Get involved

You have probably already heard some form of this, but it bears repeating:

“This is a story about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when actually Nobody asked Anybody.”

Get the picture? Get involved!

A Girl Scout Anniversary

One hundred years ago, Juliette Gordon Low got 18 girls together in Savannah, Georgia, for the first local Girl Scout meeting. Today, Girl Scouts of the USA has a membership of over 3.2 million girls and adults here in the United States and in 90 countries. Talk about growth!

Ms Low is one of those wonderful people we write about here – someone who truly makes a difference. She had hearing difficulties, but that never stopped her! She even told this story: “When I returned to the States and wanted to start the Girl Scouts, I knew I needed some help. The first woman I approached tried to tell me she wasn't interested. I pretended that my deafness prevented me from hearing her refusals. And told her, "Then that's settled. I've told my girls you will take the meeting next Thursday." I never heard a word of argument from her again!”

Some famous Girl Scouts over the years include are Lucille Ball, Dakota Fanning, Katie Couric, and Elizabeth Dole.

Unlike the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts do not ban gays or transgenders. The official Girl Scout policy also does not ban or require prayer. The rich diversity of race prompted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1956 to call Girl Scouts “a force for desegregation.”

Observances are planned for various times and places today.  I plan to be present at one being held from 4-6pm at San Francisco City Hall.  So happy anniversary to the Girl Scouts and thanks for making a difference in the lives of so many!

YIELD!

You’re driving down the street when suddenly you see a flashing light behind you and you hear a siren. What should you do? Apparently some folks think to correct answer is step on the gas and try to beat the emergency vehicle, as you proceed on down the street. WRONG!

Let’s take just a moment to remember what it is that emergency vehicles do. An ambulance transports sick or injured people to hospitals and medical centers. More often than not, when an ambulance is involved, the patient is in urgent need of care and every minute counts. Fire trucks sometimes respond to medical calls and various random emergencies, but most of the time they are headed to fires, where once again, every minute counts. Police may be responding to any number of calls – a hostage situation for example, or a murder, robbery, or rape. Again, time is of the essence.

The flashing lights and sirens were developed to signal people that this is a vehicle that needs priority treatment. Please yield. Of course one very good reason for doing so is that it is the law, and a heavy fine can hit you for not yielding. The better reson though is that it is simply the right thing to do. Would you like someone to die because you blocked an ambulance? Would you like someone to lose their house because you didn’t let the fire truck through?

You can make all the difference in the world with just a bit of road courtesy. Yield to the first sound of a siren!

This bullying must STOP!

This bullying that has caused so much heartache, must stop! The list of lgbt suicides is way to long. The pain that our kids must endure is unnecessary.

We need to make them feel like they are welcome in this world, and not freaks who don't even deserve to breath air. Take the It Get's Better pledge HERE. It is certainly a good start!

While you are at their website, I urge you to look more at the It Get's Better Project. It is not the final word, to be sure, but if we all do what we can to help our lgbt youth, we can put an end to bullyiing and see that no more lives are lost. What else can we do? Well I challenge you to think of just one thing you can do to raise awareness about lgbt issues Spread the word, too!

Last year, Raymond Chase took his own life by hanging himself in his college dorm room. We don't know all the details, but bullying had preceded his death.

There are incidents somewhere just about every day! We don't always know if it is lgbt-related, but ANY loss of life and ANY bullying, is too much. This bullying must stop and it must stop NOW!

Inspired by Kennedy

When I was young, Robert Francis Kennedy was the junior US Senator from New York State, where I was growing up.  I remember him saying “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” Those words had a profound impact on me.

Robert Kennedy's life was cut short by a bullet, but he had already got my attention.  I don't know how many lives he touched; we never know such things.  I do know that ever since I have been trying to not only get involved and make a difference in the world, but to motivate others to participate too.

We may not all be inspired by a Kennedy, but we all can give back to this world of ours.  It isn't important that we give in a certain way - the important thing is that we just do it!

Change the world

Can I change the world? Someone actually asked me that. After reading this blog for a while, I was asked, "do you really think you can change the world?"

The answer of course is YES! I can and you can and all of us can if we get involved and if we do something and if we simply TRY to make a difference. Will stting alone in a room and moaning about the things we don't like change anything? Probably not.

This blog does not give you all of the answers. I don't have all of the answers. Nobody has all the answers. I never have pretended that to be the case. I don't think I am the authority on change or involvement or making a difference - I am just one voice. I do hope you will join me though. Together we can do so much more!

I would love to hear your comments too. Occasionally I get an email, but you can comment right here too so that other readers can easily read your thoughts (and you can even do so anonymously). Changing the world for the better is something all of us should be interested in doing! Join us!

Say what??

When someone mentions their doctor, do you automatically picture a man? If a man says he wants you to meet his spouse, do you immediately think he is referring to a woman? We need to change the way we think and they way we say things! (I prefer saying husband or wife instead of partner or spouse because it gives more information). If we really believe in equality though and really support same-sex marriage, we should think about things like this.

I remember a television commercial for a deodorant, many years ago that talked about an airline pilot. Viewers were thinking of a man flying the aircraft, but in the last frame we see that it is actually a woman. Even those of us who fight every day for equality, can't get those images out of our head that we have been conditioned to see. When reading someone's biography, when we see that they are married, most of us still assume the opposite sex.

Is it conditioning or prejudice? Can we open our minds to see a bigger picture?