A: One bite at a time
No, I do not advocate ever eating an elephant. I love elephants, but if you know me well enough, that shouldn't be a surprise.
There is symbolism in this question of taking on a tremendous task. You do a little at a time.
Life is overwhelming. There is SO MUCH. Our lives are so full and we are constantly bombarded with so much.
First there's our jobs or our search for jobs, which can can be all time consuming. Right now at work, I feel like I'm fighting to keep my head above water. I keep trying to work cases and helping people but I don't feel like I'm making a dent in the backlog. I *COULD* let it take over my life, but that would be unhealthy.
Then there is being a wife. I could devote all my time and energy to my husband, and that wouldn't be bad, would it? I could spend a LOT of time with my goals to eat healthy, doing research and planning, and there's just the upkeep of the house with dishes, laundry, dusting, and more dusting... and even more dusting... to keep me busy at home. That doesn't even count the shows on TV that I HAVE to watch each week.
Then there are the dogs. Trying to help them with their social skills so they are good canine citizens could be another full-time job. I wish I didn't have schedule conflicts so I could attend meetings and I could be more active with Must Love Dogs NW and the Hazeldale Dog Park, trying to help other dogs.
I kind of miss being able to help out at the Zoo.
I would like to devote more time to learning and improving my skills for the audio team at church. I'd like to step up the game of the team and be able to really bring the WOW factor to people attending our services by making the best of our system.
Then, I am faced with things outside of my immediate world that I want to change. I was invited by one of the girls at church to participate in an event to raise awareness about a guerrilla warfare leader that abducts children for his army or to use as sexual slaves, along with many other atrocities. While I don't think that the type of event is my kind of thing, I think raising awareness is critical. Why? Because it is so easy to get caught up in our day-to-day stuff and not even think about what's happening in the world. There is SO MUCH.
In many countries in Africa, notably Uganda, the Republic of Congo and Sudan, military leaders are carving up territories and they are forcing young children that they steal away in the night to be their soldiers. In fact, if you look at the different actions that the International Criminal Court is involved in, there's stuff going on around the world. Click here for more information and you can see how many of the BIG perpetrators of crimes against humanity there are out there. It's been going on for 20 years or more. Did you know?
Right here in Portland, there is human trafficking. Seriously, right here in our own back yard in the 21st century, people (mostly young people) are sold, like slaves, to be used, abused, trashed and even tossed away when damaged too much or killed.
Remember the commercials showing children that are starving around the world and the pleas to sponsor a child to just give them food? Well, folks, the ante has been upped. Kids aren't just starving, they are being harmed - all over the world.
What do we do about it? Just like eating an elephant, little steps. Go to sites like InvisibleChildren.com and WorldVision.org to see if there is something you can do. If you can't devote time, energy or money you can still spread the word. There are Facebook pages for both the sites I just listed and you can share information about things that people can do to get involved. You can e-mail politicians - both sites have links to do that. Use social media. Little baby steps when combined by a lot of people can make tremendous effort.
Ok, now that I got that off my chest, back to working cases, doing dishes, snuggling with my hubby and working with my dogs.
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