Who's your neighbor?
Change...Are we ready?
"Change We Can Believe In." "Change We Need." "Change!"
We have all been bombarded by the word CHANGE. Our world needs change, economies need change, political propoganda of Obama's campaign is all about change. Change has become a brand. Something like the whole "go green" concept. Want to sell something? Slap the word change or green on it and it's almost worth guaranteeing a fair profit.
Now before you begin drawing assumptions of me having a resistance to change or thinking that this article has anything to do with our election, rest assured I'm most accepting to change and the use of Obama's slogans are merely a worthy example. My purpose here is to explore change with you. What is change? What can be changed? How can it be changed? Why is change needed? How can change benefit our immediate circle of life? Or is all this use of the word change more like painting a pretty picture that could never be our reality?
So, I've been asking myself these questions for a while now and just found myself lost. There are too many things to change and most of them I couldn't see having a direct effect on my community, my "world" or my "circle of life." I believe change is to benefit those around us and improve the quality of life. Then I stumbled upon something worthy to inspire change. Google created Project 10 to the 100th which encourages people (anyone) to share their ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.
I looked further into it and thought, where do I begin? I figured the best way to make a difference, to create change is by finding out what's wrong and what can be improved. I remembered a quote by Henry David Thoreau, "could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?" I had to take others opinions into account. I decided to start small and surveyed the 350 contacts in my phone with the following questions: What do you think would make this world a better place? Where you live (your city, community, etc.) a better place? What do you think is wrong or could be changed and how would you change it?
As much as I had hoped that responses would help feed a clearer idea of what can be done, sadly responses were limited. Only 18% of the persons surveyed responded with a concept, 8% felt that change should just happen and the rest just didn't respond. How discouraging! Made me wonder if change is really wanted or if people are just on the change bandwagon. However, the responses I did get were based on the future of society which lies within the children of today's world. How we could change society if we teach children simple values and morals such as respect, consideration, manners and humility.
Hmm... Maybe creating a program to show children how they can cultivate these values would be a good idea. Maybe implementing this program in schools? Then again, how many children really pay attention to their teachers? Or practice what they learn outside of school? This is what change would have to be... for US to learn and cultivate these values ourselves so that others may learn from us... so that our future may benefit from the very things we've tried to instill. After all, haven't we all heard the phrase "teach by example" at some point in our life? Isn't it time we apply this to our lives?
This is my Project 10 to the 100th, my contribution to social enrichment, to help myself and others find a way to make the world a better place by instilling basic values and morals as a part of our every day life in hopes to increase the level of respect between one another, amongst ourselves, knowing the true meaning of integrity and developing compassion and empathy for our neighbor(s).
This is my next step, asking the 1000 of you (MUL): What do you think would make this world a better place? Where you live (your city, community, etc.) a better place? What do you think is wrong or could be changed and how would you change it?
In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind."
All in all, this is just some Food for Thought.
Hope you all have a great day and find something you can change for the better.
- Miss Susy
We have all been bombarded by the word CHANGE. Our world needs change, economies need change, political propoganda of Obama's campaign is all about change. Change has become a brand. Something like the whole "go green" concept. Want to sell something? Slap the word change or green on it and it's almost worth guaranteeing a fair profit.
Now before you begin drawing assumptions of me having a resistance to change or thinking that this article has anything to do with our election, rest assured I'm most accepting to change and the use of Obama's slogans are merely a worthy example. My purpose here is to explore change with you. What is change? What can be changed? How can it be changed? Why is change needed? How can change benefit our immediate circle of life? Or is all this use of the word change more like painting a pretty picture that could never be our reality?
So, I've been asking myself these questions for a while now and just found myself lost. There are too many things to change and most of them I couldn't see having a direct effect on my community, my "world" or my "circle of life." I believe change is to benefit those around us and improve the quality of life. Then I stumbled upon something worthy to inspire change. Google created Project 10 to the 100th which encourages people (anyone) to share their ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.
