You can help end poverty. I’m posting this a little late for this year, but these are ideas you can use every day. The Stand Up, Take Action Event this year takes place October 16-18.

On these days, millions of people all around the world will take part in a united action of standing up in support of the end of poverty and the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals.

Here is the video of the movement, showing the action taken in previous years. The movement is part of fulfilling the 2015 Millennium Campaign.

You can take part in an event that is occurring locally, or you can register one of your own. You can do something small, any little thing. Donate books or clothes. Volunteer for three days. Do community service work. Post flyers about the movement. Talk to your local politicians, tell them what they need to do to help end poverty in your area.

Stand up!

Let’s save the world, together.

People think slavery is over. It isn’t. There are more slaves in the world today than at any other point in human history.

Education and promoting awareness are the first steps; if no one knows about an issue, then nothing is going to stop it from happening. “Evil prevails when good men do nothing.” And how can we do anything if we do not know we need to?

Modern Slavery

Modern slavery exists in the world today. It has affected every state in the USA. So it isn’t something far away and distant; it’s happening right here, right now, in your own backyard.

So, how can you help?

Education and awareness are the first steps. Educate yourself about the issue. You are probably contributing to child slavery; yes you. You are participating in the modern slave trade. The clothes you wear, the products you buy; they all come from somewhere. The coltan in your cell phone was traded for with guns; guns which end up in the hands of children in Africa. The shoes you own may have been made by 10 year old children in a factory in Indonesia.

Find out where to buy Fair Trade products:

Free2Work : Find out where to buy products that have not been produced with slave labor.

TransFairUSA : Fair trade groceries, coffee, etc.

And then TELL SOMEONE. Tell someone where their products are coming from; tell someone what resources there are available, share these sites. Find more sites, find more resources! Find out where the things you buy are coming from. And for every person you tell, tell them to pass it along. You tell ten people, those ten people tell ten people, and imagine if they ALL stopped participating in the slave trade. Imagine if we all rebelled and got fair trade products only!

Petition! Write to Congress! Write to your local government! Sign petitions! Organize a march! Boycott stores that sell slave labor products!

What else can you do?

You can post this video in your Facebook status for a week. You can post it on Twitter, on Myspace. Or use your status to let people know about human trafficking and modern slavery, with links to resources to help END it.

You can put up flyers in your town; at bus stops, on bulletin boards, leave them with bookstores, or at your local coffee shop.

You can check out the organizations below, and start a chapter in your town. Organize a fundraiser for one of these organizations.

Get active in your government, local, state, federal. Start a petition. Really. Inform people, make them aware of these issues; be active in changing the law to help stop human trafficking and modern slavery. Organize a march! Start a boycott!

If you are a high school or college student; get your campus involved! Start a club! Put up posters and flyers! Start a chapter of one of these organizations, like the UNICEF Campus Initiative! You can do it, you can change the world, even right now, in high school. You can make a huge difference.

Here are some websites of organizations combatting human trafficking and modern slavery.

Human Trafficking: A web resource for combating human trafficking.

EPCAT International: End child pornography, child prostitution, and trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

The UNICEF “End Child Trafficking Campaign” and how you can help! I love this one. My dream job is to work for UNICEF.

The Somaly Mam Foundation : This was really inspiring.

Quote

Now her organization is helping stop this from happening to others. There are various chapters of the foundation in the USA and different places have held fundraisers to promote awareness and combat human trafficking and sex slavery.

Free the Slaves and how you can help!

The Project to End Human Traffickingand how you can get involved!

Change.org and Human Trafficking- more information about this issue.

Not For Sale; a campaign to end human trafficking and slavery, with some information on how you can get involved!

National Coalition for Haitian Rights; a coalition to end child slavery (the restavek) in Haiti and how you can help!

The Human Trafficking Project; a blog with information that is trying to raise awarness about the issue.

The Polaris Project : “For a World Without Slavery.” This is awesome, it has information about how to advocate for policy changes; how to raise awarness, and so on.

No Trafficking : resources and projects for Southeast Asia.

So there; lots of resources for you, lots of advice on how to get involved, how to help!!! So join me, let’s help the world together. We can save the world.

I met someone recently who participated in Bike & Build this past year. I was so amazed and so inspired by her experience. I’ve never done something so incredible in all my life.

From their site:

Welcome to Bike & Build – Pedaling to End Poverty Housing!

