Pick up a newspaper, scroll Twitter or spend 10 minutes watching the evening news and it’s pretty easy some days to become mired in despair.
There is so much that is wrong in the world at the moment and bad news is coming at us from so many directions that it can feel nearly impossible to process sometimes, let alone consider how to address any of it.
For some of us, that can lead to an overwhelming sense of helplessness, overloading our circuits and causing us to simply shut down.
There’s often a sense of “I can’t fix everything, so why try to fix anything?”
Then there’s Rocco Forte.
When the South Surrey boy asked his mother about a man pushing a shopping cart – and commented that he was pretty far from a grocery store – he learned the man was likely homeless and carrying with him all his worldly possessions.
To his credit, Rocco, now 11, saw not only a problem, but an opportunity to help in some small way. So he got involved with Sources’ Coldest Night of the Year event and set a goal of raising $3,000 to help address the issue through Sources’ range of programs.
He does this as well through his video program – Rocco Reports – which focuses on the issue of homelessness on the Semiahmoo Peninisula, and occasionally speaking to his classmates at Semiahmoo Trail Elementary about the topic.
No doubt all of this is great training for the job he aims to one day have – prime minister of Canada.
By holding the country’s top job, he reasons, he bring attention to the issue and inspire others to step up as well.
If there is a lesson to be learned from Rocco, it is that there is a way for everyone to make some small difference. And that even small tasks can add up to something greater.
The key, it seems, is to pick a cause that matters to you, become educated about it and focus your energy on helping to make some small difference. None of us can do everything, but we can all do something.
