Over the break, many of us not only found ourselves surrounded by family and friends, but also by the news of a terrible disaster in South East Asia. The pictures of this tragedy reached the world within minutes, and made a tsunami on the other side of the world painfully real.
Seeing the faces of the victims spoke volumes about the heartbreak and sorrow affecting an enormous portion of the globe. As humans, we are blessed with the ability to empathize with those we see in pain. We feel the unspoken need to reach out and help those around us. With the internet and television, we can now find ourselves watching and feeling, without being able to directly reach out and help our fellow man.
The best way that we can help is by donating to several of the charities that are actively providing relief to those affected. However, as college students, we are one of the socio-economic groups that is least able to give. We are saddled by debt and often financing our lives with the assistance of our parents. While we may not have anything extra to give, what we can do is sacrifice what we spend on ourselves in our daily life.
I want you to take a day off from spending anything on yourself that you would be able to go without. There are many things we do for entertainment or leisure that can be skipped for a day in remembrance of those lost in the tsunami. I want you to skip going out to lunch and instead make a sandwich. Instead of going out with your friends, take a book out from the library and spend a quiet night at home. Take what you don’t spend, regardless of how much or how little, and donate it to the relief effort. At the end of the day, if you find yourself without anything to give, know that you can still contribute by keeping the victims of this event in your good
