#PointsForChange
NOVEMBER 18, 2016
Since Brexit I have struggled to write. The world over the past six months has become a place of great confusion for me. The hate, the lack of empathy has been a tremendous shock and for America to vote for a man like him just adds to my confusion. But now the fog is slowly starting to lift and I’m beginning to understand what has happened. Too many people are suffering. Too many people have been left behind and they have said enough is enough. They want change and they don’t care what kind of change it is – they are desperate. Brexit has happened, that “man” has happened. We have to view them as lessons to learn from, quickly and not mistakes that have been made. The lesson to me is we need to crank up the empathy and get to action! It is now very clear Government is not going to save the day. It is up to us as individuals to look around us and to see what we can do to help – to help each other right now. Let’s take responsibility for ourselves and our communities and let’s reach out to the people who are struggling.
I was lucky enough to hear Matthew Taylor the chief executive of the RSA speak yesterday and one thing he said stuck in my brain “To create change think like a system, act like an entrepreneur.” After hearing his thought provoking talk I came home to my lovely in-laws. My mother in-law had recently seen “I am Daniel Blake” her overwhelming feeling when leaving the cinema was “I need to help. How can I help?” We discussed food banks and how it would be good to donate…… It got me thinking. We all have advantage cards, nectar cards, reward points cards, what if we decided as a Nation to turn those points into change, real change. What if my nectar points rather than eventually becoming a free basket of food for me and my family became a basket of food I took to the local food bank? What if the boots advantage points I save to get my free mascara and lip balm I instead saved them to buy a family in need toothpaste and deodorant? What if the tenth cup of coffee Cafe Neros gave to me for free I gave it to a homeless person on the street? What would this do to the morale of our country? We have the system, let’s use it like entrepreneurs. You see, another thing Matthew Taylor said was “Hope is very important to the stability of society” We need some hope right now, some kindness.
Dom and I have been saving our nectar points for a couple of years now and we had planned to buy our Christmas dinner this year with them but I now know exactly what we are going to do with them and what we will do with them always. Maybe this isn’t a new idea and maybe some of you already do this but I feel it is time for me and my family to physically get involved, walk around that supermarket thinking of a family in need, going to my local food bank and thanking the volunteers because how else can we expect our empathy to grow? How else can we understand both sides of the story? In this moment in time understanding and empathy may be our only saviours.
I’d love to hear if you think this idea has legs.
#pointsforchange
Namaste!
Lots of love,
Laura.