We have a misguided belief that sharing a blog, cleverly titled listicle, or an emotional bombshell of a video on social media will change the world.
It won't.
Maybe I should say it this way: "It normally doesn't."
We live in the age of exaggeration. "That was EPIC!" "This dessert changed my life!" "My hair is prettier than a unicorn riding a rainbow during the most magnificent sunset!" You get the point. Words are losing their meaning and people are indifferent to it because it's easier to shrug it off as another person's problem.
And therein lies the real issue: everything is everyone else's problem to deal with.
Someone else, because of the "awareness we are raising," will be the one to actually help people get off the streets. Someone else will donate to help find a cure for childhood cancer. Someone else will fix all of these problems that we're pretending that we're shocked about. Because let's face it, very few of the societal issues we're seeing today are actually new.
We share our links, make sure to note how it affected us emotionally, and move on with our lives. Our grandstanding is leaving the truly kind of heart people in the trenches, surrounded mostly with the hot air we've thrown their way. But hey, we raised awareness, right?
Please share this picture so these brothers will stop flexing at viewpoints
Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with helping spread awareness of a problem or issue that people are facing. It's the first step in helping to affect real change in this world. But, if it's the only thing we ever do, we are fooling ourselves into believing that we're changing lives, let alone living up to our own statements of, "This changed my life." It's about time that we're honest with ourselves.
Here's how we can actually change things. Give. Give of your time, of course, but also give actual money. Nonprofits that are doing the work of changing lives depend on the support of others, and too often the people who run them end up giving most of their money to keep them operational. Emotional highs and good intentions are as valuable in this life as Monopoly money and Sasquatch fortunes.
So, find a charity or an organization that is doing something to better the lives of others. By all means, share it with your friends on all of your social media outlets. But for God's sake please, please go beyond that and actually donate to help them make this world a better place. Stop hiding behind your warm fuzzy feeling and make your own life uncomfortable so someone else can have the opportunity to enjoy life.
This blog post most likely won't change your life. It didn't change mine when I wrote it. My life changed gradually as I realized who was actually changing lives, and slowly started to find out what I could do to help them. I can't make you do anything different with your lives. I can't even make you read the entirety of this post, but I can give you the opportunity to take a step in the right direction. I can even give you the opportunity, right now, to change someone else's life.
These are two organizations that I support as often as I can, and both are doing amazing things in the lives of others. Consider helping them and just see how much better it feels to actually help others. Even though that's not the reason we help, it certainly is a delicious perk.
The One, Inc.: http://www.theoneinc.org/
Peach's Neet Feet: http://peachsneetfeet.com/
If you felt like I was yelling at you throughout this entire post, I wasn't trying to yell at you specifically. I'm trying to yell at the world as a whole, which includes me, so we can collectively shake off laziness and complacency and actually help others. Share this if you must, but please, please, please...go beyond that and actually do something.
Not as snarky or cynical in person as I seem in this post,
The Challs
P.S. Just so no one can say this blog post was a complete waste of time, here's a picture of an outraged kitten:
