If You Want to Write:  Every Day Heroes

K. Wordbird Bate

     I am watching CNN’s Thanksgiving special, Heroes. It is about ten ordinary men and woman from around the world who are making a difference. A nanny, a homemaker, a contractor, for instance, rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, feed hungry children in Mexico, provide a school for orphaned children in Africa and Cambodia. Says one, “Many of us long to live lives that exist beyond the material. To leave a legacy of hope…”

     Today many people long for a sense of meaning.  Caught up in day-to-day “important” plans and errands, you can come to the end of the day feeling drained and empty.  I worked with volunteer work camps, where volunteers came together to work with a community. We rebuilt a burned down church. We renovated housing that had become unfit to live in. Why did volunteers take time out of their lives, pay expenses, and work hard in grueling conditions? To be part of something larger than their ordinary lives. They want to have an impact for good. They want to belong to something good.   

     Writing is a powerful friend, to help us create meaning. We can inform, educate, uplift, inspire, comfort, guide, amuse and/or connect with our fellow human beings!  Written words remind us all what it means to be human. I once helped a little Native American boy write out, address and mail his first postcard. We mailed it to his grandmother, who lived just blocks away. It was her first postcard. Can you imagine her face? How simple and profound, is the written word.

     Take the time to notice, this week, how the written word comes into and uplifts your life. Do you get and send out cards and letters? Do you read to your children? Is your family history recorded? Do you read newspapers, magazines and on-line articles and blogs, to connect with the world?

     You have a gift with the written word. You can use your gift to achieve powerful things, and those in turn empower you. You can write a letter to the editor. Write to your Congressman. Send out cards to friends and family. Start a petition. Teach and instruct with an article. Share your story. Write a grant. Connect your distant family. Move a community into change or action. Comfort the ill, lost, or imprisoned. Use an experience you have had to help others. Bring attention to situations that need change.  

     To be able to put your thoughts and experiences into words is a powerful ability. Newspapers and politicians, for instance, know that one letter represents the view of a great many other people, who did not write in. Writing is an act of power. Use it! Because, “a hero lies in you.”

© Kimberly Bate

photo by Mima_CDG