It is hard to feel impassioned about something you don’t understand fully, or to fight against something you don’t know exists. It is easy to turn around and point fingers at people who seem too preoccupied with their own lives to look around and react to the social injustices that we ourselves are so moved by.
Yet for all of us there was a starting point for when we were truly inspired enough
to involve ourselves in community service – something clicked in us that made us really want to act in some way and it is then that we achieve true awareness.
For me, it was a trip to the Ratmalana Deaf and Blind school to help with a Christmas celebration.
Ammi got me to help her distribute cake to the children and as I did the rounds some of the children of the Deaf school gestured to me that they had already received one piece and took me to find groups of children who had not.
A simple act but this shocked me so much – if this kind of cake distribution had gone on in my school I was sure no one would say no to a second helping. From that point I was hooked into helping that school and so the story continues.
More often than not people will be attracted to community service not because of a heartfelt passion to help but simply because they are helping something they know, all their friends are doing it, it looks good on a CV, or because the event looks cool. It isn’t such a bad thing though: once you reel people in, they get hooked because, frankly, helping someone makes ourselves feel good.
After the initial hurdle of the first steps, the rest follows smoothly: they continue to get involved of their own initiative, they attract more people to help too, and the awareness spreads like a rolling snowball.
The point is, when you feel strongly about something, speak up and speak out. Use whatever form comes your way because there will always be people listening: from simple acts like Facebook updates, tweets (on Twitter), talking to your friends, to larger gestures like organising projects at school, university or work, or helping publicity teams of community service organisations. Do what you can, whenever you can.
For more details on the Stitch Movement log onto - www.thestitchmovement.com.
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