United We Serve

Posted on | September 8, 2010 | 2 Comments

When George Clooney accepted the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award at the Emmy’s a week or so ago, he had a unique opportunity: a chance to speak to a room full of relatively wealthy people and a mostly captive audience at home. And, being the kind of classy guy I’ve imagined him to be, he used that opportunity to make an important point:

We fail. When it comes to remembering people in need, long after the novelty of the crisis has passed, we fail. We can be wonderfully generous in the immediate aftermath of an earthquake or hurricane, but then we move on. We go back to our lives and we forget that real, lasting help needs to be there even when the cameras aren’t and even when it’s no longer “cool” or “hip.” I give Mr. Clooney a lot of credit for including himself among those who fail – and I’m guilty of this as well.

It’s a recurring frustration for me, both on a personal level and on a larger level, one I’ve written about a couple of times. I know I’m a bleeding-heart uber-liberal. I wish I could save the world – I want to save the world. But I don’t know how to start, I don’t know how to move forward when I’m only one person and as difficult as it is to admit, sometimes it’s easier not to try.

But I know I could do so much more – I know we all could do so much more. I try not to use my blog as a soap box – I know that’s not much fun for anyone, but this is too important not to write about. I know I’m as much a part of the problem as I am a part of the solution. But I want to be better and I want to encourage other people to be better too.

This Saturday will be the ninth anniversary of September 11th, but it will also be a National Day of Service. President Obama has made a real effort to encourage Americans to include service as a regular part of their lives and this weekend is just one opportunity to embrace the call to help others. There are so many ways to give back, both big and small, that not doing anything at all really shouldn’t be an option. And only when we have made some form of service a part of our regular lives will we realize that walking away from other situations, other people who need help in other parts of the world, is not an option either.

We’re all busy. We all have our own lives and our own concerns. But the only real solution comes when we shut up and start acting. Nothing is ever going to change without real people working for real active change. Visit Serve.gov to find opportunities in your area.

If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Luke, 6 : 29-31)

Tzedakah (charity) and acts of kindness are the equivalent of all the mitzvot (good deeds) of the Torah. (Jerusalem Talmud, Pe’ah 1:1)

Righteousness is this: that one should… give away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for the emancipation of the captives. (Qur’an 2.177)

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. (Buddha)

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. (Mahatma Gandhi)

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not. (Dr. Seuss)

[Photo Credit: Getty Images]

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