Sunday September 7th, 2008
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A Good Deed on 9/11
Posted by Su Avasthi on September 10, 2006 - 11:43pm.
To honor 9/11 this year, I've suspended my lame excuses and promised to do a small, but good thing: I've pledged to sort cans at a local food bank.
Being the selfish busy person that I am, volunteering never would have occurred to me. Then I heard about a website called My Good Deed, which is dedicated to establishing September 11 as a day for voluntary service, charity, good deeds and compassion.
During the week of 9/11, this non-profit encourages people, organizations and businesses to volunteer for local causes or simply perform random good deeds.
Their site is designed to make volunteering simple and accesible. Just enter your zip code, and up pops a list of local volunteering options — from extravagant and full-blown (building a house for Habitat for Humanity) to the small and simple, (donating blood.) Pledge whatever works for you, then post it online. My Good Deed has several high-profile partners, including American Red Cross, Goodwill, United Way, AOL, MySpace and hundreds of other companies.
The idea of taking a few hours to do something to better the world feels right to me. For the past few years, I haven't quite known how to handle the feelings that 9/11 anniversaries stir up. Personally, I still find it painful to see repeats of news clips and videos about the World Trade Center. And however moving they may be, the countless commerative TV segments and newspaper articles just leave me feeling helpless. Though I hear they're excellent, I'm not yet inclined to see the new movies about Flight 93 or the World Trade Center.
So, while volunteering isn't normally on my radar (I'm not proud to admit it, but it's true), I'm glad that I found this site. It's shown me how important it can be to actively do something positive today, which, as it turns out, is a powerful way to channel some of my unsettled feelings. Besides, the opportunity to help others — in whatever small way — fills me with hope.
Today, all claims about being too busy, too strapped, too over-extended to volunteer seem ridiculous. Instead, I'm happy to have the chance to do some good. It's a small thing, but one that can make a bad day a whole lot better.
Topics:
- Self-Improvement
- charity
- compassion
- habitat for humanity
- Red Cross
- September 11
- United Way
- volunteers
- World Trade Center
I, too, have felt really helpless watching the countless documentaries and political charges leveled across the spectrum on the 5th anniversary of 9/11, but it never occured to me that doing simple good deads could be smart combat to an increasingly out of control world. I like it.
I shamefully stopped my volunteer work a couple of years ago, after a move, and also tried to convince myself that I couldn't get involved again in similar work because I was too busy or "adjusting"--but that is not the truth. It was just good old fashion fear of the unknown, or fear of facing the suffering of other creatures. The past few weeks I have been talking to more and more people about my desire to get back into working with dogs at animal shelters, because in spite of the emotional agony that sometimes went along with it, it suddenly occurred to me that when I was doing that something within me was being fulfilled that really hasn't been fulfilled since. There's so much truth in that universal concept that giving is receiving, but all too often fear, shyness or doubt get in the way--and what's the point of those emotions?
Thanks for posting this.
Mike
When you live thru what happen during 9/11 you finally ask yourself is it really worth getting angry and mad at people. It showed everyone you never know when your day is up -- it could in 10 mins, 15, in an hour. Enjoy every moment of your life and don't get stressed over frivilous things. Always help your neighbor, family, and friends. Marianne Scott
It's a shame that people filled with hate have to invade other's sanctuaries of genuine thoughts and feelings. I feel violated. Sometimes the world seems so filled with nothing but hate. I really enjoy sharing positive thoughts here with friends and strangers alike. It was so cathartic. Now even this respite is tainted by some evil, foul-mouthed invader. I'd like to see them burn in a pool of my toxic shit. Really I would. I like defication. A lot. Gotcha!