It’s Time To Ask Yourself “What Can I Do?” – by Tana Hoy
When is the last time you ever wondered “What can I do to help people who are suffering in the world?”…
I watched a disturbing documentary about Russia last night, and the violence perpetuated against people just for being gay. They are hunted down like animals by groups of gay-haters, then killed, shoved off buildings, taken to houses where groups of people beat them up, kill them, pour urine and feces on them, and do other horrible, unmentionable things to them.
They also video tape this violence, and publish it on the internet to further destroy these people’s lives! And the people perpetuating these hate crimes have nothing to fear from the police – because being gay is illegal in Russia!
It is like reminiscent of being black in the South during the 1800’s, where black people had no right – and violence was perpetuated against slaves and other back people by hateful, bigoted people. And it was all done without fear of repercussion!
There are children starving in Africa. Right as you are reading this, 20 children or more have died of starvation – yet we eat until we are full every day! We even throw food away without even thinking twice. When we feel hungry – we just go eat. We have buffets, and plenty of food – yet people are starving in the world as we eat and throw away food we don’t want!
There are people placing bombs on the roads in the Middle East, with the intention of killing soldiers. Yet we have nothing to fear here in America, and most people hardly ever give any of these things any thought – unless they see it on TV. Then they say “Oh, that’s terrible” and then forget about it the next minute something new comes on the tube!
We Are All Connected
We are all humans. We are all interconnected by our hearts. Regardless of our differences, we all hurt when we lose someone we love, we all cry when our children or parents die, we all worry about our families, we all have fear when we are diagnosed with a terminal illness, we all age, and we all grow old…
My point is…we are all the same when you strip away our prejudices, differences, religious beliefs, and other false walls that we use to create separation between ourselves and someone we view as different, don’t like, or don’t agree with.
But the truth is, we are all inner-connected. We are all spiritual beings, and no one will be truly happy, until everyone is truly happy. Hatred creates separation, but love pulls us close together.
You Have Unlimited Power
We are all powerful beings, and each one of us possess a power more powerful than most of us realize. So rather than thinking “I am only one person, I can’t make any change”, the truth is – you can! Â Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Harvey Milk, were only “one” person. Yet they helped change the world!
The only difference between you and any of them, is the they had a strong passion for they felt was right, and they took action to create that change. They didn’t sit around waiting for “someone else” to do it.
But here is the secret key to creating world change. People who take action – create change, and their lives also prosper. People who sit around letting others do it – usually don’t proper, and their lives also reflect their one-sided attitude!
What Are You Willing To Do?
As a spiritual being, it is time to ask yourself “What am I willing to do to create world peace?” Are you willing to sit around and let others be killed for who they are, people to be hated because of the color of their skin, children die everyday, when you eat until you are stuffed, and soldiers being killed everyday, fighting for your cause, while you sit around relaxing and enjoying life?
This is time for action!
What You Can Do To Create World Peace
I want to challenge everyone to find something they feel needs changed, and then get involved in changing it. Find organizations that are also fighting for the same causes you believe in, volunteer locally or globally, encourage people you know to become more aware and to get involved in creating change where they feel passionate. This allows YOU to become a light bearer that shines light in the lives of others who suffer.
I often wonder if the people I talked about above were our bothers, sisters, spouses, or best friends – would we sit around and do nothing? I think that answer is clear. And the thing we need to remember is – that these people are the bothers, sisters, spouses, or best friends of someone who loves them very deeply too.
I really want to hear you comments on this. Please share them below!
We can all do something.
Some of us can step out and try to change the system, while others can help locally or within their own families.
We can all do something and all those somethings will add up to change.
Thank you Tana for bringing this up and reminding us all that if we do nothing, then who? Who is better able than each of us ?
We can each speak up and speak out. When we hear someone making an unkind statement about a group of people we can speak up. Not in an accusatory and angry way, but in a kind way. We can say something like: Oh, it makes my heart hurt when you say that because –then tell your experience.. maybe your brother or your child is gay.. tell a story about a person you know who is in that group and try to make them real and human to the other person.
Once we KNOW someone who is gay or of a different race or religion or education or social class, or IQ it’s much more difficult to hate. However, if we attack the person making the bad statement, it will only turn him further away. We can all practice this so we are ready to speak up when the time arises.
It is hard to resist the natural human instinct to divide into tribes, but we must do it now. Now that we are united worldwide on the internet and through instant communication and video, we can see everyone and everything with a click of a button, we must overcome our need to shun and hurt those who are not exactly like us.
Thank you Tana for bringing up this topic. Each and every one of us can do something today to begin the change. You are the change.. I am the change… we together are the change. Have the courage to stand up and speak up.
Tana – you are correct. It is true. I hear people say “it is what it is” all the time and that really annoys me. People have become complacent with the world around them and leave the problems of the world for others to deal with. I think that’s a great way to get the message out by taking action. We all all know actions SCREAM louder than words 🙂
I’ve been thinking of helping with fundraising, of any need,really… the things that I would be very passionate about would be fundraising for abused children, the real homeless people, hungry people, I looked on the internet trying to find out how to go about it, but it was hard to find something. If you have any ideas you can tell me? 🙂 I would love to make a positive difference in the world. I pray for everyone, everything. I feel so good sending love all over the world ♥ luv, Candy
We all need to do something and be a part of this change.. I worry everyday that i dont do enough or im never satisfied and wanting to help more with means i have.. My life passion is to charitable work or make changes.. anyone can. Just doing a deed a day with words or actions or spreading the word.. Great websites to help fight hunger, suffering, our planet, growing trees, cleaning our oceans and having us be a happy loving planet.. WWF World Wildlife Fund, http://www.change.com– make a difference and Thank You Tana for speaking up and being an amazing human being slash angel…
This is a great outreach to those who read it to remind us of how we need to be active against the many injustices in the world. Just smiling at someone as you pass by or even a hello can perhaps affect change for that one person in that moment. But on a global scale we need to do more to show how we are alike than different. I will do my best to give financially, spiritually, and emotionally to several causes that alleviate the suffering of others. Let’s show our humanity to man and our support for Tana’s outreach to each of us.