under the freeway,
originally uploaded by zappowbang.
Today is Blog Action Day. It’s one day a year when thousands of bloggers around the world write about one singular topic.
This year the topic is poverty. That seemed simple enough. So I sat down and started to write…
Poverty happens in third world countries far away.
Poverty happens here in the US as well.
Poverty happens to that guy who sits on the freeway exit and asks for change.
(Well, I think Poverty happens to that guy. I have also heard rumors it’s a sham and he’s pulling in hundreds of dollars a day.)
Then I also came to realize Poverty is very much closer to home. My Home.
You see, I have this brother. He’s been in and out of rehab, in and out of jail, in and out of hospitals... You name it he's been in and he's been out of it.
The family has tried to help him, taken him in, set him on the right path and so on. Nothing worked. He rejected everything and anything (as is often the case). The cause and the reasons don’t matter to this topic.
I haven’t talked to him in over 10 years. That silence has been by choice. My choice.
I drive by him 3 times a week as he stands outside a halfway house with others waiting to get a bite to eat and take a shower. He doesn’t notice me and doesn’t want to. I’m ok with that.
Recently I learned from a friend that my he’s living under a freeway. He’s warm, he’s dry, but the stark realization that I know one of “those people” rings hollow in my soul.
On the positive side, this thing called Blog Action Day has brought those thoughts to the head of the line. Although I know my brother wouldn’t accept anything from me directly, I find myself thinking about how I can help that halfway house, or any program that reaches out to help.
Each year we spend a day at the local food bank sorting cans as part of the Mueller Family holiday season ritual. While those same cans I sorted might eventually find their way to my brother, my involvement is once a year. That’s it.
What happens the other 364 days?
Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo
Here’s just a couple of answers.
You can donate to the Global Fund via: http://www.change.org/blogactionday
That’s simple , straight forward, easy to do.
Shop for anything using aGoodCause
They offer a revolutionary shopping concept to fight poverty.
When you purchase from more than 5,000 online shops you’ll be automatically making a donation to a charity of your choice.
http://www.agoodcause.com/content/view/429/146/
The answers are not easy.
Talking about it certainly is not easy.
It turns out, nothing is easy with Poverty.
You can follow the world’s posts today at http://blogactionday.org/
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