A moment to reflect on the tragedy in Haiti: my prayers and thoughts go out to each individual who has been affected by the recent events. May recovery be quick and may your personal losses be minimal, yet may your faith stay strong.
A friend of mine had the pleasure of doing some missionary work in Haiti this past summer and when he called me today to see if I could lend a hand for a benefit, I of course said I would help in any way.
He asked if I would just let people know about the event which I can do easily. Friday January 15, tomorrow night at Cuatro Restaurant 2030 S. Wabash, DJ's united for Haitian Relief, featuring: Derrick Carter, Glenn Underground, and more. In fact he has a lot of people working that angle since many offered their talents and skills for this event. The suggested donation is only $10 but I hope that the people who go will give as much as they can because it's going to take a lot of individual effort to see the victims through this tragedy.
Fifty thousand dead is the latest estimate. I spent a moment today trying to wrap my head around that figure. I have to say I started to think of some sporting events I have attended in the past. In order to comprehend how many that was I imagined Wrigley Field a little more than sold out--with corpses. Yes, it's a harrowing thought.
I have to do this because I have what many people have; if it's not happening directly to me, then it's easy to be comfortably numb.
This past Christmas I received a card from my friends at Shure that said something like Happy Holidays and as a gift, we made a donation in your name to Doctors Without Borders. That truly made me happy because I like to be philanthropic--when I can. In the past year however, my philanthropy has all but disappeared. I mostly save that for my family as cash has been pretty scarce--I'm feeling the hit like I imagine many are--but I know many are not.
Maybe you are struggling to make ends meet and wondering when will it end and when will we be solvent again as a nation or when will be able to resume dining out regularly and so on and so forth and then a catastrophe happens and you feel small and petty. We so often realize in some one else's peril that our life is a blessing.
I came up with a new idea (for me) that since I couldn't really donate a lot of money this last year, that I would just serve people and volunteer to do more things this year. I'm excited I'll be leading an afterschool program for a group of students at my son's school. In the future I'd like to do the same thing at other schools.
When I had more money I donated to zoos and museums and I'm not saying that was a bad thing, but donating to those types of organizations has benefits like free parking or a free t-shirt or a member's card that gets you discounted meals. There's usually a trade so you can immediately see a benefit to your giving. Then there's also the tax deduction. Volunteering is vastly different, and I think I'm going to be really grateful to do more of that this year. I think it's true what people say about volunteering, how it's a feeling that you get that's unlike any other.
In the future I hope I can apply some moderation to both efforts and give a little money when I have it, but to also put more effort into volunteering because there's nothing sexy about not making good use of your time.
Signing off,
The Sexy Moderate
PS: Beautiful Haitian Beach foto by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mweriksson/
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