Make The World A Better Place

[Thaurismunths]

This past week the forums have been full of a lot of political stuff, mostly about how the world has issues. That combined with some of the stuff going in my workplace got me thinking. People like to wait for special occasions to do things, such as serving at homeless shelters around Christmas, or waiting for a birthday to make a benevolent gift. We also like to wait for some auspicious moment to make changes in our lives, such as New Years Resolutions, or after the death of a loved one. When it comes to problems in the world around us we can be nearly unanimous in naming problems, but getting any group to agree on a solution is harder than choosing pizza toppings (there's a fine thread-derailment right there).
It seems that people either get bogged down trying to find the 'perfect' solution, rather than working with what they have, or get overwhelmed looking at the big picture, rather than the small fraction they can actually affect. Bearing that in mind, I challenge our forum members: Tomorrow, to stop worrying about the perfect answer or waiting for the perfect time, and go make the world a better place.
It doesn't have to be huge, or even effect more than one person, just do something. Read to animals at the pound, donate some nice toiletries to a battered woman's shelter, listen to someone who would appreciate it, forestall an injustice, mow Chodon's neighbor's lawn. Yeah, it won't come anywhere near "fixing" things, and the world is still going to be full of badness and zombies (the bad kind), but it will be that much better off and you can feel better for having securely put you self in the "Part of the Solution" category.
And maybe you can come back here and share what good you've been up to?

[Chodon]

...mow Chodon's neighbor's lawn. ...

Or unleash a host of zombies upon him.

I'm going to give this some serious thought and report back...

The doing something good part, not the unleashing zombies part.

[bad_andy]

This is a great post and a great idea.

[Bdoomed]

today i went to a beach w/ 2 friends.
we saw a jellyfish in the water, twas big too
so we pushed it with a stick till it was on shore to save other people from its evil!
it got buried in the sand by some other guy
we thought we did all this good, then realized that there were many, many, MANY more.
oh well, we tried.

[Thaurismunths]

This is a great post and a great idea.

Thanks. Maybe if you're a member of another forum you could pass it on?

today i went to a beach w/ 2 friends.
we saw a jellyfish in the water, twas big too
so we pushed it with a stick till it was on shore to save other people from its evil!
it got buried in the sand by some other guy
we thought we did all this good, then realized that there were many, many, MANY more.
oh well, we tried.

See, this, this is why we can't have a nice planet.

[Planish]

Hmm... Lessee...

Last week I offered to fabricate a trophy for a friend of mine to give away to the winner of some weekend marathon RPG he was hosting for 15 or so people. It turned out quite nicely, resembling a Roman vexillum, about 19" tall. The best part was that it was almost entirely made from recycled materials, including a nice brass spear head I hammered out (from part of a door kickplate) and polished up real nice.

He was over the moon when he came to get it and saw it. Face all lit up like a little kid.

[FamilyGuy]

On Friday, I was walking back to my car.  While walking by a construction site, i noticed a three inch screw laying in the road.  I picked it up and threw it in the garbage.

It's nice to know I may have prevented someone from getting screwed. 

[Tango Alpha Delta]

On Friday, I was walking back to my car.  While walking by a construction site, i noticed a three inch screw laying in the road.  I picked it up and threw it in the garbage.

It's nice to know I may have prevented someone from getting screwed. 

Heh, heh.... thanks!  'Cuz even if I live 3,000 miles away from wherever you are, I would have probably managed to pick that screw up with my tire!

But this is the kind of "little stuff" that adds up.  I pick up litter whenever I see it, and throw it away.  My friends mock me when they see me do it, but they are frequently the same people who gripe about all the litter all over the place.

Here's a couple of personal suggestions from my (and my wife's) experience:

• Take jury duty seriously; I was called recently (it was my first time!) and was floored by the horrible attitude people had.  It's not supposed to be fun or easy; but I'd like to think that if I'm ever charged with anything, the people deciding my guilt or innocence will be more concerned with the facts that with the two or three days of work they're missing.
• Volunteer as an election judge; my wife does this for every election, now.  Our area is desperate for Republican judges, and as an Independent, she can fill in where needed. 
• • It wouldn't kill you to study the actual ballot issues for your local area instead of only showing up every four years for the "big one" and then blaming the President when your congressman turns out to be a dirtbag. 
• Learn Spanish; yeah, you heard me.  If you think it's so easy to learn a foreign language, give it a shot!
• And I know it's their job, but would it kill you to thank the high school kid at Burger King when they actually get your order right?

