One Thing Every Day

Today, I woke up feeling sluggish. All the passion and intensity I've felt since we got back from Guatemala seemed to have drained away. Up until this morning, I had been filled with a sense of urgency -- as if I had to make every moment count to be of service to the world. This morning, I awoke filled with lethargy. And I wondered if I would be able to muster my passion and enthusiasm, or whether I would lapse back into life as usual. Although my usual life is filled with a lot of volunteerism, it is also filled with the usual moments of irritability, malaise, and dissatisfaction. Like most people, I have days where I just can't wait for bedtime...

But then, I watched a film sent to me by my niece about the abduction of children in Uganda. If you don't know about this issue, you should watch it. It is horrifying and I immediately had to do something about it. So I did. I watched the movie, I signed a pledge, I made a donation, and I shared the link with everyone and anyone I knew. It woke me up. I decided to make a challenge for myself -- to do one thing every day to make the world a better place. And I created a facebook page for the challenge -- because if I do it publicly, I will hold myself accountable.

So here's my challenge: Take a pledge that for the next 30 days, you will do something -- ONE THING EVERY DAY -- to make the world a kinder, gentler, better place. It can be donating to a cause, picking up litter you see on the street, reaching out to someone in need, volunteering at a school, soup kitchen, animal shelter -- just ONE THING EVERY DAY -- and share it to inspire others. Feel free to re-post, share with all your friends, etc!

I hope that we'll share causes and inspire each other to do good and be good. We can't all do big acts every day. But if we keep it small, we'll see that doing something good and generous for 30 days is very possible. To quote from one of my favorite books, The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster: "whatever we do affects everything and everyone else, if even in the tiniest way. Why, when a housefly flaps his wings, a breeze goes round the world..." So flap your wings people!