I've got it, and I've got a bad case of it. It's not that I can't think of issues to write about. Nope, that's not it. I've just lost the desire to write about it. Sadness. I'm kind of in a mood right now that makes me want to 'do' things and not simply 'write' about them. However, having said that...I'll give it my 100% in an effort to return to the basics.
So my friend sits on the board of the local YWCA volunteer board and was telling me about some of the programs that they have available for families here in Birmingham. The conversation came up because I'm looking to find a volunteer home - a place where I can concentrate my efforts, year-after-year for more than just once a year. I mean a place where I dedicate myself, my resources, my efforts to truly learning about other people and maybe - just maybe - making a real difference in someones life. One such program is an after-school session that they have with children of parents who are homeless.
I'll be honest, I've never even processed the thought of homeless children. I don't know why, but it just never crossed my mind. The truth is, I know why it never crossed my mind. The truth is that I like to look at the world through my cleaned up view and I don't want to imagine that there are children that do not have a place to lay their head at night. The truth is that I do not want to believe that they live in such a dangerous world. The truth is that I didn't want to imagine this as truth; therefore, I didn't. It reminds of me being a kid and covering my head with a blanket and believing that if I can't see it, then it didn't exist. Shame on me.
To begin to see that ours is not an average life and that we must always be mindful of those in need, this is what I hope to create as the corner stone of my life. We are but a single situation removed from the life we love. A single job loss, a single tragedy, a single decision. Please don't let the opportunities to get involved and perhaps change lives get moved to your "things to do" list.