Thursday, May 24, 2012

Do you ever feel like yelling?

I’m willing to be corrected if I’m wrong here, but my guess is that if you’re reading this, you have at least a moderate interest in social justice and the alleviation of poverty; spending part of your day feeling some level of empathy for those who are suffering. Hopefully I have my audience correctly identified here and can proceed with my message, because otherwise, it may come across as more of a rant.

Actually, ranting is part of what I want to talk about. Coming from a place of awareness of the injustices around us, have you ever felt like all you do is rant about issues to friends, family and anyone who will listen? Does it ever seem that there are too many issues and not enough solutions, and ultimately, not enough people who care? Working at The Mustard Seed, I’m often asking myself questions like: “Why doesn’t everyone care about the fact that there are people without homes to live in?”, or even: “Why haven’t more people signed up to run or walk for our team in the Calgary Marathon?” How many teeth do I need to pull for people to be convinced that now is the time to do something about what is going on around us?

 If you read that in a yelling tone, you might have been reading correctly. That said, I don’t really think that whoever has the loudest bark will always win. Sometimes it truly is a matter of giving to something that we believe in. If people around you can see where you’re putting your resources, they are going to wonder why, do their research and likely come to the same conclusion that you have. No one really likes being yelled at, but surprisingly, they do like being part of positive change.

It might sound simplistic, but maybe that’s not a bad thing. And with this simplistic message, comes an even simpler call to action.

Our Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Dyer, is oh-so-close to overtaking the fundraising leader for this weekend’s Calgary Marathon. If you haven’t donated to him yet, it’s really very easy. And if Jeff wins, that’s an extra $2,000 for The Mustard Seed; and who doesn't like to see their resources multiplied?

All you have to do is click here, and obviously, don’t forget to tell your friends that you have. Just remember not to yell. http://my.e2rm.com/personalPage.aspx?EventID=84754&LangPref=en-CA&RegistrationID=1337753

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Thank you for commenting! Your comments are extremely welcome on all Mustard Seed Blog posts. Staff, volunteers and guests are always in need of encouragement and are always willing to participate in healthy dialogue. We ask that all critical comments be fair and relevant to the post.