Last night I watched a documentary on Netflix called "The White Helmets". It's only 40 minutes long, but it's powerful. If you are able, I encourage you to watch it. It's about a group of men in Syria who have dedicated their lives to being the first responders after an airstrike-- airstrikes that continue to kill civilians every single day.
Last week in class I read Just Mercy, a book by Bryan Stevenson. This incredible read details the injustice inside our capital punishment system. It wasn't necessarily a happy read. It told the stories of those who, after being wrongly accused, could not seem to achieve justice and ended up losing their lives on death row.
Every day I'm reminded that -- whether you believe in global warming or not -- we need to take care of this beautiful and magnificent planet; we need to take care of the incredible home in the photo above. Some reports suggest the planet is terminal, and that if things keep going the way they're going, she only has about 100 years left of life.
Living in Rochester, it's easy to go downtown and marvel at the wealth and splendor of parts of this city, yet I'm quickly reminded that this is the 5th most poverty-stricken city in the nation. More than half of Rochester children are living in poverty- and 16.1 percent of the Rochester population is living in extreme poverty, meaning that for a family of four, they get by on less than $11,925 per year.
I promise, I'm not doing this to depress you, or to make you feel like there's no hope. However, I do want to upset you. I want to anger you. I, and the world, need you to feel something while reading this. I am a firm believer that life is beautiful, but I also understand that it might not stay beautiful with us sitting idly by.
If we can read this stuff, and all we think is "that sucks for them," if we read this stuff and not one muscle twitches, we've done something wrong. It should make our hearts ache. Not in a deeply depressing kind of ache, but in a way that means your soul is longing to take action.
Living for ourselves is convenient, and trust me when I say I've spent a lot of my life in a bubble of ignorant bliss. However, what a blessing it is to have the ability to help others and make a difference. I'm not here to tell you which cause is the most important-- that's not what I'm getting at at all. What I'm saying is that you need to PICK ONE. Which of these causes, and the many others out there, makes your heart hurt? Pick one and fight for it.
Our country has enough apathy in it, it has enough people in it that choose to watch the chaos unfold, with about as much interest as if they were watching a movie. The thing is, this isn't a movie. It's life. We have been given a life, and with that life, we can watch, or we can do something.
Here is a list of foundations, or places you could get involved in making sure life stays beautiful:
Doctors without Borders: http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org
The Nature Conservancy: http://www.nature.org
The Happy Hippie Foundation: https://www.happyhippies.org
Alex's Lemonade Stand: http://www.alexslemonade.org
Save the Children: http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4...
Do Something: https://www.dosomething.org/us
From there you can donate if you want to donate, raise awareness, make conscious changes in your lifestyle, sponsor a child, or even go out and make a hands-on difference in the lives of others.
Whatever you do, don't let it be nothing.
