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Don’t ever change yourself

I feel like an alien sometimes – I have no idea what’s happening on this planet. Maybe I’m too naive for my own good and it’s time I grew up.

I finally did it. I finally gave into my deep-seated aversion to non-specific socialising. Blogging on WordPress, I had something to talk about: A photo, a piece of art, poetry, a short story or a reflection. I feel better relating to people in context and not simply blurting thoughts out into the ether.

an assortment of stationery cans, a few Disney Frozen and Heartful Fairy, colour

I deleted the Twitter app from my phone. That means I can only access my account from my tablet, my laptop, and every single computer at work. (There are about one hundred of them and I have administrator privileges.)

The thing is, and I know what you’re thinking – that one deletion is not a huge deal – but it’s significant.

What put me over the top was looking at a retrospective from a fashion blog sitting above a post about the World Food Program and other United Nations programs. The juxtaposition feels weird because I’m interested in clothes and I also want to help people.

Another issue that bothers me is that many communities are not being helped by these programs. They are facing food shortages; they don’t have access to clean water or soap. And these wonderful organisations are practically unreachable.  

I know this because I spent every day this month so far trying to reach them. An NPO asked me to help them out of a jam so I did the best I could. I composed emails and PSA copy, brainstormed ideas, edited an entire website’s content, looked up contacts, confirmed contacts, sent direct messages, and tweeted at organisations and individuals. 

One organisation made it very clear that they could help in limited ways, so that’s encouraging. Still waiting for a response. 

I read a PR blurb about another organisation sending food aid to a developing country. They assured me that as long as I contacted their office in country they would be fine. So I asked the NPO to do that. I’m hearing that the NPO can’t raise this organisation on the phone, nor receive any response via email or LinkedIn. 

This evening, I saw a PR blurb from the WFP saying they raised $3 billion to alleviate food shortages in the world. They were so concerned about the plight of displaced families. Does this make any sense? I feel like an alien sometimes – I have no idea what’s happening on this planet. Maybe I’m too naive and it’s time I grew up.

I’ll be spending much of Saturday brainstorming with the NPO about how to get a community with homeless children fed. There is food aid available but the official channels seem completely cut off from the communities that need help the most. And yet, they are somehow able to collect data from those same communities in order to raise funds. When I see all of this ‘Let’s help hungry children’ and ‘Donate now’ on their websites, my heart breaks a little.

By ΠιCΘLΞ

Life is short, so let’s be decent.

17 replies on “Don’t ever change yourself”

hallo! i find that watching pbs newshour on friday and again on sunday is just about all i can take. u get good, trusted coverage but not an endless news cycle.

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So much news is primarily focused on number of cases, testing and reopening the economy. But when I hear about the 5000+ cars waiting 8 hours or more inside our football stadium’s parking lot for food boxes– and not everyone’s gonna get something because it’ll all run out till the next day– there’s where my heart really goes. Unemployment and stimulus money hasn’t reached everyone eligible. Fortunately, some of us contribute to the food banks to help out– but it’s really not enough.
Art

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Thanks so much, Art. You are right that stimulus money won’t reach those who really need it. Their plight will make a headline but nothing will get done. No wonder so many of us are refusing to listen to talking heads. Thank you for what you do to help others.

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I am concerned for donors, as well. This is why I feel better donating my time, skills and material goods instead of cash. Thanks so much for commenting, Eurobrat.

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Oh, this does sound difficult, I often hear of situations like this, where there is a big problem and the means to fix it but no obvious way to bridge the two groups together – maybe some media organization could help?

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Oh I’ve tried that. Media organisations, will ignore me because this is not a sensational story that sells advertisements. If I thought it was that simple, I would’ve done that first. These companies hire outside people to manage their social media. They use apps and schedules to manage posts and all of that so nobody is reading the responses. There is almost zero engagement there.

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