Bike & Build raises funds for affordable housing projects.

- Over six seasons, Bike & Build has contributed $1,643,145 to housing groups to fund projects planned and executed by young adults; this includes $498,914 donated from the summer of 2008 (more than $100,000 more than 2007).

They also give presentations along the trip about housing issues in this country and actually stop along the way and build houses!

It’s so amazing to me. I want to do this! They are taking applications starting next week for the summer of 2010! Challenge yourself this summer. Go biking across the country to help save the world.

I hear people say all the time, “It’s just life.” “It’s just the way things are.” “It’s just the way it is. Just accept it.”

Please, imagine with me if everyone always thought that. Imagine where we would be.

“Slavery? Oh, that’s just the way things are. Just accept it.”

“Women? Vote? Ludicrous! They don’t vote. They shouldn’t vote. It’s just the way things are, just accept it.”

“Child Protective Services? Insanity! Parents have a right to do whatever they want to their kids. It’s just the way things are. Just accept it.”

Imagine how much happened in life because someone said, “No. I don’t accept this.”

Don’t accept the world as it is now. Don’t accept injustice, because “that’s just the way things are.” Stand up. Raise your voice. Change something. Help someone. Save the world.

1.1 Billion people in the world do not have access to clean, safe drinking water. Women and children walk for hours and hours every day to get water that’s dirty and unsafe.

Help.

http://www.mycharitywater.org/p/signIn

Charity: Water.

It’s this whole movement. It started with just 1 person. Just ONE man. You can change the world, just one person can change the world.

He decided that, instead of getting gifts he didn’t need from his family and friends, he would ask for donations to raise money to pay for wells and irrigation systems in third world nations to help bring safe, fresh water to these people.

Donate your September birthday! Don’t ask for gifts, ask for donations to help bring fresh clean water to third world children.

Or start a movement in your town, if that’s what you’d prefer. You can change the world. One person can make a difference.

One day a man was walking along the seashore. He noticed that during the night many seashells and starfish had washed upon the beach. Thoroughly enjoying the morning sun and cool sea air, the man walked for miles.

As he strolled along, he noticed a small figure dancing in the distance. It made him chuckle to think of someone celebrating life in such an uninhibited way. As he drew closer, however, it became apparent that the figure was not dancing. Instead, she seemed to be repeatedly performing some ritual.

He drew nearer still and noticed that the small figure was a child. She was methodically picking up starfish and tossing them into the surf. He paused for a moment, puzzled, then asked, “Why are you throwing these starfish?”

“It’s high tide,” she replied, “If I leave them on the beach, the sun will soon dry them and they will die. I am throwing them into the ocean so they can live.” The man considered her actions, impressed with the child’s thoughtfulness. Then he motioned up and down the miles of the beach, to all the many starfish. “There must be thousands of starfish along here,” he said, “you cannot possibly make a difference.”

The young girl stopped. Her face darkened. She chewed thoughtfully on her lower lip. She looked down at the sand. Then she leaned over, carefully picked up another starfish, pulled back and arched it gently into the sea.

With a tone of gentle defiance, she said, “Well, I made a difference for that one.”

“The world is an inferno filled with darkness and evil, and there are only two ways of dealing with it. The first way is easy and wrong; to accept it and become a part of it. The second way is harder and right; you fight it and recognize those who aren’t evil, and help them endure.”

THERE was a rich man who found his gold suddenly transformed into ashes; and he took to his bed and refused all food. A friend, hearing of his sickness, visited the rich man and learned the cause of his grief. And the friend said: “Thou didst not make good use of thy wealth. When thou didst hoard it up it was not better than ashes. Now heed my advice. Spread mats in the bazaar; pile up these ashes, and pretend to trade with them.” The rich man did as his friend had told him, and when his neighbors asked him, “Why sellest thou ashes?” he said: “I offer my goods for sale.”

After some time a young girl, named Kisa Gotami, an orphan and very poor, passed by, and seeing the rich man in the bazaar, said: “My lord, why pilest thou thus up gold and silver for sale?” And the rich man said: “Wilt thou please hand me that gold and silver?” And Kisa Gotami took up a handful of ashes, and lo! they changed back into gold. Considering that Kisa Gotami had the mental eye of spiritual knowledge and saw the real worth of things, the rich man gave her in marriage to his son, and he said: “With many, gold is no better than ashes, but with Kisa Gotami ashes become pure gold.”

