Get your own Free Home Page right now!!!! :)Do you know what I really despise? All the lame people who sit around all day "talking" about how horrible things are... they "talk" about how awful racism is, they "converse" about the horridness of poverty, they "discuss" violence against women... the list of "conversation" topics such as these spans far and wide and it makes me sick to see and hear. If these people don't like it I think they should be doing something instead of talking about it. Talking is good, but in all honesty does that do much for the poverty stricken? Does that really help the fight against racism? Are battered women any better off then they were before you started talking? Talking is great... you can educate people who don't know about these problems, or fully understand these problems but what good does that do if all these people you're educating will probably just go and talk about it some more.
The world needs more people who are willing to go out, take a stand, speak out, and do something! You don't have to go out and be the next Mother Theresa to make a difference. There are small things you can do that help in a big way.
One of the easiest things to do is raise awareness!
Speak Out!! It is quite similar to talking but not quite. When I think about "talking" I think of nice, easy discussions. Most times you "talk" about problems and social issues it's with people who agree with you. Go ahead keep doing that but talk to people who don't agree with you too. For example if you detest racism next time one of your colleagues, aquantices, or friends starts making racist comments or jokes tell them you don't like it because they're being racist and rasism in intolerable! If you prefer stand up, and tell them I don't appreciate your racist comments so I'm going to leave now. And actually leave!
There are other ways to raise awareness. Tack up flyers talking about how wrong violence against women is in Men's Clubs, Pro Shops, and place these flyers inside of men's magazines. Place flyers talking about body image and self-esteem inside of womens magazines whose main article content seems to be about losing weight and making men happy, place them at fitness centers in the ladies locker room, and any other place you deem fit. Place flyers about poverty at country clubs, inside of luxury/travel/"i'm rich and you're not" magazines, everywhere you can think of. It is hard to impossible to get permission to do these things, especially impossible with the magazines. So if you do any of this without permission you can get into trouble if you get caught. I think it's a great way of raising awareness but I will not be help responsible if you get caught doing this because I don't recommend it. (i have to cover my own arse y'know!)
Write a letter concerning racism, violence against women, helping the poor, or whatever you want and send it to several newspapers. Even if you it doesn't get published I gaurantee you'll have a lot of clearer ideas regarding the issue since you put pen to paper.
Write a well-researched article and contact local newspapers to see if they're interested in publishing it (accept the fact that you will probably NOT be paid for it. If they seem particularly wary of publishing the article TELL THEM you'll do it for no money, and if you're fortunate you may even get paid), submit it to an underground newsletter, newspaper, or zine such as this one (you will definetly NOT get paid for it), or post it in on the World Wide Web.
You could always get off your hieny and do something!
Okay so actually doing something gets a little trickier, takes some more time out of your day, and will probaby even force you to leave your house. I'm basically talking volunteering here. There are many types of orginazations that need extra help and can't afford to pay for it. Here's a list of places right in your own area that "may" need yout help: -Hospitals and Hospices -Women's Shelters -Soup Kitchens -Senior Citizen Homes and Recreation Centers -Distress Lines and local outreach programs
Basically any Agency that is non-profit probably needs your help right now. What you can do is see if any of the above types of orginazatins (or any other orginazation you can think of) are in your local Yellow Pages. If they are give them a call and ask them if they need any volunteers. It may be hard to find non-profit orginazatins in the Yellow Pages but there is something else you can do, you can ask around, ask family and friends and if you belong to an organized religious group try asking your priest, minister, rabbi, nun, monk, etc (y'know the holy-guy/girl).
Shell out some dough
There's one more thing that you could do and if at all possible I suggest you should. Donate money!! You don't have to donate a lot. Maybe if you tried to save up a quarter (or loose change) everyday for about 2 months you can save about $15 to give to the charity of your choice. Save a little longer or a little more each day and you can get a little more money to give to whatever charity you chose.
There are many things the average person can do, all you really have to do is set your mind to it. Every little bit counts and you can make a difference (damn cliches). A very smart person once said "Stand for something or you'll fall for anything" and as a quite fitting ending this here's quote from a truly great man (Gandi) "You must be the change you wish to see in the world" by Cherry Bomb
Get your own Free Home Page right now!!!! :)