UNITED STATES—There is something that I am learning about life each day. You have to be thankful for everything that you have because it can be taken away from you in a matter of a seconds. Sometimes in life we worry too much about the small things, things that shouldn’t even matter. Why do we do these things as human beings? Are we so self-absorbed that we can’t take a moment to just realize the precious things going around us that matter?
I think we get reminded of those things when we sometimes see those who are less fortunate, sometimes the things we witness on television, the news and in movies. It’s a reminder that just when we think things are bad they can turn out to be even worse. Nothing bothers me more than seeing children who face not just disabilities, but are forced to fight a bit harder to live a life of normalcy because of an illness or an accident under strenuous conditions.
To see these bright spots in these kids who just want to do what other kids do, but having to fight slightly harder to make it happen, reminds me that I shouldn’t complain about the stupid things. What are those stupid things?
Trying to figure out what pair of shoes I’m going to wear today, complaining about going to work, deciding what to eat, arguing with family members over pointless things. The list can truly go on and on. I mean I could even argue about the fact that I don’t have enough money, but there are some people out there who have NO MONEY at all, so why am I being such a brat about things? Well, I hate to say it, but in life we’re trained to be self-indulgent, conceited and focused on our own personal needs versus those of others.
This is not to say every single individual in the world acts and behaves this way, but I would argue a good 75 percent of us do. Why? The constant evolution of technology has a way of permeating into our lives without us truly realizing it. The biggest being our vanity with posting pictures of EVERY single thing we do in life. Just imagine what things were like 15 years ago. We had the Internet, but it was not as explosive as it is nowadays. We didn’t have people spending HOURS day end and day out on Facebook. We didn’t have people postings hundreds of pictures on a daily basis to Instagram and Twitter.
I mean think about it who really has the time to do these types of things. What could we be doing? We could be using that free time that we have to help those in need. Charity is a wonderful thing, but so many of us have the slightest idea how to tackle it. Well, I share a bit of advice. Start with what makes you passionate. We all are passionate about things, so donate your time to a cause that is close to your heart.
Sometimes you could just donate your time because it’s something that you should do if you could do it. You don’t have to be a billionaire or millionaire to make a difference, just giving a little can make a big difference, which is the biggest misconception so many of us face. We assume without loads of money we can’t make a difference. This is where social media becomes important.
I read a story about a month ago about a guy who literally walked miles every day to get to and from work because his vehicle no longer worked. This guy was never late to work once. Someone read about the story in a local paper that sparked a student at Wayne State University to create a GoFundMe page for the guy. Wanna know what happened? Donations were reeling in to the tune of over $300,000. To make things even sweeter he became an overnight celebrity and he was getting offers to receive a free vehicle from multiple car companies. That one moment it took for that undergrad to create that buzz via social media literally changed this man’s life.
This is what I mean, let’s use social media as a platform to bring awareness to things that are social issues that need more light shed on them because let’s face it, we do indeed live in a cruel world to say the least. This is not just speaking about the notion of bullying, but the fact that some people just care only about themselves. The plight of others has very little impact on their lives.
Life is precious, sometimes we truly don’t realize what we have until it’s gone. That may sound cliché, but just realize having something that you depend on so much, being taken from you without even realizing it? It changes everything.
