribute a percentage of your sale price to a charity of your choice. See in example below.
This is a great PSA-like communication done by a group, i.e., the Center for American Progress, that among other things, supports the organization and advocacy of progressive grassroot ideas. Definitely a site I want to keep an eye on.
Among other things, lately I’ve been contemplating whether civility and positivism could be another mini-trend developing. But then I just had to conclude, it doesn’t matter if it’s a trend or not. It should be a choice that people just want to make. There are really nice people out there. They probably aren’t the ones looking to grab headlines though. They are probably just quietly going about their business. We should be putting them in the headlines though.
For example take our recent Superbowl coaches, Tony Dungie and Lovey Smith. Both describe themselves as “Christian values” coaches; both are gentle and respectful; neither yells or swears at their players; both achieve extraordinary results.
Another unlikely example is the sweet Drew Barrymore. Not only is she on People’s cover for the 100 Most Beautiful people, but she’s genuinely a beautiful person both inside and out.
So, who cares about the Don Imus’ or the Ann Coulters. Thanks to Russel Simmons for suggesting the ban on 3 particularly useless and derogatory words; while I absolutely appreciate his outcry, I would hope that this should be something we wouldn’t need to legislate.
I’ve been noticing lately that everywhere you turn there is another charitable group (and accompanying website) popping up. Some of these groups are celebrity driven, such as American Idol Gives Back; others are started by just regular people, such as A Million Thanks.org.
In this blog, I’ve regularly been referring to people that have made significant progress in making a difference in the world around them. And, I’ve been wondering for some time now, too, is this just a new trend getting more media coverage lately? and what could be driving this trend? Could it be something to do with the new Millennial Generation as some might want to suggest? I wasn’t so sure.
Having just come across a great Tony Robbins clip through Ted.com (click here to view), I was reminded that “Contribution” is one of the six universal human needs that is the core of Tony Robbins’ emotional mastery material. This need for contribution — and maybe a raising of human consciousness is gradually occurring, too — makes this out to likely be more than just a passing fad.
Makes me wonder about what contributions I’ll be making in the world around me in the coming years?
Funny how The Colbert Report points out the contradiction between Shrek being used first to promote exercise and later also to promote junk food (in different contexts of course).
Kind of like the Milk Choices campaign advocates (of course associated with the International Dairy Foods Association) who are promoting flavored milk choices as a way to get kids to consume more milk, i.e., calcium and essential nutrients. Does the calcium benefit really outweigh the sugar content’s contribution to the obesity issues in our schools?
Two news stories today highlight the heavy cost of dedicating our lives to the cause(s) of our choice. However, along with that, I also see the reminder that while the cost may seem disproportionately high relative to the apparent resulting effect, the effort shouldn’t be considered in vain. The effort should still be considered admirable. Maybe the relevant quote to keep in mind here is: “God’s delays are not God’s denials”.
book, I thought it would be appropriate here to re-iterate her recommendations regarding volunteering.
