Giving and receiving the love

I've touched on it briefly before, but one of my biggest kicks since this summer is cultivating a passion for doing something to make the world around me a better place. That may seem fairly daunting to many people--myself included. I made a comment on another friend's blog after he touched on the issue. There is this concept that something needs to start somewhere for any movement to happen. Oftentimes, it seems the initial spark is the one that requires the greatest courage to accomplish. The absolutely essential part is that it requires action. It requires a commitment to an ideal. It requires doing something before change can occur. I find we have certainly accomplished greatness in complaining about oppression or poverty or hatred--you name it, and we're probably good at complaining about it.

It reminds me of the character Pip in "Great Expectations." In one scene, he and his friend go through their accounts and record all their debts. In doing so, they made themselves feel much better about the debt they incurred. Interestingly enough, they never actually paid off their debt, but rather were satisfied in merely acknowledging them. However, acknowledgment doesn't pay bills. Likewise, if we have grown complacent in merely talking or complaining about things we dislike in the world, not a lot gets done.

So I suppose a big part of it is having the eyes to see what needs to change, and having the hands to make it happen. Interestingly enough, people carry different versions of what the "right" world looks like. So that could make quite an interesting scenario if everybody is applying their efforts in different directions. I suppose this is where things like tolerance, empathy, and understanding come into play. I personally take most of my direction in the things I find to be absolute in my life. I recognize not all of my friends or whoever may be reading this share my beliefs, and I don't dare force mine upon anybody. However, lately I've actually been committing to my faith and learning about the character of God in order to better emulate it. The common thing I see so far is overwhelmingly the issue of love. If there really is a God, and if He really does love me, why shouldn't I share that? This love can apply to things like compassion, tolerance, and standing against oppression and hatred. I don't know if this is a stark contrast to an opinion of the Christian faith as one of judgment and fear. Frankly, I don't know what the prevailing views on Christianity are today. The Christianity I subscribe to lately has been the one that encourages me to share the love I see in my life. This is my motivation. This is how I see what I think needs to change.

That being said, I don't argue that a lack of God or faith precludes a person from exhibiting love. To be honest, I know lots of people who are just as passionate about helping others who don't share the same views I do.

Moving on, it would probably be a good idea to "walk my talk" as it were? What have I been doing in response to the passions that have been rising in me since this past Summer? Well lately I've been getting down to People's City Mission in Lincoln. This is an organization that is committed to serving the poor and homeless of Lincoln. This was a fantastic find for me because it is a great venue to give something of myself in a scenario that aligns well with my passions. Most of the work I do is helping them manage their IT and database systems. I found a great opportunity to use my education and skills I've been developing over the last few years to help them focus on doing what they do best and not fighting with the computer. I helped them cut what used to take weeks worth of work into about 10 minutes when dealing with data.

Another cool project I get to be a part of is helping to organize the "Run for the Homeless" set to take sometime in the Spring of '09. It's a pretty big project ahead of me, but I'm so excited to get a chance to be involved at this age.

One of the exciting things I saw in this whole experience is that there are so many ways to contribute just a little bit and make huge impacts. It also goes to show that all of us can find something we have to offer and turn it into something useful. The classic mold of helping at a homeless shelter is serving in the kitchen or taking out trash. Throw that mold away. Don't put a "you must be this tall to ride" sign on your efforts. Anything helps, doesn't it?

So the point of this post wasn't to create a self-righteous "look at me" sentiment. Rather, I hope it goes to show you that we can all find a motivation to make the world around us a better place. We can all find some way to return the things we were given to do something good for others. Finally, it isn't that difficult to find a way to help. The opportunities are all around us.

Ok, enough of my talking. These songs and artists are awesome and show a much more entertaining way to say what I'm talking about.

Enjoy, and thanks for reading: