Raising Awareness

I’ve noticed a trend lately, especially among non-profit sectors. It’s these organizations that stand for a specific cause or need and there’s so much rhetoric about “raising awareness” and “creating dialogue” and so forth. On the same note, there is so little that actually gets done, if anything at all.

Thing is, they’re causes that need to have something DONE, actually creating a purpose driven action that accumulates results.

Don’t get me wrong, please. I know that to do anything, there must first be an awareness of the problem. I probably know that more than a lot of other people, just from lessons learned the hard way, to be honest. But even the Bible says: For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Ecclesiastes 1:18

If we leave a cause with only having an awareness of it, personally, that DOES leave me with a whole lot of grief and sorrow! Just knowing about and being aware of a problem isn’t the way to fix it.

Take bullies in school, for instance. There have been many movements and campaigns that have risen up to try to combat the problem, but there are as many, if not more, bullied children that are committing suicide now than there was before the whole thing got so much awareness! Just as many teenagers that are deep in the throes of depression and anxiety, just as many girls that see no worth in themselves at all, just as many boys who think they’ll never be man enough or good enough…

And this is our future! How long does it take for something that’s not working to be stopped, traded in for something new, something that might actually work? Is anybody even giving any thought to it, or is it that people aren’t listening to the ones who HAVE thought about and have new ideas?

And it’s just an example. How many more causes have we been made aware of, and yet they are as much a problem now as they ever were? How many causes are there in relation to the outcome-based success stories?

How long before we realize that it is time to DO something and stop wasting so much breath creating a dialogue? If the dialogue leads to action that gets something done, BRAVO! That, my friends, is success! If the rhetoric changes lives, then we have arrived! If just one person takes the first step, what would see then?

Again, in the Bible, in the book of James, we find that it says: But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? James 2:20 Leaving a thing at only knowing about it is a completely dead work.

There are a lot of things in this world today that need some real action to be changed. The awareness is already there, and I could spend the rest of the night writing the “laundry list” type of post that would call them all out by name. But we each have a cause that means something to us, that’s so near and dear to our heart that it almost brings us to tears to even sit and contemplate it.

May I just ask you today: Is there anything that you can DO about something you feel vehemently about?

In reality, there may not be. A lot of the things that absolutely hurt my heart are things I’m too little and insignificant to change. But if there ever comes a time, if there’s ever a way in front of me that will allow me to move on something that means that much to me, then BY GOD, and I do mean BY THE GRACE AND MERCY OF GOD, I will.

And so should you.

As always, I appreciate your stopping by and hope that you do so again. Be blessed!