And in my spare time, I try to save the world

I used to want to save the world.  We're not talking small-scale stuff, like doing a mitzvah a day and holding the door for someone.  We're talking Mother Theresa (born Agnesë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu -- who knew?) with a lot more pizazz and a lot fewer wrinkles.  A few years ago, there was a benefit concert called Live8 that took place in various cities around the world (London, Paris, Berlin, Rome (I was there!), Philadelphia, Barrie, Chiba, Johannesburg, Moscow, Cornwall and Edinburgh) and was organized by Bob Geldof and Bono.  It inspired me to want to have *that* kind of effect on the world, to work to promote the resolution of worldwide issues at the most grassroots level possible.  To work with people like Bono (ok, not just people like Bono, but also (and especially) Bono himself) to use their celebrity to do good..and to do it well.  I remember job-searching for fun and productive non-profit jobs involving human rights issues -- basically, looking for someone to pay me to do community service...not because I wouldn't do it for free (because I would), but because I need to earn money to be able to afford life's expenses and such, and if my full-time job wouldn't pay me anything, I wouldn't be able to take on the assignment.  Kind of strange how that works, really.  I would devote so much of my time to these causes in exchange for the luxury of not needing to find another job merely for the sake of paying bills, but yet because that's not realistic, I can't afford to spend several hours a day fixing the world's problems.  I wonder how many other people out there have found themselves in the same predicament.  At the very least, maybe people in those jobs end up with a few free highlighters and other office supplies, but are those cool neon colors and heavy-duty staples really worth billions of people not having clean water? Or millions of people suffering from the AIDS epidemic?  Or 80% of humanity living on less than $10 a day?  Just think, two (maybe three) Starbucks mocha-nocha-whatever-ccino drinks cost more than 80% of the world population's daily standard of living.  There's a doozy for you.  Of course there are organizations dedicated to eradicating poverty from the planet (like One or the World Bank) and to securing clean water for everyone (like Water.org), but let's face it -- there's an organization for everything these days.

I thought that in my quest to "help people," I had to work at a project that already had its foot (feet?) in the door, one that was far-reaching and able to distribute their resources evenly among those who needed them most.  But then, if all of that existed, then wouldn't it be a much easier goal to achieve, since it's basically a ready-made recipe for world peace?

In researching what kinds of jobs might be for me, I (briefly) entertained the idea of law school.  After all, don't those public defender people get to help people *and* get paid for it at the same time?  After 19 months (but who counted?) of experience working at a law firm, it turned out the part I liked best was the pro bono work -- in other words, the work the firm did for free.  Well, shucks.  Back to Square One, then, since law school apparently wasn't in the cards.  I saw more paperwork going back-and-forth than actual results showing the fruits of our (long-houred) labor.  And since perhaps saving the world might include an effort or two to go green, then probably throwing out thousands (and millions, etc.) of papers that were stapled horizontally instead of vertically would not be the answer.

Upon further reflection, I have come to believe that the answer to the world's problems (pay special attention and then tell everyone you know, and even those you don't) is the following: communication.  A novel idea!  Oh, and also collaboration.  I don't think we need any single organization to achieve that goal; rather, a little effort from a lot of people would probably do the trick.  What do we (as a collective world) have to lose in trying, anyway?

There are several films that promote selflessness and living in the moment.  The two films that stick out in my mind are "Pay It Forward" and "The Bucket List."  Now, I don't necessarily think that these films are Oscar-worthy or anything like that, but the messages contained in them were (and are) definitely worth

perpetuating.  The concept of "paying it forward" is one that promotes the idea of doing good unto others as a means of showing gratitude for the good done unto you.  Take a minute to think how random occurrences in your life have had a significant impact on you at a later moment, by no calculated planning of your own.  Now take a minute to think about how if everyone transferred that idea to other people (even complete strangers), how many people would then end

up being the recipients of said significant impacts?  It would start a (hopefully never-ending) cycle of human kindness, of human understanding.  And, maybe in a karmic six-degrees kind of way, that benevolence would ultimately come back to you, though the point of doing it in the first place would not be for oneself (if it were, then karma would get you anyway).

While I truly believe that everyone is capable of making a difference, I think the collective effort would be infinitely more successful than individual strides.  Philosophically speaking, it's all about synergy, the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.  With that said, I invite all of you to join me in paying it forward and seeing if we can help preserve and advance humankind.  Neil Armstrong might say that that would be one small step for man, but if he were to work with billions of others, then I think billions of steps might pave the way to more than just one giant leap for mankind.  So, in the words of Jerry Maguire, who's coming with me?