Attended "Stand up against poverty yesterday" and somehow wondered about the pledge part. Until I read in the news that it was "Stand up against poverty" day in support of the Millenium Development Goals. For a time there, had thought the pledge part was somehow staged. An in a way, it was. But going further from the drama part, the event made me think how I could play an active part in the realization of the Millenium Development Goals. Is it just allright that I do my role as employee and serve our clients? There has to be more to it than keeping an 8-5 job. There has to be more to it than having a good relationship with my co-employees. It has to be more than being on the good side of my superiors. Far more than that. It has to make an impact to the world I live in. Maybe not really something huge, small steps...little things in little ways, maybe touch one life. I need not launch a crusade or muster an army. All I need is the conviction and the desire to contribute and make my presence count. That's it: make my presence count. Break the wall of apathy that surrounds me. One brick at a time. By reaching out. By actively seeking means to touch lives. And how do I start with this? I don't know. But becoming aware of this is an improvement.

There is this restlessness within me that urges me to take action. A nagging feeling that I try to ignore and drown by any means. But it keeps building up, becoming more painful and insistent that I have to confront it so that I may be able to address the need and let the matter rest. And now it is back. And it gets me out of bed during the wee hours of the morning. These things inside me that seeks to get out. Thoughts that need to become words. And like acid buddbling inside our troubled stomachs, they find their way out. Despite my vain efforts to keep them down. And the thoughts tumble out, as my fingers seek out one letter after another...joining them to form words...joining the words in an attempt to achieve coherence. Until I become empty once more. I wonder why I resist the effort. Maybe because of the Law of Inertia. But to be empty once more feels good. Ahh...

I don't know where or how I will start making a solid stand against poverty. But I'll be thinking about it. And I will let it guide me in the decisions I make.