Category: ideas

Gratitude

It’s probably a good thing that we have a federal holiday in this country designed to help us pause and reflect, just before we gorge ourselves, on all we should be thankful for.

It’s probably a good thing Abe Lincoln proclaimed that national day back in 1863, at the height of a bloody Civil War, “as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” (Talk about heavy-handed governmental interference. What would the party of Lincoln think of that? But I digress.)

It’s a good thing, I think, because when you get right down to it, most of us are ungrateful bastards.

Sorry if that sounds harsh. But you know it’s true.

That’s how I am for most of the year: Ungrateful for the many ways in which people enrich my life. It’s the least I can do to pause at one time of the year to say “thanks,” if not to that “beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens,” then to the people who should be hearing a thank you a little more often than once a year.

So, with a nod to Abe Lincoln for setting in motion a tradition that continues, somewhat, to this day, I want to thank all of you who take the time to read this blog. And now, I’m off to thank some other folks in my life for all they’ve done for me, large and small.

Happy Thanksgiving. Be grateful.

World Toilet Day: the straight poop

WTD logoSo if a couple of Oberlin alumni can celebrate the f-bomb to promote their alma mater, I figure it’s OK for me to get all potty-mouthed about a campaign to raise awareness of the importance of toilets.

A graduate of the university where I’m employed — Gary White, who co-founded water.org along with Matt Damon — is involved in an effort to raise awareness about one of the leading causes of sickness and disease: fecal matter. White’s organization has teamed up with several others to promote World Toilet Day, which is this Friday, Nov. 19.

It’s a pretty brilliant awareness-raising campaign the organizers have going on. Atop the WTD homepage, you’ll see this attention-grabbing call to action:

Cut the crap. No invention has saved more lives than a toilet. Billions still lack one. You can help.

Then more from the website:

Each year on November 19 we spotlight the global sanitation crisis and the collective efforts underway to get solutions to those in need. Unlike the water crisis, we’ll need to go door-to-door to solve this massive issue. Left unsolved, life without a toilet causes shame, missed opportunities, disease, and all too often death.

Social media is a big part of the campaign. White and others involved in this effort are asking people to donate their Twitter status and Facebook updates to “talk shit all week” about this issue. They’re even tagging tweets from the @water account with #talkshit. (Here’s a typical @water tweet.) I’ve donated my Twitter status to the cause. You can, too.

In a world where we spend a lot of time awash in crappy attempts at marketing, you now have a chance to be part of a fantastic (not craptastic) one that could make a big difference to people around the world.