Step Up

Sometimes life is just something that happens to you; other times you find yourself in the thick of it.

It's easy to be on cruise control, dealing with your own set of day to day problems without much of a look around.

The ones who are out there making it happen have a fire in their belly, a raison d'etre. Usually, they have been affected personally by something, which shakes them out of their lethargy and into action.

As the saying goes: If not you, then who? If not now, then when?

Sometimes it's you that's being called to step out of your comfort zone. Mostly it's easy to miss that call or casually side-slip the responsibility. I've found that the personal touch is the only one that works. Instead of "Can anyone help with this?", it's better to say, "Hey, Joe, I need your help with this."

No one does anything about cancer until you (or a loved one) get it. No one gives much thought about Down Syndrome kids until you have one. No one tries to change the system until it fails them. Occasionally, people are inspired by the action of others which is the point.

It's not that people don't care on some level, it's just that they're not personally invested. Until it touches your life it's somehow remote, unreal even. It takes somebody to come look you in the eye and ask: "Hey, I need you to care about this, what do you say?"

So do something today - even if it's a small thing - that will help make something better for someone else. And yes, I mean you.