All It Took Was a Phone Call

November 21, 2007 by theo.johnson
Filed under: Blog Entries, Community, My Thoughts

With Thanksgiving being tomorrow, I caught myself thinking about a recent visit to my old neighborhood to see my mom. While there, I was helping my her recycle some old telephone books and newspapers at one of the local schools. The bins are there to allow the community to leave their recycled goods to be picked up at a later date. Needless to say, that date must have been forgotten because all of the bins were full and overflowing with paper. My visit was during the school year, so I’m pretty sure someone had noticed it was full. Out of frustration, I called the number on the side of the bin and told them all three bins were full.

I didn’t think much would happen, but about two weeks later on another visit the bins were empty. I wondered why someone else hadn’t done it earlier. In school I remember learning about the Freerider Problem where people benefit from a service/product, but expect others to maintain/pay for it. In this case a lot of people used the bins, but no one was willing to make the call to get them emptied. Now maybe this was a rare occurrence, but all it took was a two minute phone call to make a small difference in the appearance of our neighborhood.

It doesn’t take a lot to make a difference in your community. I hear a lot of people say they don’t feel they have the time to get involved with things in the community and I can feel them on that at times. If that’s your situation, then focus on the small things you can do. Take an hour to help an elderly person clean the dishes. Talk to a group of kids on your street for 30 minutes one week. Write a letter to your local politician about your community concerns. The one thing I’ve learned is that doing somethin good for others is addictive. Once you start, it’s hard to stop. So start small and serve with a positive attitude and a heart of compassion.

Remember “Thanksgiving” has two words in it. Giving back to others is very important and even the smallest amount of your time can make a difference. All it took in my case was a phone call.

Happy Thanksgiving!
One more thing. While on the subject of doing good, the bloggers over at blackweb20.com are raising funds to donate a laptop computer to a child in their community. The crew over at Liberate Magazine are raising funds to help feed needy families during the holiday season (call 832-577-0941 for more info). In both cases, no amount is too small. You don’t have to go broke to help someone.