Humanity One World: A Renewal of Effort and Commitment

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.”

Dalai Lama

What if there was a party and nobody attended? What if there was a party and people attended but you were not aware of it? What if there was a party and people attended but they were bored to tears? What if there was a party and people attended but they left early because they had better things to do?

Which would be worse?

Those were my thoughts as I pondered the existence of H.O.W. last week. For those of you who do not know, H.O.W. is an acronym that stands for Humanity One World, a group I started many months ago consisting of writers and friends who are concerned about the state of the world. It was our goal to raise awareness and to try to affect change one person at a time….one act of kindness at a time…..sort of like the Butterfly Effect on steroids.

A fool’s dream? A quest that had no chance of succeeding?

Man, we were out of the gate fast. We sprinted ahead of the field, and we were the hot topic, and other writers joined in the cause and wrote their own articles about the movement, and membership grew and the horizon looked sunny and bright.

We started a website and we started a page on Facebook, and people were energized and excited and committed and…….

Life got in the way.

I don’t know any other way to describe what happened next.

The payment was due on the website and no money was available to pay for it. Families and troubles and jobs and on and on, they all piled up and kept us from following through on the commitment we had made. We got too busy living life and H.O.W. took the inevitable backseat, relegated to the status of afterthought for many.

Even me….Bill Holland….the founder of the movement, allowed it to go forth on cruise control and fend for itself in Cyber Space…..and the results were predictable.

And for that, I am responsible.

Enough is enough!

You see, I can’t let this die a natural death. I can’t tuck the covers under its chin, pat it on the head and praise it for its intentions and good efforts, while silently mourning all the wasted opportunities. It simply is not in me to do that.

I started this movement for a reason, and that reason is because I think society has lost its way. I think society has lost sight of the fact that people make up society. We are a collection of human beings, and we will only stand strong as a society if we take care of each other.

I have no faith in our governments. They have lost their way as well, and they are much too busy following the guidance of special interest groups to worry about a nebulous concept like humanity. No, it is up to each of us to make this change happen, and so I am calling for a renewal of effort from each of you.

On our Facebook site we are 272 strong, but that is not nearly enough. I want viral. I will not be satisfied until H.O.W. becomes a household term, understood and lived by hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

And for that to happen you are responsible.

Two friends of mine, Lizzy and Alex, are currently working on a new website. They are also working on tshirts and other products that will have the H.O.W. logo on them. We will sell those tshirts and other products and then we will donate the money to a worthy cause and in that small way we will make a statement. Wearing the tshirts will be a larger statement, and spreading the message of H.O.W. will be the largest statement of them all.

The site is now up and running at our Zazzle Store, and you can find it here.

I suspect complacency within the group of H.O.W. I sense that members are sitting back waiting for someone else to do something monumental, but you see, there is no monumental in H.O.W. This is a movement that depends on individual action to survive, and there are no days off if H.O.W. is important to you.

Whenever you do an act of kindness you are doing the work of H.O.W.

Whenever you show compassion to another human being you are doing the work of H.O.W.

Whenever you toss aside apathy and get involved you are doing the work of H.O.W.

Yes, it is time. It is time to spread the word. It is time for the 272 members to sign up new members. It is time to tell your families and friends that we can change the world if we are committed. As I have always said, never underestimate the power of a small group of determined people, and we are that group.

It is now time for all of our members to renew their commitment. Write about H.O.W. Tell your friends about it. Become involved in your community. Do random acts of kindness and begin a tidal wave of humanity that will spread around this globe.

You can either become an instrument of change or you can remain a part of the complacent herd that waits for someone else to act.

Humanity One World: Whenever anyone, anywhere, reaches out for help, I want the hand of H.O.W. to always be there, and for that, I am responsible.

It is time for each of you to live by that mission statement.

2013 William D. Holland (aka billybuc)