Everybody's Got a Bandwagon
Did you ever notice that most people have some sort of a "cause" or "bandwagon" they have jumped on? Look around at the Hollywood stars... most have something. Whether it's "going green", save the animals, Scientology, Kabbalah or whatever.....they all have something they "tout".
Most people do have something they will fight about...some meaningful like pro-life organizations that are out there protesting at clinics (not that it does any good), people trying to make sure people spay and neuter their animals, etc. There are the crazy ones too that lie down in front of trees that are due to be cut down and "Save the Whales" people out there in life rafts trying to stop harpooning (not that I think harpooning is good but they are willing to get shot or drowned to stop it? What about the people who throw red paint on those wearing fur? Crazy!
Don't these people have better causes to fight over? What about all the people that have gotten on the stick about feeding the poor in our country and all around the world? - bully for them! We need more people to fight for important things like that!
Well, bloggers are no different. There are political blogs that say all right-wingers are rich pigs, some about Iraq that call even the soldiers names, vegetarians who say everyone who eats meat are cannibals and there are the anti-adoption "crusaders" telling every person that adopts that they are committing some crime or the adoptees that are happy "just need to admit they are angry", etc. Let's get all these people to join up with those putting all their efforts into feeding the hungry.... How about it? All those gals (and I could link a few) that put out newsletters and interviews and go and protest adoption.
(and don't get me wrong here - writing letters to congress about opening records doesn't take that much time...and it's not what I'm talking about). Spending all of your time on something fuels fires.....spend time on helping feed the hungry, clothing the poor or helping the disabled.
Myself, I'm an advocate for seniors (on the board of the Area Agency on Aging) and spend my time getting help for little old people that cannot help themselves. I'm not any better than anyone else but I AM proud I spend my time on something worthwhile.
What cause do you fight for?...please share
3 comments:
Great post, P! I advocate for a couple of things, although full time work and a baby keep me too busy to do much volunteerting.
I advocate for animals. I absoloutely LOVE the organization www.bestfriends.org. They are a no-kill sanctuary in Utah that is doing great things in the world of abandoned and abused animals. My godson and I went there for a week last summer and volunteered. It was great and a good cause.
I'm pro-life and, although I don't attend the rallys (too intense for me), I HAVE put my money where my mouth is in counseling people to consider parenting or adoption and, for one friend, I am helping her raise a son she choose to give life to. I first cared for him when he was two days old and he is now a big, big nine y.o. boy. He is "ours" Friday afternoons through Monday morning, every weekend, and sometimes during the week, too, depending on schedules. It's been a wonderful nine years and I wouldn't trade my time with E for the world!!
That's really about all we do. The usual. We sponser several children through World Vision and Catholic Relief Services. We tithe at church. I hope when I retire, or get some free time (HA!) to volunteer at the local SPCA.
Like you, I try to be a person of action....especially meaningful action. I'm not the type to sit around just blogging and not doing and also I put my money where my mouth is. I also try to tackle root causes....like hunger, as you mention. To that end, we certainly do a lot of donating, letter writing, petition signing and sponsoring of families.
One thing that distresses me about anti-adoption folks is that they want to stop adoption, but are willing to do little to nothing to really resolve the issues that lead to adoption. There is horrific poverty, disease, war, etc. in other countries that leads to orphans....but are these people helping the situation or just complaining about the kids getting adopted?
Similarly people complain that there are so many needy kids in our foster care system. Are they helping those kids though? Do they plan to adopt them?, serve as a "big brother" or "big sister"?, will they help parents of young children so the family can stay together? I wonder if the answer is not "no" more often than not. It's just much easier to sit around complaining about the problems out there.
Great questions!
You already know that I advocate for adoptee access to their records. I am pro family preservation because I have seen some of the horrors of the dark side. An example is Rashad Head and Stephanie Bennett. I do help those search and find laws that can help them. Of course I do write Texas legislators (who listen to me more because I vote) and Indiana (who ignore me because I don't vote there)legislators. LOL. You are definitely one interesting creature.
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