Action, not tears

You know when you hear a story that just stops you in your tracks? I’ll admit that since becoming a mom I cry. A lot. Mostly when it comes to sad stories involving children or families being torn apart. Sometimes it’s just a Tim Horton’s commercial, but the point is I’m a bit of a suck.

So it may have taken all of three minutes before the flood gates opened on hearing about our Cityline senior director’s trip to Kenya with Me to We. Me to We’s goal is to create “better choices for a better world”. Sounds abstract and pie-in-the-sky, right? But what if I told you that children were walking miles each day just to have safe drinking water? Or that little girls were banned from reading past midnight because they were so hungry to get out of poverty that they were up in the wee hours educating themselves with whatever text books they could get? Would you believe that amidst abject poverty there are community’s experiencing more joy than most of us experience on a regular day?

I’m upset because this morning I was pissed off that my cab was late.

It’s about perspective, people, and I hope that I can have less days of being pissed off by the minutia of life and more days giving back. In fact, my goal is to get my children on a school-build overseas (or here at home) when they’re older and can grasp how privileged their existence is. It hurts my heart to know that children are struggling anywhere, especially when we have so much here at home.

I’ve gotten back on the volunteer train in my community and I feel good about it, but trying to fix the world gets overwhelming. Do you ever wonder how you’ll ground your children? Do you worry about how you’ll create good, strong leaders? I do. Do I have the answers? No. Do you? Submit a comment below or email submissions@cityline.ca.