Pay It Forward

There's been alot of 'stuff' going on in my life recently, i think 'stuff' is the best way to describe it, some good, some bad, some really bad. But i've given up caring now, and i know that sounds very flippant, but it's true, why care about something you can't control, i can't control my health so why complain about it? Why let it bring you down when theres nothing you can do about it. Which (tenuously) brings me onto my next point (and the point of this blog); is there anything in this world that bothers you?? world hunger? homelessness? Well whatever it is, do you just sit there and let it happen? or do you think about how to change it? And not just think about it, but actually do it?

There are 2 things that've happened to me this week (well, 2 things that are relavant to the point i just made). Firstly....i found a copy of the 'Universal Declaration of Human Rights' on my dads desk (its not as random as it seems, and one day i may explain why it was on his desk, but that's all part of a blog post which will probably have the title 'i have the coolest dad' or something like that), and it got me thinking (i've done quite alot of that whilst i've been ill - and this is thinking along the lines of, "what can i do?"). So, in the same way that this year i set myself that list of goals to achieve (which in hindsight isn't going very well) i think next year, i'm going to work my way through each 'article' of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which from now on i'll call UDHR because i'll get bored of writing the full version) and try and put it into practice. Now this is both easy and hard, for example article 25 part 1 says "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing....." now this is easy, (or easier) if i so pleased i could rock up to london go up to a guy/gal living on the street and give him a Mars Bar and a jumper, it could be that simple, or i could set my aim a bit higher, and could take that 10% of my next pay cheque at buy loads of Mars Bars or loads of Blankets or jumpers or whatever. My aim is to make a difference, i might not have changed the world (read down to understand why i use that phrase) but i've made a difference, that guy on that street in that city has just had some food, AND is gonna be kept that little bit warmer that night. BUT, and this is a very big but (hense the capitals and the bold), some parts of the UDHR aren't as easy, for example article 16 part 1 says; "Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution."...you understanding the challenge now?? and read the rest of the UDHR, some of its nearly impossible which, when i get to 31st December 2009 i may go "ah....need some more time" and that will be fine. I want to get everyone i know involved in this, everyone has talents, so why not use them?!?!

This world USED to be a perfect world (and i'm talking billion's upon billion's of years ago now), when god made the earth everthing was perfect, there was no 9/11 and no tsunami. A guy called Adam and a girl called Eve did something they shouldn't have (and don't go blaming all this soley on them, because if you or i was in that position then i'd pretty much guarentee that we'd do the same) and because of that, the worlds not the same as it used to be, but it dosen't mean it has to stay like this. Now you might be thinking "why is he doing all this??" and the answer isn't what you'd think (most probably), i'm not doing this for myself, i'm doing this for the glory of god (and here comes my problem, if you don't know what that is, i'm struggling to work out how to explain it and you can't define it really) basically (and watch how rubbish my explanation is) we need god, and i know that sounds really naff, but....we do, and every time we do something for god (rather than for ourselves to make us feel better) we bring glory to god...wow that is a rubbish explanation but i hope you kind of get the gist of it.

Anyway, this is one way of making the world that gods given us (and that frankly, we've ruined) justa bit better, and that might not be getting America to sign the kyoto treaty but its something i can do. And piece by piece, the world will be that little bit better. Now, for the second story (yes, we are now officially half way through). Today, amongst other things i've watched a film. It's called Pay It Forward and is possibly the greatest film i've ever seen, and included the worlds best teacher (played by Kevin Spacey, naturally) who gave his Social Studies class the worlds greatest assignment. "Think of an idea to change the world, then put it into practice". Now this might sound like a rubbish assignment, i mean where do you even begin to start?? But it made for one amazing film, a kid in Spacey's class takes his idea of "Pay It Forward" (hense the film title) and slowly but surely, does some real good. His idea is basically, do 3 really good deeds to 3 different people, ones that will change their life for the better, and then those 3 people do 3 good deeds to another 3 people, and before you know it, you have loads of people doing loads of good deeds. Now amongst the complicated love affairs of this kids mum, the kid thinks that all his deeds have failed when, 1) the homeless guy he helps goes back onto drugs, 2) he doesnt stick up for the kid who's being beaten up and 3) he sets the amazing teacher guy up with his mum and they hit it off, but then this kids dad comes back and he's un-alcoholiced himself so the mum decides to give the dad a chance, letting the teacher guy feel like a right tard. BUT, the film ends (well near the end, i wouldn't want to spoil the true ending of the film which is heart wrenching) with the kid discovering that his philosophy of "Pay It Forward" has reached miles and miles away in Los Angeles (the film's set in Las Vega's). Now this got me thinking about all the stuff above, and thats another part of the plan. Just got to get myself better now....which could possibly be a harder problem to solve than the whole of global poverty, or...even harder to work out...why exactly at 00:34am i'm lying on my brothers bed writing this (he's not in the bed by the way, he's living in Uganda, so i've commendeered his room for myself)....which is a problem that can only be solved one way....

Goodnight. Love to your mothers.

TTFN

P.S Before you go to bed tonight (tonight being the night of whatever night you read this), think about what i've written and said. You might be a christian, you might be Agnostic, you might even be a Scientologist, BUT, you can't like the state of the world, and there IS something you can do to help.