If not you, who? If not now, when?

Feb 06

If not you, who? If not now, when?

In real life, Marketing, General Business Add comments

It's a beautiful Saturday in February. A little breezy. Sunny on the cool side here in Celebration. It's also TAX SEASON. This means, I do not get to enjoy the weather very much. I can sit outside and work, but that means transporting all of my papers, working with paperweights etc. Hardly worth the effort. But tonight, I'm going to party for a very important cause, the Children's Advocacy Center For Osceola County. It is the 3rd annual gala, Central Florida's Next Big Star. Great food, great friends, great entertainment. I will put down my mouse, my laptop and my ledgers and suit up for the affair of the year!

Everybody gets tied up in their day to day existence. There is always one more client, or one more piece of paper to shuffle. However, there are those among us who do not have the ability to care for themselves. Some have been betrayed by a friend, a neighbor, a close relative. Others have no place to live.

You might look at a bum on the street and think, "go out and get a job!" Up in New York, I would not give money to the man, but I would buy him some food and sit and listen. I have heard some amazing stories of the homeless life. Down here, working with the CAC, Give Kids Safe Shelter and Rotary, I have experienced first hand the plight of children; children who have been abused, children whose families have gone from middle class to homeless, children who feel lost and out of control.

There is a story I've heard many times, about a little boy walking down the beach. The beach is littered with thousands of starfish and the tide is going out. The boy stops, picks up a starfish and throws it in the water. He does this again and again. An older man is watching that boy, and finally calls to him. He asks to the boy, "Why are you throwing those starfish?" The boy replies, "If I don't do it, the starfish will die." The man then says, "But there are thousands of starfish. How can you possibly make a difference?" The boy bends down, picks up a starfish, throws it into the water , and says to the man, "I just made a difference in the life of that starfish!"

I know I am going on and on, but it is important to remind you that if you see someone in trouble, realize that although there may be thousands or hundreds of thousands of people in trouble, if you can do something, you will make a difference.