Improving the world
 

What have you done, are doing, or plan to do to improve the world or your community?

There have been some negative threads lately and I wanted to look at something more opptimistic. Even small things count. A true attempt to improve yourself will improve your community. Or even teaching English if you put yourself into it.
However, "I gave money to a bum" or "I haven't killed any of my neighbors, yet" doesn't count.
If your young, what would you like to do or arre planning to do?

I imagine this thread will be short, so prove me wrong and show us what you do to improve the state of things. :)

I help my dad foster animals for a non-killing organization.
But that's pretty much all I can do for now because I'm sort of sick.

Once I get better and graduate from college.
I plan to join the Peace Corp.

If I ever get money.
I want to set up a sanctuary for almost extinct animals.
And a non-corrupted orphanage or school.

I also hope to adopt a child for myself.

Let's see,
I'm proficient in French, and I want to learn more Japanese and Persian so I can either teach foreign languages or work as an interpreter. My main goal is to give others a broader view on the world we live in.

I do work with glass, calligraphy and bamboo basket weaving and donate the proceeds to a local charity that deals with problems our city (unemployment, street crime, etc.).

Both those posts are awesome.

well i will most definetly get into the Arts field...not as an artist but i would really like to work in a museum. its a shame that there are so mant Art & music funds that are being cut left & right. I'd like to promote the appreciation of Arts more in my community as well.

Well, I'm Native American & I grew up on an Indian Reservation & I know how hard it is to live there. I hope to attend college & eventually return to teach the youth about just what its like outside of the Reservations because the "Rez" is all they know, or the state is the only thing they know. They may have heard of other places but I want to the chance to show them. I hope to go overseas & bring some stuff back with me. I want to impact my community is that sort of way, so, hopefully more of my people will try to get off the Rez & find something bigger or help others get off as well. I do understand that they may not want to though. I know I didn't want to leave but I didn't have a choice...& I see it as sort of a blessing in a way because now I want to go everywhere & do everything & I don't want them to miss out on anything. I also hope to help out with suicide prevention because it is rampant on Indian Reservations, especially mine.
Yeahh....thats it. Its not much, but I don't know what else to do.
At least it's something though :]

Awesome. Which nation?

only a small thing on my part.

Id like to travel the world with my Photography, so that other people less fortunate can experience and see things that they might never get too. id also hope that some of my images will show people how lucky they are, by taking images of less prospering countries. which might get other people involved and wanting to help other people aswell.

EDIT: an image can be a powerfull thing.

There's a fantastic photographer named Lisa Kristine. She's travelled to scores of countries. Check her out. I'd like to know what you think. PM me to keep this thread somewhat focused:)

My nation is the Sioux ~ :]
I love em to death
Actually I'd do anything for
any Native American nation...
or any other nationality as well..
lol. I think I care too much sometimes~
<3

Here is a phrase to live by: "God helps those who help themselves." What do you think it means? What is the opposite meaning?

It was once said "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for the rest of his life." A man who can fish controls his own destiny, as opposed to one who can't, and has to rely on others to choose his destiny for him.

Where we are in our lives at this exact moment is the result of all of the decisions we have made in our lives up until now. Those of us who have made good choices are probably doing well, those who have not made good choices may not be doing so well.

To make the world a better place, you have to teach others to make the right choices. Unfortunately, you cannot make their choices for them. It's the God-like nature in us that requires us to personally make such choices in our own lives, and to feel the consequences, for better or worse, for them.

My mother raised me by saying that almost everyday. Here are three more of her proverbs: "People in hell want ice water (when I said I wanted something)" "If horses were wishes, beggars would ride" and "It's what you do with what you got."

well today i was in new york city and i saw homeless people, which, everytime i do, i get really depressed because i hate seeing them pawing through the garbage for scraps of food. i feel even worse when they're disabled, like they're missing a limb. :[ so today i came up with an idea i hope to be able to put into action:

i want to be able to gather a bunch of my friends and assign each person to get particular food items. then i'd want to gather all of them and have everyone make a lot of paper bag lunches, then go to manhattan and spread around the city and give the lunches to the homeless. i'd need at least several people, though, because i can't afford this myself. i know it's not a really creative idea but i think it's still good. i always wanted to do something like that but i got reinspired today when i saw this guy walking down the street with 3 pizza pies, and offered one pie to a homeless guy. it was so generous, because a whole pizza pie, especially in nyc, costs quite a bit, and it was a random but really nice act. =o

and if i ever get rich, i'd donate a lot of my money. except probably not to a big organization, i'd rather do something myself. maybe a little homeless shelter to help them get on their feet.

So what do you think she meant when she told you those things? Was she trying to help or hurt?

I do my best to do what I believe is right.

She was helping enormously. She was teaching me to get by on my own devices and don't expect society to just hand me everything. You have to work for success. Don't be spoiled. At the same time, my family helped me when I needed it and made sure I was educated and experienced enough to be successful enough to stand on my own two feet. I almost equate some of those things with "rugged individualism" to which I subscribe (when tempered with concietless compassion).

I agree with your post above, but it's good to leave a place better than when you found it. It's good for the few who will drink when led to water and good for the individual to do good works.

You have a good heart, and the help will be appreciated for awhile. But before long they'll begin to sober up, and then they'll start scaping together what money they can to get another 6 pack of Natural Ice. There are 2 main reasons that people become homeless in America. The first reason is substance abuse, the second is mental illness (which is often a result of the first reason).

If you want to help, donate or volunteer at detox centers or mental health care centers. The longer the homeless can stay in such places the better their odds become of lifting themselves up. These places are so crowded and short-staffed nowadays that they don't have the bed space or staff to treat anyone for more than a day or two.

I am in contact with homeless people all the time because of my profession and I completely agree. Volunteer at an organization that caters (responsably) to the mentally abused or addicted would be a better help. The veterans administration would be a good place as well (they work with a lot of homeless vets with the above listed problems).

thanks for the advice. =o
but anyways, there are a lot of other types of homeless. i've heard of kids who were abandoned by substance abusing parents and became homeless .. there are also people who lose jobs because they were in an accident [and for example lost an arm] and can't find another job due to their disability, so they run out of money. o_o i'd like to help them out too, and i feel bad when people get put into bad situations that they didn't do anything to deserve to be in.

i think the more fortunate should contribute more, though. especially the ones who throw their money around. =| i wish the world could be a more equal place, but of course that's too idealistic.

i think there would be more people helping others if they became more aware of the world around them. for example i have a friend who's always throwing away his food if he doesn't like it [he's a picky eater] and when i tell him that there are less fortunate people out there he's like "whatever" ><

i may have gotten a little off topic. perhaps i just wanted to unleash some of my frustration? =x

Work in a group home or with emotionally disturbed youth!

my point of view is this - unless i see every nation on earth all collectively helping to look after this planet - then i aint doing shit.

At the end of the day this planet and nature is bigger than all of us inlcuding all our nucleur weapons etc. and It will wipe us out in a single earthquake or naural disaster and therby regenerate itself.

Humans wont kill this planet - this planet will kill humans.

Understandable, but that attitude isn't good for your health. Charitable work is good for your health. Also, I included "community" because one person rarely changes the world. But we can make our immediate communities better places to live.

Tenchu, I can't believe I'm saying this, but .. Those are great things you did. Upholding virtue (from Tnechu!) is what it's all about.