Sharing Pictures

Does it sometimes seem like the internet can be a really bad place? Some days it seems like all you see are news articles about really bad things happening, your email doesn’t bring good news, and your Facebook feed is a steady diet of negativity. But sometimes there are days when the internet is a tool that reminds us that, yes, there are good people out there. People who maybe want to make the world just a tiny little bit better if they can.

Today was one of those days for me. One of my rescue friends posted a really cute picture of her dog and little boy on a Facebook page, Photo Doggies for Anthony. Apparently the page was started on behalf of a boy named Anthony who’s going through cancer treatment at a children’s hospital in Arizona. They have therapy dog visits some days, but not every day. Evidently those visits are a very big deal to Anthony (because who doesn’t feel better with a dog around?), so someone decided to start a Facebook page asking people to share photos of their dogs. The idea was that he’d at least get to see dog pictures every day. 

The page seems to have gone viral, with people all over the world posting dog pictures, and encouraging their friends to post dog pictures as well. It’s a really small thing. It really doesn’t take long at all to post a picture on Facebook, but maybe it’s something that makes it a little easier for a kid to deal with something that no one wants to face. It has to feel good that so many people who will never meet him care enough to try to brighten his day just a little.

If you’re on Facebook, I encourage you to check it out. There are a lot of cute pictures, and the comments all seem to be positive, coming from a place of kindness and hope. If you’re so inclined, take a minute to share a dog picture. (Cat people, take heart, there are a few cat pictures as well.) If there’s anything to the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, it’s a page with millions of good words, and that’s something we can probably all use a little more of.

Thirty-One Things This Holiday Season

Have you seen the movie Robin Hood with Russell Crowe?  If you haven’t, you should.  It’s a great movie.   If you’re a huge Russell Crowe fan (like me) it’s an amazing movie.  It also has a really great line (that I unfortunately couldn’t find a youtube clip of) where Russell Crowe (as Robin) is talking about the need to pay something back.  He says something along the lines of, “We can’t repay our good fortune with bad grace.  It invites darkness.” 

I think there’s a large amount of truth to that.  Call it what you will – paying it forward, giving back, karma, sharing blessings – whatever you may choose to call it.  I think there’s a need to share and contribute to the good.  

That’s one of the things that I love about this time of year.  We’re getting really close to the time when people are more generous and try to be nicer than usual to others.  You just hear so many great stories about people being kind around the holidays.  Now, I know some people say that it’s terrible that it takes the holidays to bring out the good in people, and I think they’re right to a degree.  After all, the holiday season is short.  Hopefully we’re all being nice for more than about six weeks a year. 

It also seems like being kind just comes very naturally for some people.  My husband is one of them.  He automatically holds doors for people, helps them with packages, things like that.  It doesn’t for me.  I have to constantly remind myself not to just bulldoze my way through the day.  It takes conscious thought, which I realize is not an excuse.

Then you come across things like this blog that I found last year.  It started off as an ordinary guy, around my age, wanting to make the world a little better place for his baby.  So he set out to do 366 random acts of kindness in 2012.  The acts were varied and included things like shoveling snow, donating blood, and donating to and raising awareness for various causes.  Whenever you’re feeling bad about humanity, read through the archives.  You’ll feel a little better. 

When I got the news about my hepatic adenomas shrinking I really felt like I’d dodged a bullet or been given something of a second chance.  That news lifted a huge burden, but it was a burden that I wasn’t carrying alone. My husband, my sister, my best friend, one of my transport friends, my boss, my co-workers, one wonderful nurse in the radiology department, and a few other people have been incredibly supportive and kind. 

All of that being said, I feel like I need to do something.   So I came up with the idea for 31 acts of kindness, or good deeds, (I don’t think what you call it is that important) this holiday season.  I’m 31 years old, and December has 31 days, so it works in my mind.  I’m also a deadline oriented person, so saying that I will accomplish them between today, November 16, 2013 (which, coincidentally, is my parents’ wedding anniversary) and December 31, 2013, means that I will actually do them instead of just having another good idea that comes to nothing.  It’s just how I function.  Telling all of you also gives me some accountability. 

I have a few things in mind, and actually did my first one today (posting about that tomorrow), but don’t have all 31 planned.  So if you have any ideas, or want to share what you do, I’d really love to hear about it.  

An Interesting Quote

I came across this quote on goodreads today:

“People who claim that they're evil are usually no worse than the rest of us... It's people who claim that they're good, or any way better than the rest of us, that you have to be wary of.” 
― Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

I haven’t read the book, but now I think I really, really want to.  I thought the quote was very thought provoking and very true. 

Some of the best people I know seem to have the worst opinions of themselves.  It seems that often the truly amazing, special people in the world don’t realize they are.  How many heroes think they are?  How many times on the news do you hear a person who stepped up to help another person brushing off praise, or simply saying it needed to be done?  

History is full of people who thought they were somehow better than, or superior to, everyone else.  Isn’t that what so many problems stem from?  Racism, ethnic cleansing, hate crimes, religious persecution all seem to happen because someone has the idea that they are superior to people who don’t believe the same as them, or aren’t the same color, or speak a different language, or somehow don’t conform to their ideal. 

I guess it’s much the same as “too good to be true” and the people who present themselves as better than, or superior to, others just aren’t.  So what about you, what are your thoughts on the quote, or on someone or something being too good to be true?

To Protect and Serve

This post is going to be a little unusual for me as I usually try to avoid mentioning my work in my blog.  I believe that the best way to keep work out of your personal life and endeavors is to leave work out of your personal life and endeavors.  I’m also a person who always gets pretty upset when there’s a big news story about a police officer, firefighter, or 911 dispatcher doing something wrong.  It’s not that I think these people are infallible; I think that as an overall group they do an amazingly good job in terrible situations.  Yet, the thousands of good things they do every day rarely make the news.

Photo from Wikimedia

That being said, I feel like I need to share something that happened yesterday at work, though I’m not going to share specifics in an effort to keep work and my blog separate.

I work in a secure building on a secure floor.  I’ve always respected the officers who provide the security.  I think they have a hard job, and they do it well.  I can honestly say I feel safer with them being there.  Yesterday there was a person coming to our office for an appointment.  The person hadn’t exactly threatened us; just made comments about whether or not things were bullet proof.  There were no outright threats, but it was enough to make me very uncomfortable, so I let the security officers know about it, largely to give them some warning in case we had to call.

They did so much more than just make a note that we might be calling; two officers came to our office to keep watch.  They came about fifteen minutes before the appointment was scheduled, and stayed a little over half an hour past the appointment time.  The person was a no-show, so obviously nothing happened, but I felt indescribably better for having them there.  I felt safe and protected.

I know my blog doesn’t have a huge readership, but I just felt like this was something I had to share since I complain so much whenever I come across articles or blogs focusing on something police officers have done wrong.  I know they’re not perfect, but yesterday their presence made my life a lot better.