Think about it. For real. A small child is sitting against a building, dying of thirst. Would you walk into the corner market and buy them a cold bottle of clean water or would you walk past as if it were not your concern?
You know there should come at least one time in a person’s life when they recognize that there is always someone who has it much, much worse than them.
No, that doesn’t mean we should all give up everything we have and live in squalor (but wouldn’t the world be a better place if those who truly do HAVE far more than enough would give it mostly away to those who NEED, rather than buy that next mansion or yacht?).
Whenever a disaster strikes and I see the ad “text ‘RELIEF’ to _____ ” and donate $5 or $10 or whatever the small amount is to the Red Cross, I always do, thinking “how much will that small amount impact me versus the greater good it will represent when added to the tens of thousands of others who will join together?” Even when there’s not much in the old bank account.
I admit, there have been times in my life when I could have done more. I could still probably do more. We always can. But any time we do something—having the clerk scan the donate $3 code at the store or hand a homeless person a spontaneous $5 bill as I did the other day—any small act makes a difference, and I believe it Universally begets another positive difference, and another.
When author Kerry Dwyer asked me (and others) to help in some way, by reblogging or downloading the book and donating or tweeting—just one small act to make a difference, there was no way I’d refuse that.
Here is the request that’s been made on the public blog; I just wanted to add my thoughts first before I go to donate something:
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You can now go to our Smashwords page and download your copy of our Wateraid anthology, Of Words and Water, FREE of charge…but PLEASE don’t forget to go to our Just Giving page, too, and make a donation to Wateraid.
Thank you, and hope you enjoy the stories!
from the Words and Water authors
Done. You always hear “it’s sad people don’t want to get involved anymore” but when it comes to helping another individual, it’s not sad, it’s a tragedy. I wish more people thought the way you did and saw the bigger picture where that one dollar can make a HUGE difference when added to another and another. Thanks for doing the blog post – I’ll be sharing it.
I couldn’t agree more. Having done SO MUCH fundraising after our son died of SIDS, I’m sorry to say I eventually gave it all up. It was too painful to see the narcissism in people’s apathy and lack of response. I hate saying that, but I lived it. Too many people live under the (unknown) rule that they’ll care only when it happens to them. I refuse to live my life that way, so instead of actively fundraising and KNOWING the 98% that never responded, I just donate whenever I can (hopefully, whenever asked). Thank for responding AND donating. Every little bit helps. Every. Little. Bit. (And Big Bits help even more!) 😉