Meet Jorge
Lately, a lot of my friends - close and not so close - have admitted that they are dealing with some level of depression. Some are feeling overwhelmed while others are battling a full on episode of depression.
I, too, have been having my own rough times, and seeing my friends going through all these things hurts. Seeing people I don't know going through rough times hurts.
Now, it may seem silly, but I figure that to help my friends, I need to start spreading a little love around. Why don't I just help my friends and leave it at that? Because that's not enough. I'm not satisfied with helping 'only my own' and no one else.
You have to be the change you want to see in the world, right?
That's where Jorge comes in.
Jorge is a 32-year-old man who is married to Elizabeth, age 28, with whom he has 3 young children. They live in a rented house in the town of La Sierra Central (Peru).
He wakes up at 5 in the morning daily because he has to walk for about an-hour-and-a-half to be able to get to his crops. However, this does not bother him. To the contrary, he considers this to be normal due to the location of his fields, and because he keeps his family's well-being in mind every time he puts in a lot of effort. He has been in agriculture for 5 years, and what he likes most is harvesting because he then sells his produce and pays for both the household expenses and his children's education.
Jorge applied for a loan of $550 on Kiva.org for fertilizer to produce a better crop. Through Kiva, I was able to donate the last $25 to give him the total amount he needs for fertilizer.
$25 is a lot to me, but it's not so much that I can't spare it when I have it to make a complete stranger's life better. Will I get my money back? Probably. If I don't? So it goes.
I'll never meet Jorge, and it's very unlikely I'll travel anywhere close to Peru. But I want to help. I want to help spread some positivity around in the world.
Why?
Because while I can help my friends directly through their times of struggle, wouldn't it be amazing if someone I helped, helped another person and spread a chain reaction that, hundreds of people down the line, meant my friend (who was a perfect stranger to someone else) received some help? Wouldn't it be great if the stones of positivity I'm tossing into the lake of life caused ripples that helped those I loved - and I'd never know?
To me, that possibility is the definition of true beauty. So that's why I'm helping Jorge.
...and joining in on a few other positivity projects, but those are other posts for other times.
I, too, have been having my own rough times, and seeing my friends going through all these things hurts. Seeing people I don't know going through rough times hurts.
Now, it may seem silly, but I figure that to help my friends, I need to start spreading a little love around. Why don't I just help my friends and leave it at that? Because that's not enough. I'm not satisfied with helping 'only my own' and no one else.
You have to be the change you want to see in the world, right?
That's where Jorge comes in.
Jorge is a 32-year-old man who is married to Elizabeth, age 28, with whom he has 3 young children. They live in a rented house in the town of La Sierra Central (Peru).
He wakes up at 5 in the morning daily because he has to walk for about an-hour-and-a-half to be able to get to his crops. However, this does not bother him. To the contrary, he considers this to be normal due to the location of his fields, and because he keeps his family's well-being in mind every time he puts in a lot of effort. He has been in agriculture for 5 years, and what he likes most is harvesting because he then sells his produce and pays for both the household expenses and his children's education.
Jorge applied for a loan of $550 on Kiva.org for fertilizer to produce a better crop. Through Kiva, I was able to donate the last $25 to give him the total amount he needs for fertilizer.
$25 is a lot to me, but it's not so much that I can't spare it when I have it to make a complete stranger's life better. Will I get my money back? Probably. If I don't? So it goes.
I'll never meet Jorge, and it's very unlikely I'll travel anywhere close to Peru. But I want to help. I want to help spread some positivity around in the world.
Why?
Because while I can help my friends directly through their times of struggle, wouldn't it be amazing if someone I helped, helped another person and spread a chain reaction that, hundreds of people down the line, meant my friend (who was a perfect stranger to someone else) received some help? Wouldn't it be great if the stones of positivity I'm tossing into the lake of life caused ripples that helped those I loved - and I'd never know?
To me, that possibility is the definition of true beauty. So that's why I'm helping Jorge.
...and joining in on a few other positivity projects, but those are other posts for other times.