Remember learning about potential energy in 11th grade physics?How energy is never created nor destroyed, only transformed?
(Or something like that... I hated physics and it was my worst subject.)
Well, every dollar in your bank account is endowed with potential energy,
and with every act of spending you are choosing what form that energy will take in the world.
Most of us, in the hustle and bustle of our daily lives,
forget to become conscious when we make that choice.
We are busy, we are tired, and we don't think twice before handing over
another $2 here for a soda, $5 there for a coffee, $10 there for a dinner out.
Just think back for a second:
what did you purchase with the last $10 you spent?
For me, it was two sodas, credit for my cell phone,
and a brownie (a damn good brownie at that!)
Now ask yourself:
were these conscious purchases charged with the intent to contribute to sustainable good in the world?
My answer: not one bit.
My brownie's pleasure rating? 10 out of 10!
Sustainability rating? Umm... zero.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with buying these little things for ourselves,
but when we rarely look past satisfying our short-term wants,
it sure doesn't make us feel right.
We feel small and forget that we are powerful.
We feel separate and forget that we are part of
an interconnected human organism that needs each and every one of us.
We feel empty and forget that we have big hearts
that light up and do cartwheels when we spread joy to others.
In short,
But when we wake up to the power each of us has to translate the energy of our money
– and our time, and our skills, and our actions –
into good for not only ourselves but for others,
we can begin to integrate little conscious acts
of empowered giving into our day-to-day lives.
Little acts of giving that fill you up way more than a brownie ever could.
I am bringing this to your attention because you
yes, you!
have the power to make the conscious choice
right now to contribute to something greater
than the temporary personal satisfaction of a caffeine fix or beer buzz,
something in line with the life-changing empowerment
of marginalized women a-half-a-world away.
A group of my friends in Budondo, Uganda
- 30 women living with AIDS while raising large families without a source of income –
have mobilized to start a small sewing and tailoring enterprise
that will put them on a path towards economic stability and self-reliance,
empowering them to gradually expand their livelihoods
and thereby reclaim control over their own lives.
They don't have the financial capital to kick-start this venture,
and they're afraid to secure a microfinance loan locally because they were screwed over in the past
(think pay-day lending – by the time they could pay back their loan, it had tripled in size with interest and they lost everything).
Help fund an interest-free loan for these women to get started.
The money you give – whatever amount – will multiply itself over and over as a contribution to the development of sustainable livelihoods that will not only strengthen the future prospects of these women,
but their children and communities as well.
Now,
I am not blind to the fact that we're all strapped for cash right now.
I don't even want to look at the balance of my bank account
because I know it won't be grounds for celebration.
But you know what is?
We are alive, we are breathing, and we do have everything we really need to get by.
One thing that being here in Uganda has taught me is that as “broke” as I am at any given moment,
I can always stock my refrigerator and put gas in my car and get a job at McDonald's to keep a roof over my head.
And that is worth celebrating.
In celebrating all that we have,
we can stop feeling lacking or worried about our finances
and start fostering gratitude,
recognizing the actual abundance in our lives.
And there's no stronger and truer way to
manifest our gratitude and express our abundance
than by giving –
giving a little, knowing that together we can do a lot.
I'm sure you've heard Margaret Mead's famous quote:
Well this isn't just about believing this,
it's about proving it.
And together we can.
We can be the small group
that really will change the worlds of these women in ways we can't even begin to imagine.
I can't come up with $500 on my own,
you can't come up with $500 on your own,
and these women sure as the sky is blue can't come up with $500 – let alone $5 – on their own.
But together we can.
I know this with every ounce of my being.
(And with all the brownies I've been eating lately, that's A LOT of ounces!!)
Okay, if that hasn't made you excited about parting with five or ten or twenty or [gasp] fifty tax-deductible dollars
to release positive energy into the world, I don't know what could!
Oh yeah... the women are committed to paying back this loan,
so in time if you so choose you will get your money back
(or you can choose to recycle it to another project).
How's that for painless?
So please consider being a part of this movement,
and thank you thank you thank you...
No comments:
Post a Comment