Monday, January 30, 2012

The Starting Line

In my journeys stumbling around the blogosphere, I came across the Gwendolyn Strong Foundation. Beautiful Gwendolyn is a little lady who is living with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, more commonly known as SMA. If you're unfamiliar with the condition, it is a genetic condition that slowly robs a child of their motor skills and eventually, his or her life.

With the medical technology we have, I personally feel that this is unacceptable. In a world where we have Viagra, laser eye surgery, the booty-pop, and Botox, why don't we have a cure for this yet?

Fortunately, Gwendolyn has amazing parents who have already raised upwards of $100,000 for medical research, and they oh-so-cleverly added a "What You Can Do" tab to their website, which I clicked on. They wrote, and I read: and now the 'doing' is on.

Well, to state that more accurately, the extensive planning stage is on. The 'doing' is a projected 66 days away (give or take). Reading about Gwendolyn and the other children in her unfortunately-not-unique situation is a poignant reminder never to take your life or abilities for granted. It's a reminder why it is so important to cherish what you have the power do, and to use it to help others. What can I do? I can run. I have the gift of being healthy and young, and it's time to give back. By the grace of God, no one I personally know is afflicted by SMA, but that doesn't mean that it's not my problem. When children are suffering, it's everyone's problem. I feel that we are all responsible for doing what we can. 

 So a 5k fun-run fundraiser it is, and I'm going to blog all about it right here, from the starting line of conceptualization to the literal finish line. I'm doing this with the hope that others will see that you don't have to be a rich celebrity, a big corporation, or personally impacted directly by a situation to get out there and help in whatever capacity is accessible to you.  All it takes is an idea, some passion, and a nice big heap of 'go and do it'.

I might be small: I don't have a lot of status, or money, or political power. I'm one twenty-something-year-old college student... but 'small' doesn't mean 'powerless'. 'Small' just means it takes a lot of steps; it means pushing harder. We all have the tremendous potential to get moving and do something for the world. I have the power to find a venue, build a website, put up some flyers, shamelessly plug an event to my friends, family, and neighbors, and clean up the track when it's all said and done. Right now, I'm standing at the starting line.



Get ready... get set... GO!








1 comment:

  1. Powerful is a great quality of character and often outshines the many other qualities valued by a mindless society. Keep going forward...your path is true

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