(Code Monkey thinks nested bullets easier in wiki markup.)

[Chodon]

I figured it out!  I talked to the teacher I do Junior Achievement with.  She is having a hard time getting people to volunteer for her class.  Apparently when the economy starts to go to hell nobody wants to look like they have an extra hour every week to teach middle school kids about business.  My awesome boss told me he thinks it's evidence I have time management skills that I can do it and not miss anything at work, and gave me high praise for it in my annual review.  Plus the plant manager takes everyone to an annual black tie benefit if they volunteered for classes.  Unfortunately, if my teacher doesn't get two more volunteers she's not going to be able to do it this year. 

To help her out I wrote up a leaflet to put up at my company trying to get people to volunteer.  I'm going to throw a guilt trip on those I believe to be especially vulnerable to it.  I pointed out that not only are the children our future, but they will hopefully be working for our social security someday.  If we can put a sense of entrepreneurship in them now it'll help us in the long run.

If anyone is out there looking for a good thing to do check out JA.  It's one hour a week for 6-12 weeks (depending on the program) and it rocks.

[Darwinist]

If anyone is out there looking for a good thing to do check out JA.  It's one hour a week for 6-12 weeks (depending on the program) and it rocks.

I do JA also - for 11th and 12th grade at the HS in the town I work at.  Great program, getting actual business people in to the classroom to give students and idea of what its like in the real world.  In my case its business and banking - especially personal credit issues.   

Love the jellyfish story.  When we were in Mexico my son saw a jellyfish wash up on shore and flipped it back in to the water with a stick.  A wave came up and washed it right back on to his foot and it got him right in the ankle.   My son was in a ton of hurt. 

[Russell Nash]

I worked a bunch of retail work in my life and have a lot of sympathy for those folks.  They're standing there with a big fucking bull'seye on thier chest for every idiot who is having a bad day.  I do several things everytime I'm in a store:

• When I see something that's not in the right place, I put it back.
• I always ask the cashier how they are. (This is especially hilarious in Berlin.  Many of the cashiers do not believe I asked them and will stare for a second before they answer or will laugh and smile when they answer.  I have left the store will discussions going on behind me about how "all Americans" are so polite.
• I smile at, am polite to, and say thank you to every employee I talk to.

One of the side benefits of this is I get excellent service.  At a store famous for crappy and rude service (Aldi, yeah they started in Germany) I have two cashiers who will open a checkout line just for me. 

[FamilyGuy]

On Friday, I was walking back to my car.  While walking by a construction site, i noticed a three inch screw laying in the road.  I picked it up and threw it in the garbage.

It's nice to know I may have prevented someone from getting screwed. 

Heh, heh.... thanks!  'Cuz even if I live 3,000 miles away from wherever you are, I would have probably managed to pick that screw up with my tire!

But this is the kind of "little stuff" that adds up.  I pick up litter whenever I see it, and throw it away.  My friends mock me when they see me do it, but they are frequently the same people who gripe about all the litter all over the place.

Today I was going by the same construction site and I saw a nail.  Now don't get ahead of me.

Yep.  Prevented someone from getting nailed.

About the trash, my family and I often go walking in parks and we try to pick up garbage that we see.  I agree, the ones who complain the loudest, often are the ones who don't try to do anything about it.

[shwankie]

I have the flu, and so slept on the couch for much of last night so Thaur could sleep. He didn't ask me to do so, but I've seen him without any sleep. I consider sleeping on the couch to be an act for the greater good.

[Thaurismunths]

This weekend I put an end to world hunger, poverty, and whaling... Ok, so I actually spent most of it taking care of my sick girlfriend (as mentioned above).
I did, however, do some good at work... well, maybe.
My company has to hire illegal immigrants to fill its labor needs because American's won't bother applying for the job. It seems that manual labor is beneath us. As a whole the non-white labor are referred to as "The Mexicans" or "Those Damn Mexicans" even though only half of them are from Mexico, the rest are from Hondours, Guatamala, and El Salvador. Even though I know it isn't correct, it's hard not to get caught up in using that phrase because it's so ubiquitous, and most of the time it isn't being used derogatorily. My answer was to find the proper word for them (Latinos) and use it whenever appropriate.

