To the Editor:
Let's get real about New Year's resolutions.
Our personal decrees to get fit, eat healthier and spend less, soon become a waste of time.
So here is my two cents on a realistic resolution.
I discovered it last week at a retail kiosk, in a shopping mall of all places.
I am not talking about those clerks selling watches or the latest smart phone cases. This shopping stand I spotted was operated by a merchant standing with his arms-stretched high and holding a picture photo of a child.
There was a small, quaint stand with one man and women holding these picture folder cards. Now, I work for World Vision so knew right away that this was a Child Sponsorship Kiosk but I went up to speak to them and asked them why they choose to do this.
The gentleman, Brad, said that he choose to come to the mall during the hustle and bustle to talk to kids and families and help to "bring smiles to their faces and know that this [act of kindness] will bring smiles to the faces of the children that they sponsor."
It was such a pleasure to be able to talk to him, I found out that Brad had been over to El Salvador recently and saw some of the great work that World Vision is doing with the local communities that they work in. Brad has forever been changed, he said, "It was such an eye-opening experience, one that will guide me forever in a new direction. I don't work to live now - I live to work because I know what I am doing here really does have an impact."
It was a friendly knock over the head when I saw the picture in his hand as I walked frantically from store to store in the mall madness also known as last-minute Christmas shopping.
Let 2012 be the year that you do something completely different. Let it be the year that in addition to starting back up at the gym and spending less - you change your life by changing another's.
Let's help end the cycle of poverty, one resolution at a time.
Happy 2012!
Alicia Pereira, World Vision Canada.
