Tagged: activist
Friday thoughts
It’s amazing to me how outrageously selfish and nasty people are. Now more than ever, we have technology at our fingertips almost 24/7 in which we can find information; information on how to better ourselves, our communities, and our world. Yet, there seem to be 3 major groups of people:
- those that actively do good and try to make a change around them for the better;
- those that use their capabilities to harm others, just so they can get what they want, those that steal, murder, and/or make others miserable in the general;
- those that may or may not have good intentions, but do nothing with the power they are given by endless information available to us.
The 3rd type of person might as well be at bad at the 2nd. Sure, these people do not actively create problems, but they do not create solutions. No one person can create world peace, and no group of people can create it overnight, but we have so many resources! So many ways to make a difference, even just to 1 person. The right amount of compassion spreads like dandelions! If you’re sick and saddened by continuous news stories about mass shootings at schools and places of worship, genocide in other countries, sexism, racism, the number of homeless people in America, the number of children who go without food or education, animals being hunted into extinction, people dying of preventable illnesses, etc, etc, (Jon Stewart did a fantastic job at describing America right now.) then DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
- Join an activist group to get others involved
- Volunteer your time for a cause you care about in your community
- Sponsor a child in your country so he/she can go to school and eat properly
- Buy food and water for the next homeless person you pass, sleeping on the street
- Boycott products and brands
- Simply smile and say, “Thank you” to the next waiter/waitress/bartender that serves you
- Simply smile and say, “Hello” to the next person you pass on the street
- Help the person that just dropped their groceries and are terribly embarrassed
There are SO many ways to give back that don’t cost you a penny or even a second of your spare time. No one could have realistically stopped any of these people that decide to open fire in schools, religious gatherings, or movie theaters, but we can absolutely help to prevent today’s children from growing up so disturbed. We can help people with depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental illnesses just by caring. We can help families in need by being aware and less selfish.
There will always be that 2nd group of people that steal, murder, and do awful things, but if we combine the 1st and 3rd groups, we will outrank. Stop just “thinking” about volunteering next week. Do it. Don’t feel sorry for the homeless person on your way home from the bar, drop off a bottle of water and a granola bar by their pillow. Encourage your friend with depression to go talk to counselor. Just do something–big or small in impact.
We’ve all heard this since we were babies, “A little bit goes a long way.”
Believe in it. Live by it. Love by it.
Detroit Water Shut-offs
This absolutely disgusts me. “Ethnic/economic cleansing” makes me want to vomit. I am all for conserving resources and making people pay for services, but not when it comes down to theoretically killing off your own citizens. Especially when giant corporations aren’t paying for their water usage. Many of these companies don’t even pay government taxes!! We have already seen the damage of the economic downturn of Detroit years ago…why worsen it? This will spiral into an increase in homelessness and poverty. The solution isn’t to give free water to low-income families, because as stated, it would indeed hurt the city overall. Income-based payment is an option! Whoa! Of course, people who make a stupid amount of money will complain. But no one asks to be homeless. No one asks to not be able to bathe or eat regularly. Shit happens! Develop programs for people to participate in. Believe in good will. Believe in community. Stop being selfish.
I still stand by a statement I told my family when I was in grade school–when talks of the Mayan calendar were starting, and the war on terrorism was starting: “A 3rd World War or Mother Nature won’t be what kills off the population. Greed will.” (…and my parents are still baffled by my thoughts and actions! They should have seen it coming!)
New Direction
Over a year ago (maybe even 2 years?), I started this blog in hopes of sharing my crafting and cooking and whatever else. Needless to say, I didn’t do a great job at actively keeping up with it. Writing about and trying to remember to take pictures of things I do when I’m bored at home just kinda messed with my flow. I have recently found it in myself that activism is a route I wish to follow in my life. The word “activist” makes me want to roll my eyes, if that’s what you’re thinking too. I’m not planning on pushing liberal beliefs on everyone, I just hope to shed light on real issues going on around us that most people have no clue about. I wasn’t even aware of how much I didn’t know until recently. I’m going to start using my blog to share articles that strike a place in my heart, as well as easy ways to give back to the world. I hope to not only be able to educate myself further, but to help others in educated themselves as well.
This post stemmed from reading about the speech Emma Watson gave to the U.N. about feminism, the White House’s new sexual assault campaign, and the following article about domestic violence in the world: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/09/10/3565601/domestic-violence-cost/
The end of the article reads, “This whole culture for so long has put the onus on the woman. What were you wearing? What did you say? What did you do to provoke? That is never the appropriate question.”
I LOVE that there are movements finally happening to let men both actively and passively stand up for women. In past articles and studies I’ve read, an alarming number of women think about half of the women who say they’ve been assaulted are just “crying wolf because they can” when, in fact, only a very small percentage have lied. And like most cases, the few “bad ones” give the honest ones a bad rep. Women have been standing up for women since the beginning, it’s great to see a growth in actual organizational movements for men to stand up for women as well. Women are the abusers as well in rising numbers of cases as well. I believe in everyone standing up for everyone.
As I was reading about these topics, I wanted to know what I could do. Well, the biggest start is to help raise awareness–without scaring people off. I’m not the kind of person that finds something and wants to rub it everyone’s face until they crumble and agree. I believe in person freedoms, but I know that ignorance stands in the way of so much potential (including my own, for a long time). I am very excited to actively educate myself and try to see both sides to every story. Little victories add up!
I came across this website last week, in which you can choose what cause to support for everything that you purchase. My first purchase was a red bracelet (https://thehungersite.greatergood.com/store/ths/item/54930/red-thread-movement-bracelet?source=10-1146235001-1) for the Red Thread Movement, which “provides life-saving income for a Nepalese girl rescued from a life of slavery along the Nepal-India border,” among other things. I shopped through the Hunger site, and the shopping cart shows how many cups of food each item funds. One $5 bracelet that helps girls saved from human trafficking also buys 50 cups of food. WHY DIDN’T I KNOW ABOUT THIS BEFORE?! I know people have reservations about things like this, and I understand. I don’t expect all of you to go buy something. It’s just something that made me feel great, and maybe someone reading this will too.
Happy Tuesday!
-Bee
Finding My Focus 