A friend once told me that hope is not something to have, but to give. In a variety of cases it’s much easier to just wait for something to happen than to be proactive. However, if you’re willing to take action it gives a breath of fresh air to the hopeless. All too often we look upon a situation with pity, shaking our heads and saying, “Someone should do something about that,” or “They should really fix that,” followed by turning a blind eye. Can you imagine the difference you would see in the world if people would stop hoping that “humanity” takes care of a situation and would actually do something about it themselves? Your neighborhood park might actually be litter-free, those animals might be in a safe shelter, and that transient might have a blanket on a cold night. The smallest things can make the biggest differences. You don’t have to fly to a third-world country and hand out food or containers of water. By simply forfeiting a couple of lattés a month and donating the money you save, one less person may go to bed hungry. If you have an extra sweater lying around, you can donate it to a shelter or find someone without a place to stay for the night, and improve his or her quality of life.
In these tough economic times, we see an increased effort by celebrities and well-known executives to promote social responsibility. People like founder to CraigsList support and promote companies that are on a mission for global good by not only blogging about their efforts but publicly matching donations and attending major philanthropic oriented events. Events that are covered by bloggers including the he Social Good Summit are leading the way for social responsibility by bringing together business leaders, innovation and technology. The combination of innovation and technology is making it easier for people from all walks of life to not only hear about amazing global good movements such a Nelson Mandela day and personally make a difference. Taking action and giving back makes a difference to those in need, so stop hoping and start doing. You can make a difference.