Why Would You Take on Another Project?

Over the last few weeks I have been evaluating my life, a recheck of sorts, to see if I am on target. I’ve been looking closely at my values and goals to see if I am doing what I need to on a daily basis to make the world a better place, at least the world that I live in. You hear so much about how small the world is and how much we, as individuals, can do to make things better. I’m trying to change my prospective a bit, in order to make sure I am doing my part. Some of what I want to do is easy. I recycle more and switch off a few more lights. I’m even going to try and refill my ink cartridges instead of buying new ones. Other things are not so easy. I’ve decided to make a conscious effort to make eye contact and smile at strangers. This can make a difference in the life of someone who is having a bad day. I’ve decided that once our house is finished, I will use a larger percentage of the profit I make to increase our animal rescue. One main change I am making is to widen my circle. I am going to include acquaintances, not just friends, in my thoughts and try to put myself out there a bit more. My first big move towards this was to add every name I recognized on MySpace and Facebook. Getting in touch with old friends has been enlightening and enjoyable. One of those friends is Robyn James Ruff. Robyn was my best friend for many years and somehow as we grew up, we lost touch. We have been amazed at how little we had changed as people and how much we had in common.

One thing I have noticed while talking to all of my old friends and family is that many of us seem to have tunnel vision. We see our values as the only ones acceptable and get quite riled when our standards are questioned. I am as guilty of this as anyone. I always considered myself to be open-minded. Now I see that this tolerance is just another form of bias, a reason to judge those who are not so liberal. I believe the only way to get past this is to talk to folks who disagree with me and listen to why they believe as they do. Robyn and I have decided to write a blog. This is our small way of changing the world. We hope through dynamic and respectful discussions, we can better understand the opinions of others and therefore be able to appreciate people for the individuals we all are.

Karen