Celebrating Service
01/19/2009

Happy Birthday, Martin!

Happy National Day of Service!

 “Everyone can be great, because everyone can serve.” 

                                -- Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today, in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the call of a new President, is a National Day of Service.

I know we’re all busy, and I also know how good we all can feel if we just do one simple thing to participate in this blossoming of hope and commitment that is taking place across the country.  I’m going to give blood.  That’s easy and it’s free.

I could also take canned goods to the Food Bank, or bed and bath linens or used cell phones to Domestic Violence Solutions, or books to my local library.  I could show up at Direct Relief International and roll bandages, or call the young mother next door and ask her if she’d like to have the afternoon off from her round-the-clock childcare duties.

Jennifer Freed, co-founder and co-director of AHA! (the Academy of Healing Arts for Teens), entered an Air America contest entitled, “If I were Angelina Jolie…” Here is what she wrote

If had the status of Angelina Jolie I would use my prime media exposure to speak about the power of each person to change the inequities in this country.  I would ask each of my fans to make a vow of using fewer natural resources, conserving more, and taking time each week to help someone who has less than they do.  I would make it absolutely sexy to be more thoughtful, more informed, and more willing to help out in the communities where we each live.  I would only grant photos and interviews to people or enterprises who publish the following quote with every word from me, or photo of me 

"Each of us has the responsibility to admire those people who act with conscience, who give to the greater good, and whose work/art elevates the bar for all of humankind. Become the limelight you seek by being a beacon of loving kindness for each situation or person you encounter."

I would constantly promote the great philanthropic or socially progressive work of others and choose projects which carry a thoroughly engaging and socially relevant message.  I would never forget to laugh at myself and find ways to poke through the veneer of celebrity to the truth of our collective social strength and capacity.

Her entry won, and she and her partner got to attend the West Coast Pre-Inaugural Party and Live Broadcast Launch of “Hollywood Clout,” a new series on Air America Radio where Hollywood celebrities use their influence and passion to help  inaugurate a new America. 

I’m proud of Jennifer and the work she does with teens through AHA! (www.ahasb.com). I’m proud of the millions of people who traveled to Washington and are braving the cold and the crowds in order to take part in the symbolic rebirth of America.  And I’m proud of the even greater millions who took a chance and elected Barack Hussein Obama to be our 44^th President.  His very name is reported to mean “Blessing; Beloved of the Divine; the Good.”  He has so much to live up to.  And so do we all.

God bless us everyone.