I looked further into it and thought, where do I begin? I figured the best way to make a difference, to create change is by finding out what's wrong and what can be improved. I remembered a quote by Henry David Thoreau, "could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?" I had to take others opinions into account. I decided to start small and surveyed the 350 contacts in my phone with the following questions: What do you think would make this world a better place? Where you live (your city, community, etc.) a better place? What do you think is wrong or could be changed and how would you change it?
As much as I had hoped that responses would help feed a clearer idea of what can be done, sadly responses were limited. Only 18% of the persons surveyed responded with a concept, 8% felt that change should just happen and the rest just didn't respond. How discouraging! Made me wonder if change is really wanted or if people are just on the change bandwagon. However, the responses I did get were based on the future of society which lies within the children of today's world. How we could change society if we teach children simple values and morals such as respect, consideration, manners and humility.
Hmm... Maybe creating a program to show children how they can cultivate these values would be a good idea. Maybe implementing this program in schools? Then again, how many children really pay attention to their teachers? Or practice what they learn outside of school? This is what change would have to be... for US to learn and cultivate these values ourselves so that others may learn from us... so that our future may benefit from the very things we've tried to instill. After all, haven't we all heard the phrase "teach by example" at some point in our life? Isn't it time we apply this to our lives?
This is my Project 10 to the 100th, my contribution to social enrichment, to help myself and others find a way to make the world a better place by instilling basic values and morals as a part of our every day life in hopes to increase the level of respect between one another, amongst ourselves, knowing the true meaning of integrity and developing compassion and empathy for our neighbor(s).
This is my next step, asking the 1000 of you (MUL): What do you think would make this world a better place? Where you live (your city, community, etc.) a better place? What do you think is wrong or could be changed and how would you change it?
In the words of Theodore Roosevelt, "great thoughts speak only to the thoughtful mind, but great actions speak to all mankind."
All in all, this is just some Food for Thought.
Hope you all have a great day and find something you can change for the better.
- Miss Susy
Views: 10
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Comment by Rob DiDonato on October 8, 2008 at 3:10pm
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We need to start doing the little things that will have high impacts on our communities. Miami is very different from other cities I have been to. The sense of community is not really there. Something that I want to eventually do is to donate fitness equipment (Jump Ropes, Basketballs, Footballs, Soccer Balls, ect..) to schools around Miami. The percentage of children becoming obese is increasing every year. We always say that children are our future leaders. How will our future leaders lead if they are all dying of disease, depressed, or too busy dealing with thier weight. Education is the key. We have to educate parents and children, so that our children's future will be better than ours.
I will also be hosting fitness events such as a free boot camp that will raise money to go towards either Diabetes, or to buying children fitness equipment that was mentioned above.
My contributions may seem minor, but it is something that will go a long way; leaving positive experiences and changes to our community.
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Comment by Miss Susy on October 9, 2008 at 11:18am
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That's really awesome Rob. I think I might have just the place for you to get started with that. I'm part of Big Brothers, Big Sisters and I believe they are starting a program called Big Fitness. I don't have all the details on that program yet but I will get back to you on it once I do. Either way, the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program itself is a great mentoring service for children and teens. They're a nationwide organization that helps motivate, encourage and build confidence in today's youth. You should check it out. www.bbbsa.org
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Comment by Alex (MUL) on October 9, 2008 at 9:09pm
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Hi Susy, and thank you for the post! I've been hearing about an anti-panhandler law that will be passed in parts of Downtown Miami. This will allow police to fine or arrest anyone who is panhandling in an anti-panhandling zone. Although this would probably help local businesses increase sales and "clean up" the streets, these panhandlers have to go somewhere!
I know there are some organizations such as Camila's House that will take care of the homeless, but it's probably not enough. I think there should be something more effective in place to help the homeless get back on their feet. Maybe the community can start coming together on a regular basis to come up with better solutions?
Rob, I think your ideas are great! If you ever host an event for this, MUL would definitely want to be involved.
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