Uvalde – Today’s reminder that we are all connected

Given the parameters of our work here at Donate a Car Canada, we have no wish to weigh in on the politics of anything. ‘Certainly not on the gut-wrenching Awful of the Uvalde school shooting. I saw a graph of what has been happening with school shootings in the the United States last night. It is confounding. Appalling. So many babies lost. So, I weep. And I get rage-y. But I also get curious about how to respond in ways that are just. Meaningful. Active. Right here in my own beautiful country.

In our little bubble of caring work here, we are so, so lucky! We see the scope of Good Work that Canadian charities lovingly engage in. We know that there are volunteers and paid workers toiling and serving and creating every day. They are applying themselves with so much heart to the very work that saves the lives of children. The people at the helm of our participating charities help make sense of the senseless.

The experience of suffering is something that connects us. Headline news (war, economic crisis, pandemic, and violent acts) is certainly a shared and collective trauma. And we each experience that suffering in our own ways.

One way to be with headlining tragedy

Do you ever feel a bit powerless in the face of heartbreaking news like that out of Uvalde? Or, do events like the Uvalde violence (or Buffalo’s just a hearbeat before that…not to mention the Ukraine), leave you with an angry energy that needs an outlet?

I understand those feelings, too. The rage and wish and empathy and indignation. Maybe you have robust ways of tending to those things in yourself? For myself, some rhythms of contemplation, mindfulness, and physical exercise help. Those practices can help with my own mental-emotional-spiritual health.

But sometimes we need to DO something. We need to help. Making some kind of contribution in a tangible way feels so important. Helping in practical ways seems to help our internal processing of impossibly big feelings about these kinds of circumstances.

I cannot help the grieving families in Uvalde. My reach for providing real assistance in the Ukraine is limited.

I can help here. At home. I can support teachers and care givers. My volunteerism and donating might aid distress lines or hand-up services for youth in crisis. By educating myself I can expand reach and understanding around issues of inclusion and equality. My practice of caring can chip away at barriers to mental health care and compassion for those who are chronically ill.

We can get involved

If you are doing your bit of good, and I am doing mine, will we build a healthier society? Overall? Or, at least, a gentler Canada? I’ll do my bit for empathy and dignifying inclusion. You do the same in the ways that feel alive and true for you. And soon, between you, me, and the people we love, might we find ourselves in a world where one child does not feel their only course of action is to take the lives of other little ones?

We are set up to partner with ANY Canadian charity. If you pop over to CanadaHelps and explore their charity list, you’ll find we can work on behalf of all of those charities, too!

Pick a cause. Perhaps, for today, it will be a cause that is shaping the lives of children and care givers and teens? Through music, sport, employment services, or distress care, we turn our attention to Canada’s unique needs and give there. In this way, might we bear witness to our connection to Uvalde?

We have so many children’s charities to choose from. If you would like to attend to your need to help by donating a car, here is a short list to get your creative giving juices flowing? Consider,

What happens when you donate a vehicle?

When you donate your car, truck, van, SUV, or motorcycle, the net proceeds go to your cause. You fill out a 5 minute online form. We arrange your free tow. Your charity receives the funds, and you get a tax receipt.

We know this won’t right terrible wrongs like the parade of awful we see in the headlines these days. But your giving does seed Goodness. Caring. A commitment to acting on empathy. And that is a kind of justice all its own. The kind that invites another such action, and then another, and then one more. And that’s where we’re at with this today: I’ll do what I can. You do what you’ve got it in you to do. We’ll take care of each other. One loving act at a time.

The post Caring for Canada’s Kids | A response to Uvalde, Texas appeared first on Donate A Car.

Goodness. If you say it often enough, it doesn’t sound like a real word anymore. And in a world gone all wobbly and sideways, it’s easy to think that maybe “goodness” isn’t even a thing. If we’re looking for evidence that things have all gone to heck, well, there seems to be a growing body!

Evidence against

You don’t need reminders of all of the ways we know that Goodness is taking a thumping, hey? Have you been hacked lately, and threatened with recrimination if you don’t send money/call this number/set this straight right now? Or had your identity stolen? Maybe you’ve been victim to prejudice or shaming? Is the one who ought to love you best hurting you? Your body may not be cooperating and you could be feeling stuck and lonely. Friends fail us, money is tight, and the world-at-large feels like it’s equal parts dumpster fire and a volcano preparing to violently erupt. So much evidence for not-Goodness.

Evidence for Goodness

What to do? Who are we to be in the face of blaming and hating and self-promotion and ice that’s melting too fast? We don’t want to be blind to the world’s trouble. But we don’t want to be consumed by it either. So, what if we just, each one of us, do our little bit? What if we just determinedly and consistently do our own little bit of Good?

• Make a wholesome meal for your family. Safety and caring in our own homes matters.
• Read. Expanding our perspective and thinking our own deep thoughts is grounding.
• Believe. Aligning ourselves with authentic, thoughtful, experiential Goodness takes an effort of heart and mind.
• Work at doing the good you do. Watch for opportunities to act justly and compassionately. This is no time for us to be lazy about this stuff.
• Listen for the story beneath the story beneath the story: it’s easy to dismiss and to judge when we’re not listening to each other. We’re all in this together — whether we like it or not.
• Just be. Take a breather from the glut of information and streaming and hope-bludgeoning media. Be with people you love; be someone people want to love. The truest, strongest, most vibrant you (you come from innocence). You are enough.

Keep it up!

Everything is (probably) going to be okay. If you do your small bit, and I do mine, odds are good that love will win the day. Let’s take care of each other, care for the earth, and companion the vulnerable — we’ll make it through with Goodness intact.

The post Goodness |Do the Good You do appeared first on Donate A Car.

If you’re visiting this site, you’re probably here for one of two reasons: you have a clunker that you really need moved in a hurry! Or, you have a vehicle that you are almost ready to part with and you want to impact a hopeful and courageous cause by seeing the funds shared in the name of Goodness.

With another week of heart-stopping news — news of lost lives, confused hate, political strife, job loss, and hurting youth — it would come as no surprise if our national frame of mind became increasingly dour. There is heartbreak all around. Anger and fear feel justified.

We ache with the hurting in the US, those in lands further off, and with our own here at home.

Goodness | Active compassion

Earlier this week I was challenged to replace judgement with compassion and curiosity. It’s easier, of course, to assign blame and hate, erecting “us vs. them” barriers. But whether we’re hurting for our teens (who are attempting to take their own lives in staggering numbers), or stunned by yet another mass killing, or appalled at the violent death of one of our own in another land, we must know that to respond to violence with violence will not – ever – result in restoration?

If you’ve found us here, this is likely your way: to do justly, to love mercy. We’re with you on that. Let’s ensure that Canada remains a land of Peace. A land where good overcomes evil. Every time. May Goodness serve you well — as you extend it, and as it is offered right back to you.

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