While chatting to Bob (my husband) the other day, the conversation we were having really made me think.

We were talking about something Debbie, (one of the Oyster Rally coordinators) was doing, she was organizing some fund-raising for one of the local orphanages in Indonesia.

I said that I really hoped the fleet would all chip in and provide help for the poor little children. Debbie, having visited the orphanage had said that a single mattress was shared by 4-5 girls, while the boys slept on the stone floors, food was almost a luxury; a hardship that’s really difficult for most of us to comprehend.

Bob felt sure the fleet would get together to provide mattresses (the cost: the equivalent of 14 English pounds each) for all the children, as well as food and some toys. I said how wonderful that would be, and he replied that there was so much poverty in that country it really wouldn’t make enough of a difference, and that we can’t help everyone, and what about all the other orphanages?

It was at that point, when he said that, that I thought, as individuals we really can only do so much. BUT, if everyone did something (no matter how little) for the less fortunate that they meet, or come into contact with, an enormous difference would be made. Think of the difference Debbie and the fleet made to that one orphanage because they all got together and gave a little!

I have a regular deposit set up to give a set amount to a particular animal charity every month, it’s not much, but its what I can afford, although I often feel that its a waste of time, I wonder what, if any, the difference my contribution really makes each month? But, (without trying to teach my grandmother to suck eggs here) if a good amount of people gave the same amount that I give each month it really would make an enormous difference.

I’m always dreaming of winning the lottery and starting veterinary clinics on the poorer islands where dogs and cats run free breeding indiscriminately and then starve to death while scavenging the streets. I’d like to start a program to neuter or spay all the animals free of charge. I would like to set up more animal rescue centers here in Atlanta.
I want to save the elephants, rhino’s, tigers and the blue whale… I have so many dreams of using millions to change the world, really silly dreams, dreams that are not ever going to happen, off the charts impossible dreams (particularly since I don’t actually do the lottery!)

My dream has always been to make a difference on a huge scale, and I worry about the small insignificant difference that my little contributions makes. When I give $5 to a homeless person on the street, or give $2 to Petsmart charities every time I shop, or donate something, its all so small, so terribly small, but if more people did it, wouldn’t life be better?

BUT, again that ‘but’, that conversation with Bob made me think (I’ve always been a bit slow!) I don’t actually have to give millions to make a difference, I just need to look at the smaller picture, what’s immediately around me. As an individual I only need to help those I can touch!

The truth is I feel good about giving, it makes me feel happy to know that in some way I’ve made a contribution, made a difference somehow no matter how small.

The big picture is so scary, but if everyone did something, anything at all to help the less fortunate that we encounter along the path of our more fortunate lives, wouldn’t life be better for everyone?

I try so hard to believe that there are more good people in this world than bad, I said try, I don’t believe it yet, but I’m still trying…