You know, there's
a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should
talk more about our empathy deficit - the ability to put ourselves in someone
else's shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from
us - the child who's hungry, the steelworker who's been laid-off, the family who
lost the entire life they built together when the storm came to town. When you
think like this - when you choose to broaden your ambit of concern and empathize
with the plight of others, whether they are close friends or distant strangers
- it becomes harder not to act; harder not to help. -- Barack
Obama
*
"What volunteers bring is the human touch, the individual, caring approach that
no government program, however well-meaning and well- executed, can deliver."
-- Edward James Olmos
*
We are all part of the human family and we should be about doing what all good
families do - caring for our less fortunate brothers and sisters.
- Dan O'Neill,
Founder, Mercy Corps
*
"My involvement with UNICEF is particularly important to me because it is UNICEF
that introduced me to volunteerism, thereby helping me to set my own personal
standard of contributing my time and giving back to others. Working on behalf
of UNICEF‘s lifesaving efforts is one of my most valued roles." -- Sarah
Jessica Parker
*
"If there is
any kindness I can show, or any good thing I can do to any fellow being, let me
do it now, and not deter or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again."
-- William Penn
"What
we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and
the world remains and is immortal." --Albert Pike
"Teach
me to feel another's woe, To hide the fault I see; That mercy I to others
show, That mercy show to me." -- Alexander Pope, The Universal Prayer,
1738
*
Our generation has the ability and the responsibility to make our ever-more connected
world a more hopeful, stable and peaceful place. -- Natalie
Portman
*
Our generation has the ability and the responsibility
to make our ever-more connected world a more hopeful,
stable and peaceful place.
-- Natalie
Portman
"If
you think the efforts of one individual will be nothing, then you have never been
to bed with a mosquito". ~ Betty Reese
There
are two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we receive, and the
larger kind we feel for what we give. -- Edward Arlington Robinson
"Let
a good person do good deeds with the same zeal that an evil
person does bad ones."
-- Shalom Rokeach
If
somehow every volunteer vanished tomorrow, so much of this
country would come to a standstill: schools, hospitals and
libraries. You can’t name an institution that doesn’t depend
on volunteers.
-- Al Roker
'No
joy can equal the joy serving others.'
-- Sai Baba
*
I feel the greatest reward for doing is the opportunity to do more. -- Jonas
Salk
*
"To know that once you decide
to look at life outside of the narrow limits of just your world and start to understand
that you can make a difference in very simple ways - in volunteering and all the
way up to bigger world problems." -- Susan
Sarandon
"A man can do only what
a man can do. But if he does that each day he can sleep at night and do it again
the next day." -- Albert
Schweitzer
*
I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: The only ones
among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to
serve. -- Albert
Schweitzer
"It
is not enough to merely exist. It's not enough to say, 'I'm earning enough to
live and support my family. I do my work well. I'm a good parent.' That's all
very well. But you must do something more. Seek always to do some good, somewhere.
Every person has to seek in his own way to make his own self more noble and to
realize his own true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. Even if
it's a little thing, do something for those who have need of a man's help, something
for which you get no pay but the privilege of doing it. For, remember, you don't
live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too." -- -- Albert
Schweitzer
You
must give some time to your fellow man. Even if it's a little thing, do something
for which you get not pay but the privilege of doing it. -- --
Albert Schweitzer
"A
gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver
or doer." -- Seneca
*
"I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community... and as long as I
live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly
used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life
for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch
which I have got hold of for a moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as
possible before handing it on to future generations." -- George
Bernard Shaw
*
I think service to others is the real key to winning our own personal freedom
and the road to our own happiness, our own personal contentment and fulfillment.
-- Martin Sheen
*
It's important to see what we can do to make a difference, but it's more important
to me to do it every single day. -- Alicia
Silverstone
Noble
deeds and hot baths are the best cures for depression.
-- Dodie Smith
People
who volunteer often agree in the beginning that they thought
“they were doing something for others.” It doesn't take
them long to realize they are the ones who are richer for
the experience. It's the absolute truth. Make A Difference
Day is your chance to find out.
-- Harry Smith (NBC News)
Make
A Difference Day is a great way to introduce kids to the
rewards of volunteering.
It's fun, it's focused and it's empowering to know that
millions are motivated to do the same.
-- Kate Snow (NBC Nightline)
