I'm going to give myself a migraine over this. (In other words, this post is going to be a mess of half thought out ideas.)
I believe that anyone can do anything they want to do in life. However most people aren't willing to make the sacrifices to reach their wildest dreams. They settle for something within their reach and deal with the "what if's".
For example, I'd really like to be a doctor treating patients in some Third World country every summer. And theoretically I could do that. I could go back to school, put the kids in daycare, take out a bunch of loans, study my butt off for years, and then leave my family to help others. But... The sacrifices versus the rewards are too high for me at the moment (or I'm selfish, depends on your outlook I suppose). I don't want to put the kids in daycare, I don't want us to go into more debt, I don't want my family to feel I abandoned them. Even if it was all for a noble cause.
I realize I'm very lucky to even be considering these ideas. I don't think a lot of people realize how lucky they are. Deciding to order Chinese or pizza for dinner can be the biggest decision of the day. To always have clean fresh water available. To spend $50 on a pair of jeans when that's what some people toil to earn in a month in another country. It really starts to put the little daily petty things into perspective.
Stephanie Pearl-McPhee puts it very well:
By any North American standard, I am not a wealthy woman. Still, there has never been a day that I went hungry or wondered where I would put my kids to bed. I choose between my varied and warm clothing in the morning and at least once a week I throw away food that went bad before we could eat it, buying fresh without even feeling a pang of decadence. I have never wanted for anything more than "more" of what I already have. I am... to most of the people in the world, obscenely wealthy...She asked for donations to Doctors Without Borders. $120,000 worth. I know, that sounds crazy impossible, right? And in 3 days, her readers blew past that amount in donations (closer to $155,000 total)*. It's amazing to think about, that the readers of one blog, a knitting blog, could join together to make such a huge difference.
As are you.
I think we all feel that if we aren't doctors or rich or political, what can we do from our heated/air conditioned homes with 2 cars and a fridge full of food? Of course no one wants to give up their hobbies or daily Starbucks. It's a privilege to live in the USA (and Canada). But with privilege comes responsibility.
You know, I only gave $25 to the above cause. I'm not sure what her blog stats are but I'm assuming a lot of people gave something along that line just to give. $25 wasn't even a blip in our bank account, that's a trip to McDonalds. And yet, thousands of people thought "okay I'll give something" and all those somethings added up to $155,000.
$5 in the red Salvation Army bucket doesn't seem like it would do much. Donating a couple of cans of soup to a local food drive, that'll only feed one family for one meal. Knitting one red scarf for one orphan. Donating a quilt made of scrap fabric to Project Linus for a sick child. All those things don't seem like much at all but when enough people do that one little thing, it adds up. As Stephanie has proven, it adds up.
So forget the notion that you have to give until it hurts. You don't have to sell all your worldly possessions or make big six digit donations to make a difference. All you have to do is remember to give. A can of soup. A few dollars to worthy cause. It'll help, I promise.
The funny part is that this post started out because I couldn't decide whether to spend my free time writing in attempt to sell a book/novel/article or to put more effort into my Blue Kitty Designs shop. See? I told you we all have it way too easy in life.
*Update: The new total is $320,093 I'm speechless...
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