Make A Difference

I love this illustration from Some Secrets Hurt. For me, it creates the image of a solid community that stands together to make a difference. I love the diversity of this group. I love the different ages, different genders, different cultures that are represented here. I love the idea that we are a community and that out of diversity can grow unity and commitment to values and change.

When I spoke last week to a group of student writers, mostly high school students, I talked to them about making a difference. In my closing address, I talked about contributing something to the community we live in; the hometown community, as well as the world community. We can make a difference no matter where we live and we can start today. If you want to make a difference, then you need to live your life differently. Live your life to make a difference. Stand for something. Reach out to someone. Give. Serve.

We are all connected. We are connected to people we don’t know, people we will never meet. I love to illustrate this concept with a crocheted doily. A doily is crocheted by connecting a strand of thread with interesting stitches. We are a strand of humanity connected by interesting stitches. If I were to cut any stitch, the whole work would come unraveled, one stitch at a time. We do not see the stitches that connect us to humanity, but we are connected just the same. When one stitch is severed, all the connections break down. Each of us can do something to strengthen the connections. Each of us can make a difference.

We don’t have to travel across the world to make a difference. We can make a difference from our own computer to far away people in far away lands. We can make a difference by contributing money or time to organizations like www.risingstaroutreach.org , www.heifer.org , www.kiva.org , or www.madebysurvivors.com . These are organizations that make a difference.

Take a moment sometime soon to visit these websites. You will be impressed. You will want to help.

Rising Star Outreach provides help for leper colonies in India. Did you know that in 2009 we still have leper colonies half a world away? Rising Star provides education, food, and medical supplies for leper colonies in India. Today, leprosy is 100% curable, yet socially and economically, lepers have a difficult time moving forward.

Heifer International is an organization that provides farm animals, or seeds and equipment to impoverished families around the globe. You could buy a flock of geese, a trio of rabbits, a cow, or a water buffalo for someone who needs the food or the income these gifts can provide. A flock of ducks, chicks, or geese costs only $20.00.

Kiva International provides small business loans for entrepreneurs in countries with struggling economies. You can make a difference for as little as $25.00. Your $25.00 combines with gifts from other lenders to make big things happen. Kiva makes a loan every 24 seconds. This week so far $809,300 has been lent, 4,091 new lenders have joined,. This week, 2,2,32 entrepreneurs were funded by 1,2016 lenders.

Made by Survivors is an organization that is part of the Emancipation Network. It fights sex trafficking and removes women and their children from this environment, gives them a safe place to live, and creates an opportunity for them to make articles that can be sold in the U.S. You can provide income for these woman by buying from this website.

There are also needs in your own community. There are plenty of good causes that can use your hands. You can help in the food pantry. You can help kids in after school programs. You can read to kids, or listen while they read to you. You can visit the elderly. You can help the Teddy Bear Ladies make bears for abused kids. You can help raise money for A Healing Place. You can help us organize a walk-a-thon to prevent sexual abuse. (You can read about A Healing Place and the Teddy Bear Ladies on previous blogs.)

You can make a difference. You can write to make a difference and you can live to make a difference. You can change the world one word at time. You can change the world one minute at a time. You can start today. You can do it. You can. You.

Linda Garner

P.S.

These are some thoughts from my closing address at the Young Writers’ Conference last weekend in St. Anthony, Idaho: Wending Words, Journeying Toward Meaning. You can read thoughts from my keynote address at http://paperandparchment.blogspot.com.

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