Please don’t beat me with my soapbox

In my humdrum life, the daily battle hasn’t been good versus evil. It’s hardly so epic. Most days, my real battle is doing good versus doing nothing.
–Deirdre Sullivan

I heard that quote for the first time about a year ago on an inspiring CD set called This I Believe by NPR. It was a gift from my sister, one that I love and continue to listen on a weekly basis.

I adore that quote, as I feel it sums up my life, my intentions. I want to do good every day – do my part to make someone’s life easier, to improve the world just a teeny tiny bit.

I’ll be honest, more often than not, I don’t do anything. I live my life, write a few checks and try to be kind, helpful and compassionate and to raise a child who will do the same. I want to do more, so much more, but, and I’m not going to make excuses about it, I just don’t. I’m working on this.

However, there is one area where I feel like I’m really making an attempt to do my part. You know how they say “Make Earth Day every day?” Well, in many (but, I admit, not all) aspects of my life, I try to do that. I’m a freak about recycling – anything that could possibly be recycled, including that minuscule scrap of paper in the hallway, goes into the recycling bin. It’s such an easy way to make the Earth a cleaner place.

I also switched to using cloth napkins instead of paper ones. Although not everyone in my household uses them, I do. It makes me feel better about using less paper and meals feel a little snazzier, even if I’m eating pizza out of the box while my baby crawls on me and then pukes on my shirt. I use the cloth napkin to wipe it up!

I also buy organic whenever I can afford to. Yes, I am one of those people who does not trust that our food, covered in pesticides and filled with genetically engineered ingredients, is safe. I could go on and on about this, but I understand that organic is often more expensive and sometimes you just can’t afford it. We probably eat about a 70 percent organic diet. Although I would like that to be 100 percent, I just can’t always talk myself into spending all that extra money. But, I will say that I realize every time I buy an organic product, I am supporting a cleaner way of producing food and I believe in that.

So, it’s Earth Day today. If you’re up for it, do some good for the planet instead of doing nothing. Recycle something. Bring a reusable mug or cup to work instead of drinking from paper or Styrofoam. Get a cloth grocery bag. Buy some frozen organic veggies. Pick up some trash. Because sometimes, doing something really isn’t that hard.

• ← Y’all ain’t gonna believe this
• Dr. Evil’s newest assistant →