You have to start somewhere

March 9, 2022

By Jeff Becraft

 

I am deeply grieved on what we are seeing on the world stage.  I don’t watch the news on a regular basis but lately, every night we will watch the news to catch up on what is going on with Russia and Ukraine.  (Or I should say, between Putin and Ukraine.  My guess is that there are millions of Russian people who do not approve of what is going on and are deeply grieved also.)

Actually, it is grievous to me to see suffering of any kind.

I don’t have the answers on what the world should do about Putin and the point of these few paragraphs is not to try and say what we ought to do.

Day after day I have tried to put myself in the shoes of the Ukrainian people, like one of the many women who were leaving the country and leaving everything behind and says to the camera while crying, “I don’t want to leave.”  I have never had to face that in my life.

There are people in the world, and not just on the world political stage, who want power and profit – at any cost.

One of the meetings I had the privilege to be a part of on Friday was about the millions (that’s right – millions) of children in the world who are auctioned off to be slaves in quarries, sweatshops, and brothels.  It turned my stomach inside out.

While I was opening up an email for that meeting, another email came in from an organization that I highly respect that they were setting up a field hospital in Ukraine.  I immediately opened it up.  Meeting or no meeting, here was a way to specifically help with the suffering that was going on in the Ukraine.  I immediately sent in a contribution.

We can’t do everything in life (there are a lot of needs), but we can do something.  We can pick what stirs our heart and what we think is right and important.

I realize that my contribution for a field hospital is not going to stop Putin.  But I want to be part of the solution.  You have to start somewhere.

So as we face various situations in life, whether it be big and affect millions of people, or is simply an everyday situation in our lives (be it at home or the office or out in the community) let’s be part of the solution.  We may not be able to control other people or even certain circumstances around us, but we can choose to be part of the solution.

 

Jeff Becraft is the Director Emeritus for Youth Corps and has dedicated much of his life to helping shift the vision of people’s lives. Youth Corps is a life-changing leadership development experience that inspires high school students to be leaders in the Midlands and beyond. You can connect with Jeff at [email protected].