Impact your world.

I was trolling CNN for news items that might inspire a post when I stumbled upon Impact Your World. It seems CNN has already done the work for me! Impact Your World challenges readers to "Take action on the news you consume!" The facilitate that work in several ways:

* Click the links associated with the news stories to donate to organizations that make a difference.
* Follow the progress of the Be The Change volunteers. and be inspired to do your own work.
* Visit the Planet in Peril page for tips on protecting our Earth.
* Inspire others to action by sending your story about how you make difference in your community.
* Nominate a CNN Hero and get that person and, more importantly, their cause the recognition they deserve.

Today's front page features ways you can help children in Iraq, people affected by the floods in Bangladesh, and US veterans. Often reading the newspaper or watching the evening news can seem like an exercise in futility. How can one person lessen all the suffering that is reported. Thankfully, CNN's Impact Your World shows us that indeed we can make a difference.

Happy new year, readers! I wish each of your every happiness, every blessing, every joy for 2008.

"Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in the desert." - Khalil Gibran (1883–1931)