At the end of the day I remain a Sydettist and come back to the question @blackamazon.bsky.social offers for centering the work one does in the world: does baby have hat?
I can't fix the goddamned world but that's OK. I can put some hats on babies, some food in bellies, offer comfort.
When the enormity of the world's horrors makes you feel helpless, narrow your focus. Find one person and do something to make them safer. Put a hat on a baby, feed someone, drop an email to someone telling them you care, help one person out.
<3 I have generalized anxiety disorder and this is how I break myself out of those spirals. I hear @blackamazon.bsky.social ask "does baby have hat?" and I go find someone to help.
the world is often on fire and overwhelming and the people who are the antithesis of compassion rely on the flood of overwhelming to burn us out before we can do anything. When you are feeling burned out and helpless and overwhelmed, look at the people in your vicinity and feed someone hungry.
Find someone in pain and ask them how you can help. Hold out a hand to someone who needs it. Put a hat on the baby. We can't solve everything ourselves but each of us can solve *one* thing, and the more of us who do that regularly, the more things get solved.
And if you are feeling overwhelmed and in despair at the state of the world, remember that there is nothing in the world that infuriates fascists more than people doing good deeds for no reason other than the good deeds needed to be done. When I can't manage compassion, I can always manage spite.
At WisCon this year, @sigridellis.bsky.social finished a panel with (probably paraphrased) "Joy is the best reason to do good in the world, but if joy is inaccessible, spite will do."
And while the doing of the compassionate deed is itself its own reward, sometimes when you do compassionate deeds like drive down to help your friend out after surgery, you also get a cat!
I’m a huge fan of starfish theory for this reason. True you can’t save every starfish washed up on the beach or stop the storms. But when you pick one to toss back in the sea you’ve made a world of difference to *that* one.
the tweet by studentactivism really resonated with me “find work that needs doing and do it. help who you can however you can. figure out the big stuff later”
And that one person, once in a better position, can turn around and help another, and another. It’s a beautiful ripple effect.
Bring hope. Save lives. One person at a time.
Umm relatable idea someone helps ya out you pay them back by helping others it's a lovely cycle. I mean I knew it since I was small but it was worded differently and I met someone who told me this in college you pay everything someone helps you out, you pay it forward everytime you help someone.
Today I have travelled cross-country for the funeral of the wife of an old and dear friend. Circumstances dictated I only met her twice, but he doted on her and being there is something I can do.
One Unitarian-Universalist minister said in a sermon I heard once, “what you would do for everyone, do for someone”, or words to that effect, and it hit like a sledgehammer to make improving the world a possible thing.
I have been having a really hard time the past month but then I remembered *this* and returning my focus to how I can help my students as classes and individuals helped a LOT to get me out of the pit and see the light
Did you ever watch the film " Pay it forward" wouldn't that be life's blessing 🙏
I love the concept of this
The rules are simple: 1) It has to be something big that really helps people, 2) It must be something they can't do for themselves, and 3) The benefactor has to aid three other people in need
No. The point is that it doesn't have to be something big. The recipient is under no obligation. By saying it has to be something big you're back to making people feel helpless.
Put a hat on a baby. Buy someone a sandwich. Do something small.
Why big? You've just excluded everyone who can't do something big because they're broke or have no time, or who thinks what they can do isn't big enough due to imposter syndrome or anxiety.
And why a set number? And who defines "that really helps"? (Hint; it should be the receiver).
This is very lovely and _human_. I can't fix much, but on the back of this I did a wee dive to find things I _could_ fix, and now a handful of little kids who're in difficult family circumstances will have new crayons to unwrap on christmas day. The good crayons that actually draw (all anon via BRO)
The most important thing I’ve learned while studying law is there are more resources out there than people realize. Stuff like legal aid, housing assistance, mutual aid, free clinics, harm reduction programs. Just researching and knowing what direction to point people in can save a life.
Coming back to this: it might not seem like much, just knowing what’s around. But earlier this year I gave a friend an agency name and a couple weeks ago her eviction notice was lifted. I hardly did anything, but it was still everything. Hat on baby.
I just had a vivid flashback to walking into my grandparents' house and my grandmother immediately asking, "Are you hungry?" She was very much a Sydettist (although she would call it "Great Depression survivor").
I miss her. Thank you.
