Blog #5: One Small Step at a Time

This past week has not been as successful as I had hoped it would be. I have been so busy between beginning my pre-internship, working, school, family issues and other commitments. I realize all I am doing is making excuses and I realize I need to work on committing myself more, as I did pledge. As a result, I was unable to do anything this week, but I did not let this stop me. Although I did not physically do anything, I did contact two organizations, of which I will donate to next week, to make up for this missed week. The first organization I contacted was: Canadian Blood Services and the second organization was: The Strathmore Youth Club. I plan to donate blood to the Canadian Blood Services here in Regina on October 25th. It will be my first time doing this, so I am feeling anxious and nervous because I do not know what to expect but excited because I am helping people who need it.

Secondly, I decided to contact The Strathmore Youth Club because I am going home next weekend and realized that just because I am in a different place other than Regina, does not mean I should step away from my pledge.There, I am going to donate food/lunches for kids of the Strathmore area who are either homeless or their parents cannot afford to buy them food. My donations will help them in ways I cannot even begin to describe because I haven’t been in their shoes. Although I cannot completely connect and understand their lives, I hope to make a bit of a difference to help them feel safe and comforted, knowing they will not starve over the weekend.

I know I did little this week, but I will make up for these excuses. I am going to make a difference even if it is just one small step at a time, although I realize “Small steps will no longer get us to where we need to go. So we need to leap." It is a process of learning and unlearning, so I think my steps are small at the moment, due to this pledge and reconciliation being new to me. Within the next few years maybe even months, those small steps will become leaps.

The Leap Manifesto. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2017, from https://leapmanifesto.org/en/the-leap-manifesto/