How to: Help People be People

Life is about people.

We surround ourselves with people, we do things to either help or hurt people, we are people. So it seems to me like if I want to feel like I'm making a difference, I ought to be involved in something that will strengthen people. Not just a quick fix to a trivial problem, but some type of campaign or program that will empower people.

So I shared those ideas with people I care about. A couple family members, some friends, and the feedback I got wasn't so much of, "hey, you could do this!" or "what about this?"
 rather, it was a lot of agreeing.

My mom, for instance, agreed that she felt like old fashioned values had flown out of the window. We had a long discussion about how an increase of awareness could improve a persons day; how just one small act of kindness could totally turn around a bad mood. We agreed that decreased awareness has resulted in a decreased amount of manners.

My sister mentioned that it was getting harder and harder to have a conversation with someone. Not only because technology interferes, but we also assume that anything we need to know, we can learn from their profile. What a pathetic outlook! Being able to express what's going on in our lives is vital, almost therapeutic. And if we're not having those conversations with our own friends, it's going to be difficult to deal with things on our own.

As I'm writing this, and as I read through your feedback on my previous worksheet, I wonder if a campaign is the right alley for this. Maybe I could write some type of a column or re-occurring article or something about reestablishing what feels antiquated: old values, face-to-face communication, common courtesy. I question how effective that would be, though.

Dane and I discussed the lack of inexpensive, quality activities for teens and young adults. He said, "what is there to do for high schoolers under the age of 21, after 9 PM? Nothing! They can't go to concerts or bars or anything. They all go to the Pie Hole because it's the only place, aside from Walmart and McDonalds that's open for them. And the Pie Hole is cool."

Ha! He's right. That place is swarming with high school kids who wish they had something better to do than hang out a pizza joint. I remember that, though. The Pie Hole wasn't around when I was in High School, so we all went to the Pi Pizzeria. But if there would have been a fun, cool-because you care about that in high school- place for us to hang out in high school, either during the day or at night, that was relatively inexpensive, I think it would have kept a lot of us from getting into trouble or getting hurt.

So, I'm going to continue to let these ideas simmer. I finally feel like I'm onto something... it's vague, but it's taking a bit more shape than it has in the past.