Also, I'm trying my best to learn Spanish on the job, and use "please" and "thank you" as often as possible. It's amazing how much respect you can garner just by giving a little.

[Chodon]

This weekend I put an end to world hunger, poverty, and whaling... Ok, so I actually spent most of it taking care of my sick girlfriend (as mentioned above).
I did, however, do some good at work... well, maybe.
My company has to hire illegal immigrants to fill its labor needs because American's won't bother applying for the job. It seems that manual labor is beneath us. As a whole the non-white labor are referred to as "The Mexicans" or "Those Damn Mexicans" even though only half of them are from Mexico, the rest are from Hondours, Guatamala, and El Salvador. Even though I know it isn't correct, it's hard not to get caught up in using that phrase because it's so ubiquitous, and most of the time it isn't being used derogatorily. My answer was to find the proper word for them (Latinos) and use it whenever appropriate.

Also, I'm trying my best to learn Spanish on the job, and use "please" and "thank you" as often as possible. It's amazing how much respect you can garner just by giving a little.

This is pretty badass, 'munths.  First, to admit in a public forum your company hires "illegal" immigrants.  Second that you're trying to break down people's prejudices about them.  Third that you're trying to make their stay here better by being polite.  More power to you and your company.

I'm all for people coming here to work for whatever employers want to pay them.  If we didn't have people willing to do the work we would either have to pay much, much more for the same work to be completed or there would be certain products and services out there missing.  Most Americans don't quite get that.  They also don't understand that unless they're 100% Native American that this isn't their country either.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

I'm all for people coming here to work for whatever employers want to pay them.  If we didn't have people willing to do the work we would either have to pay much, much more for the same work to be completed or there would be certain products and services out there missing.  Most Americans don't quite get that.  They also don't understand that unless they're 100% Native American that this isn't their country either.

My pet peeve of late is when people (who refuse to actually do any research on the issue) assert "they should stop being illegal" - as if it were a cut & dried magic process.  But the process is so broken, almost no one can actually get here legally.

A close relative of mine decided to marry her boyfriend when she got pregnant; her family wasn't thrilled with the circumstance, but he was a really good kid; a nice, hard-working Latino boy.  When they went to get the marriage license, he discovered that his parents had brought him to the states when he was 3 - all of them were illegally here.  To "get" legal, even though he is married to an American citizen, he would have to leave the country (to go where?  He has no idea) and the application process currently takes 7 to 10 years to get back in.

So, yeah... the laws need fixing.

[Thaurismunths]

But this is the kind of "little stuff" that adds up.  I pick up litter whenever I see it, and throw it away.  My friends mock me when they see me do it, but they are frequently the same people who gripe about all the litter all over the place.

Here's a couple of personal suggestions from my (and my wife's) experience:

• Take jury duty seriously; I was called recently (it was my first time!) and was floored by the horrible attitude people had.  It's not supposed to be fun or easy; but I'd like to think that if I'm ever charged with anything, the people deciding my guilt or innocence will be more concerned with the facts that with the two or three days of work they're missing.
• Volunteer as an election judge; my wife does this for every election, now.  Our area is desperate for Republican judges, and as an Independent, she can fill in where needed. 
• • It wouldn't kill you to study the actual ballot issues for your local area instead of only showing up every four years for the "big one" and then blaming the President when your congressman turns out to be a dirtbag. 
• Learn Spanish; yeah, you heard me.  If you think it's so easy to learn a foreign language, give it a shot!
• And I know it's their job, but would it kill you to thank the high school kid at Burger King when they actually get your order right?

Great points.
We mock the criminal justice system, and even fear it a little, but few people want to take an active roll in it. Something that might help, as an idea, is to be able to schedule when you'll have jury duty. Maybe, give everyone a one month window in which they can pick the week they'll be serving? That way you can plan ahead.
Learning Spanish is another one... or if not Spanish, French, German, Japanese, etc. A foreign exchange student in high school told me a joke that goes:
What do you call someone who speaks three languages? Tri-Lingual
What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bi-Lingual
What do you call someone who speaks one language? American

[Thaurismunths]

This is pretty badass, 'munths.  First, to admit in a public forum your company hires "illegal" immigrants.  Second that you're trying to break down people's prejudices about them.  Third that you're trying to make their stay here better by being polite.  More power to you and your company.

