National Make a Difference Day

Celebrated every fourth Saturday in October, Make a Difference Day is the day to give back and take community service to a new level. Find a local nonprofit and volunteer a little of your time. Make sure it has something that you’re passionate about and that makes a difference in the world. If you don’t have the time, you can donate financially to make a difference. Or you can help a friend or neighbor. Sometimes giving someone the opportunity to vent or offering a shoulder to cry on can make a huge difference in their lives.

The United Nations came into existence on October 24, 1945 and today is celebrated as United Nations Day. It started as a way to make a difference in the world. Here is the Preamble of the Charter of the United Nations.

“We the people of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

“and for theses ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, and to ensure, by the acceptance of principles and the institution of methods, that armed force shall not be used, save in the common interest, and to employ international machinery for the promotion of the economic and social advancement of all peoples,

“have resolved to combine our efforts to accomplish these aims accordingly, our respective Governments, through representatives assembled in the city of San Francisco, who have exhibited their full powers found to be in good and due form, have agreed to the present Charter of the United Nations and do hereby establish an international organization to be known as the United Nations.”

Twofer Tuesday Poetry: Loss, Love, Life & Survival Doesn't Help You Grow

Loss, Love, Life

He wanted
Her
To see
The love he had
But
Her love
Was not
The same – 
She loved him
Yes, but
Not 
The same – 
No one ever
Loves you
The same
As you do
Them – 
But they love
And that’s
Something – 
Or maybe it’s
Nothing – 
Maybe love
Is the only thing
Any of us
Truly own – 
He doesn’t want
To own
Love
Anymore – 
But it
Never goes
Away – 
Love is there – 
Wanted or not – 
We all must
Learn to
Live with love
And without it – 
Whether you
Love yourself
Or don’t
You must live

Survival Doesn’t Help You Grow

When you hit rock bottom
You can only go up
When you’ve hit your
Lowest low
The first step feels too high

You don’t know how you are
Until someone tells you
You don’t notice the anger inside
Until it drives everyone away
You don’t notice what you avoid

How do you unlearn everything
That helped you survive
How do you learn to live
When all you know is survival
Survival is no longer enough

From the poetry collection Cats, Coffee, Catharsis.