Saving the World Is Boring.

So why do I keep writing about it?

Jan 30, 2012 by Mary Schmidt

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Following on my post from last week, We ALL Need A Village.

Is Mary STILL going on about this?

Tedious. Overwhelming. Numbing. And oh-so-terribly depressing…However, we have to start somewhere…or there’ll be no “where” to save one of these days.

That’s why I’m working on the Adopt A Village project with Global Hope Network International.

Yeah. You’ve heard it all before, all over the place. (How many pleas did you pitch in the recycle bin this month, unopened? My count is at least 10.) So why am I continuing to write about this?

Here’s why: Empathy. Forget the videos, photos, and heartfelt pleas for a second. (Not to worry. No sad photos of starving kids are in this blog post.) Let’s face it, we’ve all pretty much become numb to the woes of the world. EVERYTHING has become an outrage. Oh-hum.

(If we spent as much time on world hunger as we did on Paula Deen, imagine what we could accomplish. But then, the Paula Deen hooha is/was manageable for us. Solving world hunger is just.too.much. So, how about one child…or village at a time?)

What if you didn’t have to worry about middle-aged spread…because there’s no food. Wasn’t any yesterday. Probably won’t be tomorrow. Think about how that would really feel. I’m feeling hungry as I type this – since I “only” had a bowl of soup for dinner last night (fighting that spread, ya know.) Can’t even imagine what it’s like to live in Shambani, a village in Kenya.

…one meal a day of corn and beans is barely above survival level.

What if you didn’t have to worry about “soap scum” on your skin…because you have no water. I admit it. I’m a total princess. I take two showers a day, with Dove – no soap scum on me! Why, it’s magic. I turn on the taps and – voila! – hot and cold running water whenever I want it. There’s a village in Indonesia where…

many people live in make-shift houses and cannot afford to have water piped into their homes from the city. In order to find drinking water, many families are forced to walk long distances to buy expensive bottled water, or resort to drinking filthy water from local streams and water ways.

What if you didn’t have to obsess over eyeglass frames…because you’re blind. Wow. I know that’s stark. But, there’s one village in Somaliland where 75% of the people are blind.

GHNI’s “trying to figure out what happened. There is no doctor, nurse or healthcare system to help — just our local GHNI partner, doing all he can to assist.”

Look, (no pun intended) I LOVED trying on my Warby Parker frames…great fun. But…whoa. Am I spoiled much?

Those are the frames I ordered. For ONLY $135.00 (special thin frames for my prescription).

Hmmm…WHAT IF I gave GHNI $135.00? Imagine…

Now, I need to put my contacts in, take a shower, and go to the supermarket, because there’s simply no food in the house. (Yeah. Right.)

More From Mary on Global Hope Network International

About the Author

Mary Schmidt Has Written 26 Articles For Us!

Mary is a proud Corporate America refugee, having long ago decided that quality of life is far more important than quantity of stuff. However, that said, she thinks money is a very good thing - when used as a tool, not a success measurement. In addition to writing for us, she blogs about business development and marketing at www.maryschmidt.com and about marketing to and by women at www.lipsticking.com. In her consulting business, her clients have ranged from mega-corps such as Hewlett-Packard to local Mom & Pops.

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