'Twas a dark and stormy night...really it is! A heavy fog also set in sometime this afternoon, and we have been stuck indoors all day. We are all feeling a bit frazzled and caged.
I found some reprieve and solace this evening in the comfort of my bath tub, with a crisp new book in hand. I began reading, Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World, by Craig Kielburger and his brother Marc Kielburger.
I picked this book up a while ago, in part because I know some of their background story, and it interests me; and in part because I am a small (be it) fragment of their history.
In high school, I took a World Issues class, and for our final Independent Study Unit we had to pick a social issue to present to the class. Knowing I wanted to become a teacher, and my love for children lead me to choose to do a presentation on 'child slavery'.
Once I had read some of the stories, stories of small hands in chains weaving tapestries 12 hours a day with only a bowl of rice and lentils on which to survive; of 5 year olds laying bricks under the heat, exposed all day to the hot sun and dust; and young kids, indebted by their parents, who are sold into firework factories where the working conditions are so poor there are routine explosions where they suffer horrendous burns: I knew I wanted to help.
As part of my research, I looked into several charities, and learned that some are better than others. When I got up in front of my class to do my presentation, I was so excited to share what I had learned, and hoped others would feel the same, and that hopefully I'd be able to raise a bit of money at the end of my presentation to donate to the charity I had selected, and thought to be the best: Free The Children.
Our school used to sell lollipops as a fundraiser for something else, and so I asked the same company if they would be willing to give me a discount or deal so I could sell lollipops to my peers to raise money for Free The Children. The company gave me two cases for free, which I sold out of and raised just over $500 for the cause. It was exhilarating, and being a part of the Buddy Walk gave me that same thrill of doing good for someone else. Everybody wins.
To get back to my point, Craig Kielburger, the author of Me to We, is the same age as me, and when he began his charity of Free The Children he was only 12 years old. He did it because he read an article in the paper about a boy his age who had been enslaved, was rescued and became a young activist against child slavery, only to be shot down by people with a vested interest in his demise. Craig was outraged at the injustice, and shocked by what he learned about child slavery, and knew he needed to make a change.
Free The Children began small, with kids helping kids through education, and is all about empowering youth - I love it. They connect youth around the world and have built more than 450 schools, providing education to more than 40,000 children daily, as well as helping families and over a million people meet their most basic needs.
In their book, a topic they discuss right off the bat is finding an issue that ignites your passion, and that can help you make the shift from 'Me to We'. I don't want to get too much into the details, as they make the arguments much sounder than I can, but I must say that I admire the whole premise of helping others as a way of life, and can relate very strongly with the need to promote positive social change.
I feel so fortunate and thankful to have found a cause I am passionate about in working with the Down Syndrome Association of Hamilton. DSAH promotes acceptance, awareness and inclusion for those, like my daughter, who have Down syndrome. What are you passionate about? And, what do you have to be thankful for? Think about it.
"Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is,
but rather he must recognize that it is he who is asked." - Viktor E. Frankl
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