I'm all for people coming here to work for whatever employers want to pay them.  If we didn't have people willing to do the work we would either have to pay much, much more for the same work to be completed or there would be certain products and services out there missing.  Most Americans don't quite get that.  They also don't understand that unless they're 100% Native American that this isn't their country either.

Thanks Chodon.
The community I live in is pretty hostile towards them, not quite hateful, but very resentful. I believe they buy in to the line that they're taking all the good jobs from hard-working Americans, which is funny because illegal immigrants are also known for working crap jobs for long hours at low pay. So which is it?

By the way, JA is a great way to help the community. I don't think public schools do nearly enough to get kids ready for the real world, but JA helps bridge that gulf.

[Chodon]

My pet peeve of late is when people (who refuse to actually do any research on the issue) assert "they should stop being illegal" - as if it were a cut & dried magic process.  But the process is so broken, almost no one can actually get here legally.

Bingo.  People talk about how their ancestors came here legally, so everyone should.  Well, the laws have changed.  It's not as simple as walking off a boat and filling out a piece of paper.  If it were that simple all those "illegals" wouldn't be illegal and they would be paying taxes (the thing most people complain about).  I don't think we're interested in taking the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free" anymore, which really makes me sad.  I'm glad there are people out there willing to disobey stupid laws.

As far as people complaining about things being in Spanish and saying "this is America...we speak English here" The pushback when the local school system added a Chinese and Spanish immersion preschool was amazing.  I always like to point out that the Native Americans probably said the same thing about their languages when Europeans started showing up.  Adapt or become marginalized.  When I have kids they are going to be in as many foreign language immersion programs as I can find.

Personally, I only know enough German and Japanese to get my point across when I point, play charades, draw pictures, and sputter out a few sentence fragments.  I'm trying to get my company to send me to classes for Chinese, but no luck so far.

[CGFxColONeill]

They also don't understand that unless they're 100% Native American that this isn't their country either.

the "Native" Americans came from some where also

as far as the illegal immigration thing goes I dont really want to get in on that argument b/c I dont have time to argue that pt and also it would be pointless because most people feel so strongly on this issue that you cant convince anyone one way or the other so ya

[Darwinist]

They also don't understand that unless they're 100% Native American that this isn't their country either.

the "Native" Americans came from some where also

Yeah, probably over the Bering Strait land bridge but they were still the first humans in North America. 

[Ocicat]

Unless you're taking the view that "we're all from Africa", you have to grant that the Native Americans are, well, from here.

And yes, we are all from Africa, originally.  But just try calling yourself an "African American" and see the kinds of looks you get... 


As far as making the world a better place - well, I'm dropping a bunch of Escape Pod bookmarks off at Seattle's science fiction convention this weekend for Steve.  Does that count?

[Thaurismunths]

As far as making the world a better place - well, I'm dropping a bunch of Escape Pod bookmarks off at Seattle's science fiction convention this weekend for Steve.  Does that count?

Yes, you get double points for promoting EP at the same time.

[Russell Nash]

In general I just try to be nice.  Extra nice to Retail workers as I already said.  Thinking about this thread I realized if it doesn't cost me much, I'll always help whoever's around.  I actually did the boy scout thing and helped a little old lady on the street yesterday.  She was trying to carry some stuff back from the flower shop and the stuff was getting tangled in her walker.  I knew she was only going about twenty meters, so I picked up her stuff and gave her a big smile.  Then I carried the stuff to her door, lifted in walker up the steps, and held the front door open for her.  Costs me a couple minutes.  Made it way easier for her.  Simple math. 

I have my own version of Kharma.  I believe if you're nice as much as possible, people will be nice to you.  Doesn't always work, but it's what I teach my kids.

[Tango Alpha Delta]

Unless you're taking the view that "we're all from Africa", you have to grant that the Native Americans are, well, from here.

And yes, we are all from Africa, originally.  But just try calling yourself an "African American" and see the kinds of looks you get... 

Like the time I was singing along with my radio (which was playing "Tennessee" by Arrested Development) and just as I sang the line "...although I am black & proud/problems got me pessimistic"... I realized my window was down... and there was a car full of *ahem* urban youths laughing at the stupid white boy in the Datsun.