I want to make a difference.?

Question

i feel such a force, an intense passion, to do something. i need to help the world with its suffering. im talking about the 3rd world countries. there are child laborers, bought and sold prostitutes, and enormous poverty and disease. i want to do something and i feel a strange energy about it, there is something about 3rd world countries that just gets me. does anyone know what i mean. i want to be a part of it, see it, feel it, breath it. what should i do? im only 15, i want to VISIT these countries, not send away money.

Answer 1

you know the starfish story by loren eisley?
pls read this.

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed
a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.

Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”

The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean.
The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”

“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish?
You can’t make a difference!”

After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish,
and threw it back into the surf. Then, smiling at the man, he said…”
I made a difference for that one.”


having this vision is very rare to a 15 year old. i am 18 years old and i have the same vision. there is a calling for me to serve my people. i know, i cannot do much, but i can make a difference. we may not be able to make a difference to all the people in this world, but you can make a difference to some.

"start small, think big and scale up" this is one of my motto in life. hope i helped you..^_^

Answer 2

Grameen Bank, Missionaries of Charity, Peace Corps, Children International, Bolivian Street Children....

If you have some skill that could be helpful, that would be appropriate. Peace Corps will train you, if they accept you. That might be worth a try.

Banking, teaching, healing, computer, legal, business skills all are what's needed.

Http://www.grameen-info.org is one site, http://www.children.org is another.
http://www.bolivianstreetchildren.org/v2/index.php
Even supporting a child for a year would be good, or better than not doing anything for the present.

Nowadays in Kenya, poor people are using cell phones to transfer money when they work far from home. In Zambia, the whole country is planning to achieve wireless internet status for the whole population, and train its people to be like the Switzerland of central Africa or the Singapore of east Asia. If you train for a skill, like nurse or teacher or computer specialist, you would find opportunities in e.g. the Peace Corps in seven to ten years, which is really close in time.

regards,

j.

p.s. "Expecting Adam," by Martha Beck, is a great book for relating insights, humor, about suffering and how to be sensitive in daily life to those around us.
"A Philosophy of Universality" by Omraam Mikhael Aivanhov is another good book, as is "The Path of Virtue," Jonathan Murro. Also, "When Invisible Children Sing," by Dr. Huang, is a great introduction to another innovative method, as are Dr. Maria Montessori's miraculous events with needy children.

Answer 3

Here is the question: If you want to help others because of your feelings, isn't your real purpose then to make yourself feel better?

You have to realize that feelings, even intense feelings, are subject to radical change. I predict that the first time someone you're trying to help robs you or beats you, that you will lose a great deal of that passion. Feelings, by themselves, are not a good foundation for action.

I suggest that you volunteer for some charity near your own home before you go off somewhere.

Answer 4

Then go visit... no one is stopping you. But, as far as I'm concerned, you won't make a difference. Even the US is just as badly off as the rest of those countries, not in some cases, but most. Not to mention, all this talk of making a difference has gone on for thousands of years... I might add that that is the cause of all our problems. Wanting to change how things are is what is making us feel miserable.

Answer 5

There are plenty of orginizations looking for volunteers. Last I heard, the Peace Corps still demanded a college degree, but there are other places that will accept anyone's help.

Answer 6

You can start from here at yahoo answers by trying to form a group maybe that will work on a project to help these poor people. I am with you if i must.

Answer 7

you want to feel it? do you want to be a prostitute? or go thru the poverty their going thru. well, watch the news , read the papers dear its happens here everyday.lil kids get to eat at school and have to go to bed hungry every night. some are mistreated & sold right here in usa. help must start right here in the good ole usa first. & take care of their own

Answer 8

You really should find a way to go.

Start with India, Cambodia, Laos or the Phillippines.

Peace.

Answer 9

I have to honor you for that- remember we have to purpose in life
either to create problem or solve problem.

Answer 10

If you want to help people in need someday, why not do it?