I purchased a belt yesterday for $55, it wasn’t even the kind of belt that has any function to hold up your pants, it was the accessory kind. II get a pedicure once in a while that costs $50 and even apply false eyelashes that cost another $50. I own tons of shoes and a closet full of dresses. I go out to eat and enjoy great food and indulge in my matcha tea and soy lattes.

Yesterday I picked up the paper and saw an article on the earthquake in Indonesia that has killed thousands. There was a photo a father and in his arms was the body of his dead baby girl while in the background, the city was in absolute ruins. People around the world in less fortunate places are dying, starving and will never in their life know the feeling of a full stomache. While my belt will be tossed in my closet in 2 months once it’s out of style, my nail polish will chip and my dresses worn maybe once a year, there are others who with even 0.001% of the money I waste on the superficial, could get medication, food, education, shelter…basic human rights that we take for granted daily.

We comfortably live in North America where many choose ignorance…and choose not to think…so that we don’t have to actually care and do something about what is going on around us. We don’t think about what happens to all that stuff we buy and throw away, we don’t think about the environment – the landfills, the affects of global warming and why our weather is so strange lately, we don’t think because we choose to be ignorant. That way, we can continue consuming and destroying the earth without guilt. We hide behind the excuse that,  “One person can’t make a difference”.

By no means am I saying I am a holy saint saving the world. I eat meat, I buy nice things and I have leather shoes. I’m not saying that you have to be a vegan and wear only second hand clothing and give up your luxuries in life. I’m saying, that once in a while, think about how something so small that you can do, can  make a difference. How about not buying a Starbucks latte for 2 days and donating that $10? You think that $10 won’t do anything, but for those two lattes, you would have provide food and medication to a sick child in a third world.

I’m asking those of you out there who are so fortunate like myself, to stop and think once in a while about how you can help this world. Whether it be by recycling, or using the back of paper to write on, or donating some money…whatever degree you wish to make an effort…any effort is a step.

I donated some money to the Red Cross for aid for the Indonesia earthquake. Hopefully some of you out there will want to as well.And hey, if you can’t, this blog isn’t to make you feel guilty, do something else. Say a prayer, increase your awareness…whatever you do, whether its on a big or small scale, is  doing something.

www.redcross.ca