Thursday, April 22, 2010

Por Escribir "Amor" Sobre Sus Brazos


There are a lot of charities, I think, that are worthwhile, you know? A lot of good places that we can work and put in our money or our time, and we'll do some good. I mean, heck, why don't we all go spend two hours on a Saturday at the soup kitchen? Or a homeless shelter? Or even a library? Why don't we do that? Why don't I do that? I dunno.
But all that's neither here nor there, because we're talking about bigger charities, I think. They can still be obscure, but... I don't know. I think you know what I mean. Whatever. See, I think that charities are like books, in that, there are SO MANY of them. Tons! I mean, my friend Mary has a project similar to Greg Mortenson's project, she started an organization that builds schools in the Philippines. Serious! They're everywhere. Like books. Tons and tons and tons of books. According to the Library of Congress website, in the LoC there are 144,562,233 books. That is a lot! And if we assume that only a quarter of those are any good for learning or whatever, or, wait, no, let's say one in every one thousand books is of any value (I personally assume that it's much more, but for the sake of the point), that's still 144,562 books! Can I read that many in my lifetime? I don't know if I could. So we need to invest our time in the very best books, you know? We don't have time to waste on the crap books!
It's the same with charities. There are so many, so we need to spend our time or money on the best ones. The one that I'm going to talk about is called To Write Love on Her Arms. It's an organization devoted to helping to stamp out depression and suicide by, well, basically by letting people know that they're cared for. I mean, there's more to it than that, but it really boils down to telling people they're loved, which is something that we should already be doing.
To Write Love on Her Arms began as a short story about "things of contrast – pain and hope, addiction and sobriety, regret and the possibility of freedom (www.twloha.com)." The people who started it began selling t-shirts to pay for their friend's treatment, and they began this small thing that started to grow. They had some friends in bands that began wearing their shirts at concerts and people started contacting them, asking for help or how to help. Their website offers information about clinical depression and help to those who suffer from it, and those who want to help the sufferers. TWLoHA has done an excellent job with understanding the issue and getting the word out to those who have a sincere desire to help.
I was going to write about organizations that keep music and the arts in schools, because that's really important to me. But I started to think about "Good, Better, and Best." You know, doing something that's good is... well, it's good. But doing something that is best is best. I think keeping music and the arts in schools is important, and it always ticked me off that my school put more emphasis on football because it was a bigger moneymaker, and I'm passionate about it. But keeping people happy, healthy, and, most importantly, alive, is not only better, but best.

1 comment:

  1. I think the topic of suicide is one that is really hushed by society and that we could be doing a lot more in terms of prevention and awareness. Just by getting the word out and promoting treatment and prevention, this charity is doubtlessly making a difference.

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