Love and the City

A couple of evenings ago, I had just turned on the TV and was hunting, when I stopped on a news story about volunteers teaching adolescents to cook. The story returned to Susan Hay, well-known Global TV weather girl and charity worker. The camera was close in on her face and in that moment it struck me what a truly rare young lady this is.

With bigtime looks and small town personality, she could take the world by the tail if she wanted. But what does she do, instead?

From 2001-2003, she hosted a news segment titled "Heart of the City" about community involvement. In 2003, Hay went to Africa with World Vision to help children orphaned by AIDS. She went to Africa two more times to transform lives. As if that isn't enough, Susan is a spokesperson for four charitable and research foundations, runs marathons to raise money for leukemia research, and is currently hosting "Making a Difference" seen bi-weekly on Global.

Ok, back to that instant in time I mentioned earlier. Just then, they flashed Susan Hay's e-mail address on the screen, and I jumed up and wrote her a short note commending her for all the good work she does. Despite being at the TV studio at the end of a very long and arduos day, this lovely woman took the time right there and then to respond to my e-mail within fifteen minutes of my having sent it.

The world could use a few more Susan Hays.

Global warming

I was standing at the supermarket checkout yesterday and they had a a small ad taped to the scale where it is just below the height of most people's chin. It was hard not to notice it. It was a plea for charity. Specifically, it said "Could you still ignore it if it were this obvious?" Below that, was a picture of a sad looking boy of perhaps eight years old sporting a t-shirt which read "I'm Hungry". Apparently, I could not and I reached into my pocket and gave the requested Toonie (Canadian $2 coin) to the cashier.

Before I had advanced to the point of the sign, I had noticed that the girl in the queue ahead of me was buying quite a few tins of cat food, and it sparked the affection I will always hold for felines since I had 13 beautiful years with my own cat before I had to put him down due to health problems. Anyway, as I started to put my items into my eco sac, I noticed a cat food tin, so I quickly looked up and out the door and could see the girl who bought them, and gathering up my stuff, I rushed out and caught up with her as she was getting into her car. I handed over the tin and as she thanked me, I told her we can't have hungry cats meowing all over the countryside.

As I continued on my way home (walking distance from the store), I noticed that despite the nip in the October air, the two events left me feeling a little warmer than I was on my way to the store. I would like to take this opportunity to challenge you all to go out of your way in the next day or two and perform a random act of kindness, no matter how small. This kind of global warming is good for the planet.