And Kisa Gotami had an only son, and he died. In her grief she carried the dead child to all her neighbors, asking them for medicine, and the people said: “She has lost her senses. The boy is dead. At length Kisa Gotami met a man who replied to her request: “I cannot give thee medicine for thy child, but I know a physician who can.” The girl said: “Pray tell me, sir; who is it?” And the man replied: “Go to Sakyamuni, the Buddha.”

Kisa Gotami repaired to the Buddha and cried: “Lord and Master, give me the medicine that will cure my boy.” The Buddha answered: “I want a handful of mustard-seed.” And when the girl in her joy promised to procure it, the Buddha added: “The mustard-seed must be taken from a house where no one has lost a child, husband, parent, or friend.” Poor Kisa Gotami now went from house to house, and the people pitied her and said: “Here is mustard-seed; take it!” But when she asked Did a son or daughter, a father or mother, die in your family?” They answered her: “Alas the living are few, but the dead are many. Do not remind us of our deepest grief.” And there was no house but some beloved one had died in it.

Kisa Gotami became weary and hopeless, and sat down at the wayside, watching the lights of the city, as they flickered up and were extinguished again. At last the darkness of the night reigned everywhere. And she considered the fate of men, that their lives flicker up and are extinguished. And she thought to herself: “How selfish am I in my grief! Death is common to all; yet in this valley of desolation there is a path that leads him to immortality who has surrendered all selfishness.”

Putting away the selfishness of her affection for her child, Kisa Gotami had the dead body buried in the forest. Returning to the Buddha, she took refuge in him and found comfort in the Dharma, which is a balm that will soothe all the pains of our troubled hearts.

The Buddha said: “The life of mortals in this world is troubled and brief and combined with pain. For there is not any means by which those that have been born can avoid dying; after reaching old age there is death; of such a nature are living beings. As ripe fruits are early in danger of falling, so mortals when born are always in danger of death. As all earthen vessels made by the potter end in being broken, so is the life of mortals. Both young and adult, both those who are fools and those who are wise, all fall into the power of death; all are subject to death.

“Of those who, overcome by death, depart from life, a father cannot save his son, nor kinsmen their relations. Mark I while relatives are looking on and lamenting deeply, one by one mortals are carried off, like an ox that is led to the slaughter. So the world is afflicted with death and decay, therefore the wise do not grieve, knowing the terms of the world. In whatever manner people think a thing will come to pass, it is often different when it happens, and great is the disappointment; see, such are the terms of the world.

“Not from weeping nor from grieving will any one obtain peace of mind; on the contrary, his pain will be the greater and his body will suffer. He will make himself sick and pale, yet the dead are not saved by his lamentation. People pass away, and their fate after death will be according to their deeds. If a man live a hundred years, or even more, he will at last be separated from the company of his relatives, and leave the life of this world. He who seeks peace should draw out the arrow of lamentation, and complaint, and grief. He who has drawn out the arrow and has become composed will obtain peace of mind; he who has overcome all sorrow will become free from sorrow, and be blessed.”

The Ramayana is my favorite epic in the world. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the Hindu versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
The Ramayana was composed by the poet Valmiki a very, very long time ago in the B.C.E. time. We don’t know the exact time, because the Ramayana was passed down through oral tradition.
Imagine that! Twenty-four thousand Sanskrit verses, learned by heart!
It’s this wonderful, adventurous story about the great Prince Rama and his wife Sita. Evil plots, exile in the wilderness, a ten-headed demon king, magic protection circles, flying monkeys!
Good, triumphing over evil! It’s a marvelous tale, and is woven with Hindu philosophy throughout.

“What sin have I committed that I should be made to suffer in this way? This body of mine was created only for sorrow.”
-Sita, wife of Rama-

Vedavati was a great ascetic in Hindu mythology. She spent her whole life in devotion to performing a great tapasya to Vishnu. She spent all of her time in meditation and devotion and lived on one bilva leaf per day.

The evil Ravana saw Vedavati and her beauty and violated her by touching her hair. With this violation Vedavati could no longer finish her tapasya, besmirched as she was with impurity. So, Vedavati cut off all her hair, built a funeral pyre, set it alight, and immolated herself.

It is said she was reborn as Sita, wife of Rama, who is the reason for Ravana’s destruction.