Skip to main content

On saving the world...

charity.jpg


I made a small donation today to a family fund for a boy in a really bad situation. I haven't done anything like that in years - actually, since 9/11. Okay so, I've bought a few bracelets for 'make poverty history' and given to some disaster relief funds, but I don't really do much else and I don't know why.
I'm one of those people that cries watching the news. My husband has actually filtered some of it for me at times. If he knows they will show something that will greatly upset me, he'll quickly change the channel or if he hears a story on the radio that maybe I haven't heard yet, he'll ask, 'Did you watch the news today?' if I say no, then he'll make sure we skip the evening news that night. I always ask - Why? What happened? But I don't push too hard knowing he's a pretty good judge of these things. This doesnt happen often mind you - I'm not a complete emotional mess that has to be shielded from every bad thing that happens (I can only think of Wayne doing this about 3 times throughout our relationship), but there are some stories that really get to me.
In the UK the RSPCA (ASPCA in the US) has a huge ad campaign in mailings and on TV. I have been known to tear up watching these and the child abuse ads do it to me as well. Just the other day, I opened a letter out of a magazine ad that on the outside read, 'help me' in a child's hand writing and Wayne ripped it from my hand saying - 'Why on earth would you open this?' knowing full well it would get to me. Children and animals get to me more than any others.
There's magazine called 'The big issue' that's sold here. It's put out by an organization that helps the homeless by as they put it - 'Putting out a news & current affairs magazine written by professional journalists and sold on the streets by vendors looking to overcome the crises surrounding homelessness.' This is one of the regular charitable contributions Wayne makes. He always buys the magazine when ever we see someone selling it. Christmas time, Wayne bought the last one from a man and said to him 'Happy Christmas' The man replied, 'Not for me'. I wanted to give him every penny I had on me. Wayne nudged me along and said to me later 'You can't save the world.' and reminded me of the sad truth behind where my money could have ended up if I had given it to him.
I must admit there have been many times that I have passed on contributing to charities because I've thought 'The problem is too big - nothing I can do will make a difference.' This may be true in some cases, but it also makes me wonder why it is that more of us don't try. If we did, maybe a difference could be made. We may not be able to save the world, but maybe we can make a difference to one person's world if we just did a little more - a little more often.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Our Disaster of a Day!

My in-laws just left after a five day visit.  I don't mind it being a five day visit, but then again, five days of your house not being your own is always a bit unsettling and although I don't look forward to their departure when they are here, I can't say I'm sad to have things go back to normal. As a treat for my son's birthday, we took him to the Museum of Natural History in London on Thursday.  He chose to go because we took him last year (he's been crazy about dinosaurs since he was three years old).  They give out adventure packs at the museum which consist of a back pack, safari hat, and binoculars with an adventure to follow during their visit.  The back pack has clues in it to solve a mystery.  Last year it had a dinosaur claw, a tooth and a sample of dinosaur skin he had to match up to one on display.  He had a great time solving the mystery and even remembered which dinosaur it ended up being. Last year's trip was wonderful.  We walked right in,

Playing with my new lens...

I got a new camera lens for my birthday last week.  I don't have a lot of time to play with it, but this is one of the first shots I took...

Beside myself

I had to spend my morning trying not to watch the news knowing because of the time difference, it would be many hours before I could call my loved ones back home (in NJ & NY).  To help pass the time, I took my son to the movies and started making calls on the walk home.  I spoke to my parents, sister and a few friends getting confirmation of my family's safety and most of my friends.  I still can't reach my best friend who lives in Staten Island, NY.  I've been trying to call her once and hour every hour for the last five hours, but still haven't reached her.  Every hour that goes by makes me more and more anxious and I am beside myself with worry.  I spoke to her yesterday.  She was supposed to be evacuated, but chose to stay.  I tried to talk her into going, but couldn't change her mind.  I made her promise she'd call first thing in the morning, but it didn't happen.  Large portions of Staten Island have been devastated by the hurricane and I can't