There’s a knock at the door. It’s a youngster with chocolate bars. You buy because you want to support the soccer team. Warning: in your eagerness to help one group, you may be harming another. Do you know where the cocoa beans came from? Were the growers paid fairly for their work? Enough to feed their families and meet basic needs? Most likely, the workers, including very young children, are living in poverty in another country, and their hard work doesn’t earn them enough to climb out of hardship.
Meanwhile, fundraisers enjoy big profits, passing on a tiny amount to your soccer kids. Next time your group wants to raise money, suggest a compassionate alternative, Fair Trade Chocolate. For example, there is Divine Fair Trade Chocolate, the first brand in the world to be farmer-owned (www.divinechocolate.com). Or try one of these which are fair to the growers and kind to the earth: www.equalexchange.com, www.sweetearthchocolates.com,www.ChocolateBar.com, or www.VosgesChocolate.com. Some offer discounts for fundraisers.
What a deal — the kids raise money, social consciousness, and quality of life for families all at the same time!
Compassion in Social Media
People are frustrated by virus restrictions and political warfare. We’re so tied up in knots that some things that we’d normally take in stride become a major offense against us. Like someone not picking up after their dog or giving a handout to a homeless person or having an opinion contrary to our own. So we express it on social media. And the tirades against us for what we’ve said pour into our “comments” section. Which adds to our feelings of unfairness and being personally attacked. In the process, we’ve missed an opportunity to build up the human family, failed to protect its members. Instead, we can try to understand what the poster is feeling, especially since we’re feeling just as frustrated and powerless. We can respond not with attacks but with “I’m sorry this is happening to you” or “I disagree but understand your position.” These are difficult times, times when our responses need to be compassionate and empathetic, not angry, vicious, and dismissive.