I Live United

     I recently became the United Way representative for the department I work for. The decision was voluntary, as many people fail to believe, and there was no guilt or coercion involved.  I actually know very little about the program, and, in fact, did not even give last year. (For anyone even more unfamiliar with how United Way works than myself, the organization is a non-profit that at my place of employment takes a predetermined dollar amount out of each biweekly check for donation.) I will touch more on the many things they do another time, as I am still learning and would like to be as accurate as possible.

     But United Way itself is not specifically why I titled this post the way I did. Living united is more than learning about charity and donating money. It is more than feeling bad for someone in need, or thinking that you want to do more but you are just one person. It is about doing something to improve the world, about leaving your trail cleaner than you found it. All it takes is one person. One person to make change, and one person to be changed. Giving time and money is more than charity, it is fuel for a movement; a human movement.

     I have chosen to give my time to a cause I deeply believe in, and hope to educate more people so that they may feel the same. I say cause because the time may be in the name of United Way, but it is in the spirit of the people who are touched by the benefits. I choose to live united with my world, to understand that my life goes deeper than that of one individual. I choose to live united for today, tomorrow, and the future I will never see.

     Living united is a lifestyle, not simply a declaration.