Tears

This video made me cry.
This girl makes me ashamed that I am not standing up and doing more. I'm one of those adults she is referring to. I sit here in my home and I am comfortable. I could do more. I should do more.

I remember a conversation I had with Shane about fostering children. His argument was that we should not foster children because it wasn't our burden to bear - it's society's burden.

Well, this video reminds me of my response to that statement.

Society is not some abstract thing, far-off and discrete from us. WE ARE SOCIETY.

If all of us do something small, something huge happens. If I foster one child, I will not change the world. But I will change the world of that child. That is worth something! That's worth everything as far as that child is concerned. Do not tell me that because I cannot fix the system, because I cannot correct the cause, that I should not contribute!
If everybody did what they could then a lot of problems would be fixed. We can't do it on our own.

But do not tell me that I do not have an obligation to do something. Because I do. We all do. There's no point trying to pin blame on this shapeless, intangible thing called "society". We are the people that make up society. We are society - society is us. We can make a change. It is up to us to stand up and make our voices heard, to demand change and to at the same time do what we can to make that change happen.

I have no intention, unlike some, of standing on my soapbox and preaching about what should be done while expecting someone else to do it. I fully expect to foster children. I donate money to charity. I volunteer at a scout troop. I'd be prepared to adopt a child. Little angers me more than people who will look me in the eye and whinge about some flaw in the system and tell me what should be done, but to take no steps whatsoever to see that goal realised.