I've written before about my lack of community mindedness. I am continually impressed by people who donate their time and energy to charity works. It is a heartening reminder that there are some lovely people in the world.
The thing is, and I know this from our little contribution of fostering kittens, is that there is always a painful element involved. So far we have had to have two of the kittens we've fostered euthanised. It's hard to nurture and care for something that has been hurt or abandoned, and feel that your work has been in vain. Lots of the time there are successes. Most of our foster fur babies have been successfully adopted which is wonderful, but I wouldn't be human, if my heart didn't ache for the ones I lost.
That said, we have been continuously fostering now since the end of January and it has been a very rewarding experience. Except for the kitty litter. Words can't describe how much I HATE cleaning the litter out.
My brother is a volunteer lifesaver and most of the time it's fantastic. He lives his dream of being out on the water. But being unable to resuscitate someone was an incredibly traumatic event for him and for the family who watched their loved one pass away in front of them.
The next day he was back on the beach on patrol.
Because at the end of the day you have to keep trying don't you?
And it got me wondering what do other people do? Because the thing is I suspect everyone does something whether they know it or not.
My neighbour checks in on the elderly man down our street every single day. It doesn't matter how busy her day has been, she always pops into see him. Yesterday on the school run I was surrounded by hundreds on university students dressed up in costumes selling a newspaper. It was all to raise funds for a kids camp.
It's very easy, too easy in fact to be cynical about the world in general. But I like to think that most people do care in one way or another.
What's your 'thing?' or if you could choose, what would your 'thing' be?