Day 3: Liana Williams

Based on my 30 Days 30 Causes 30 Dollars blog entry I went looking for my Day 3 $1 donation opportunity, and found Liana Williams.

In looking for people to donate to, I find my eye drawn to images with someone else in it. I have been saying for a while that I do not think I have the most compelling "cancer story." Interestingly enough Liana's picture shows her husband and her children. She is fighting an aggressive form of lymphoma, and while they have raised a considerable amount of money, they have raised the amount asked for, due to almost being out of money. And this is despite getting some help. Her husband lost his job. I picked them, in part, because their campaign is about to end on May 31st, and they are just a little over 50% there.

There are way too many people challenged - and devastated - by things like this. It is all too easy to turn a blind eye. At the same time, it is the type of thing most people have to trip over to see. No one wants to see the pain. No one wants to know. I know. I was one of them. Why go looking for something you know will cause discomfort?

On top of that, so many people are empathic, and do not know it. They pick up what others feel. And for many, it sucks so much they unconsciously avoid dealing with anything that has them feel it. I tend to stay away from large crowds, and really don't like places like malls.

If we could somehow harness that empathy and turn it around we might be able to stop avoiding, and start helping. Maybe that is why we are empathic in the first place. Maybe it is a way for us to connect so we will help, but instead we unconsciously take on the pain and feel a need to avoid what is causing it, leaving those we love and others we could help to struggle with their situation on their own. And the deeper the depths of their despair, the more we want to avoid it. If only we would have helped in the earlier stages, maybe it would not have gotten as bad.

How many people think of that, I wonder.

If you know of any people in need, please let me know. I will be posting about them here as well as at DollarDifference.com.

Taking the journey of making a difference one dollar at a time.