I know the title isn’t really 2Wrds, but it caught your attention, didn’t it? I’m writing this blog on Giving Tuesday, which is an ironic day, considering retailers just spent the past week asking us to spend, spend, spend, and now everyone is asking us to give! This got me thinking…what if we were to give every day? Not money of course, but time, encouragement, inspiration, and so much more? I’m a big believer in changing the world one person at a time. I can’t change everything, but perhaps, I can help one person.
Every Thanksgiving, my family goes around the table and says one thing for which we are thankful. Thing 1 and Thing 2 usually say a particular toy, but this year, Thing 2 said he was thankful for his family! We all have so much to be thankful for and it’s so easy to forget. Before the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season gets away from me, I wanted to take a minute to BE THANKFUL and to BA GIVER.
I recently attended a presentation by Scott Harrison, the founder of Charity Water (charitywater.org). Scott told his personal story, how he went from being a successful business man in New York, to leaving everything he’d ever known to serve others. He saw a need for clean drinking water, and instead of saying, that’s someone else’s problem, he sought a way to help, one person at a time. Did you know that 663 million people drink dirty water each day? That’s a shocking statistic! To date, Charity Water has funded 24,537 water projects for 7 million people around the world. Go Scott!
I came across an article entitled “10 Blessings Easy to Overlook” by author J. Lee Grady. Although these statistics are from 2011, the numbers sadly haven’t changed much.
- 40% of the world does not have a toilet
- 6 billion People live without electricity
- 5 billion People use fuelwood, charcoal, or animal dung to meet their energy need
- 2 million Children die each year because of disease
- Most of humanity lives on less than $10 a day
Staggering, isn’t it? And to think that I’m upset because the person in line at Starbucks, where I get my $5 coffee, is taking too long to order! LOL But seriously, we live in the most amazing country where most people never have to think about clean water or electricity. In fact, not only do I have clean water coming out of my faucet, I can turn around in my kitchen, press a button on the refrigerator, and get filtered water!
The point is, take a minute to BE THANKFUL. Then, take the time this week to BA GIVER!
Give Encouragement to someone who is down.
Give Inspiration to someone who is stuck.
Give Time to someone who is lonely.
Will you join me?
Share your story @ #BaGiver #BeAGiver
Considering Scott Harrison’s mindset of clean drinking water being “his” problem reminded me of a little thing I read many years ago, entitled “IT’S NOT MY JOB”. This is a story about four people—named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have!
(Marty is an old ’53 Nevada, Iowa, high school classmate of Gordon’s)
Great story, Marty. Thanks for sharing that! It only takes 1 person to make a difference. That’s my goal!