Too-busy People

I have to admit something that is hard to admit. I hope it doesn't sound like obnoxious complaining.

I am weary of people I care about telling me they are too busy to read this blog.

Most people in my circle of friendship are busy with really good things. Busy homeschooling their children, busy working because their families really need the money. I have several friends who are working second jobs because credit card debt is smothering them. Others are extremely busy working their home-based businesses.

And then family life intervenes: kids throw up, a hailstorm knocks the shingles off the roof, and the car refuses to start. I know. I know. I live in that world too.

The people I know and love are, in large part, too busy with their own problems to care about people suffering who live in a far-away country.

What I don't want to act is all entitled and self-righteous...with the attitude of "people SHOULD care because I do." We all know people who are just TOO intense about their favorite causes: too into their political opinions, too into animal rights, or rather over-involved in their favorite cause. Being PREACHY is a big turn off.

Quite frankly, I find it really annoying when people come to my house for a party, and then let it be known that if I really cared about the earth, I wouldn't be using paper plates and cups for my guests.

Being judgemental--it's very unattractive.

At the same time, I seem to hear the same phrases over and over and over. "I don't have time." And "It's the bad economy." And I am very frustrated.

I can only make decisions for myself. And I know that when I say, I don't have time for something...to pray, to study the bible, to read something that challenges me, I still manage to find time to spend time reading on the web, to spend time browsing on eBay, or to watch a talk show on television. Heck--Dancing With the Stars is my favorite guilty pleasure. It's cotton candy for the mind.

So far, the people who have pitched in to help build houses in Haiti are--in large part--the people who can least afford it. Two retired missionaries who are on support themselves. A single mom of three kids. These people don't have any more time or any more money than anybody else. Maybe they have less. But somehow they've made it a priority.

I leave for Haiti in less than a month. So far, there is no money to build even one house.

So it makes me wonder: is the problem me?

Maybe I don't have a very good hook publicity-wise. Fifteen-year old Paige Porter Livesay (the daughter of two Heartline employees) raised over $50,000 for houses in Haiti by running a half marathon. (I pray to God he never asks me to run a marathon or you are likely to see some very unpleasant, rebellious behavior that would rival the biblical Job.) A ten-year-old boy named Malcolm has raised money for a Heartline Haiti house through a walk-a-thon--to date he's raised over $2,200.

So is it that I'm not cute enough, or young enough or publicity-savy enough? I'm not 15 years old or 10 years old. I am a pudgy, over-worked, too-busy average American mom. I am not Angelina Jolie. I am not a beauty. I am not trying to do something flashy like break into the Guiness Book of World Records. I don't have a reality tv show. I sorta hate that I'm so unimportant and, well--average. I FEEL UTTERLY POWERLESS.

Beautiful and famous people can raise a lot of money and awareness. Rich people can write large checks. Young people can and do inspire. These are not bad things. Often they are very good things.

So far my appeal to overworked, too busy people doesn't seem to be effective. It's as though I'm saying, "Sponsor another pudgy, overworked, middle-age mom to build houses in Haiti." And people are saying, "No thanks. I'm too busy."

Ideas anyone?