TODAY, thousands of people countrywide will be wearing slippers for a good cause. That cause is not the approaching cold weekend, but the annual Slipper Day which raises funds for the Reach for a Dream Foundation.
Reach for a Dream does amazing work countrywide, realising the dreams of children who are either severely or even terminally ill. The joy this organisation brings to young hearts cannot be quantified but they do need funds to keep the initiative going, hence such fundraising efforts as Slipper Day.
Two days later, on Mother’s Day, South Africa will pay tribute to the mothers who shape the future of our children on a daily basis.
Both these initiatives have something in common – a shared sense of empathy and caring in making the world a better place.
What better example is there of love and selflessness than that of a mother, an aunt, a sister, a grandmother or even just someone who steps in to take care of a child?
Both the initiatives to help bring joy to sick children’s lives and Mother’s Day showcase some of that which is good about our nation – people who care, people who build a future and who often help to turn that which is negative into something good.
In contrast are those who destroy and speak of hate, those who stereotype and who fuel and incite a culture of violence as an answer to the country’s problems.
Sadly, it takes far more effort to build up than it does to break down, and actions related to the latter often have traumatic consequences which cannot be reversed.
This weekend, choose to celebrate that which is good – the ability to nurture and improve, the commitment to love and encourage, the eternal optimism that whatever life brings, it can be changed into something better.
I will choose to do so – the alternative is just too horrific to contemplate.
