Hero (s Are Made When You Make A Choice)

You have most likely heard about the event I organized at school on Thursday, April 8th called One Day Without Shoes. The sole purpose of this event, of going to school shoeless, was to raise awareness about third-world countries and their lack of necessities. TOMS Shoes is the original creator of this event. It is considered a "for-profit company." That means that minus expenses such as employment fees, shipping, traveling costs, and so on, all of the money goes towards those children in need of shoes. The way TOMS works is that money doesn't matter. It's one for one. Every time they sell a pair of shoes, they give a pair of shoes to a child in need. More than 600,000 shoes have been given away to 28 different countries. Purdue, Lafayette, and West Lafayette together helped purchase 174 pairs. It doesn't seem like much, but it is. For most children they are given to, that's their first pair and that one pair can last them up until adolescence. Around 300 McCutcheon students participated, but merely 3,000 people participated nationally, McCutcheon not included.

I can't say this enough times, but I am so proud of our school and the amount of people that actually joined in on the event. I never would have dreamed to get such positive feedback! I wish I could personally thank each and every participant. This event really took to my heart. If you know anyone that participated in the event and has not already seen this, please send this to them so that I can express my thanks to them.

I know some people took part in the event just because they had the chance to not wear shoes to school, but there were so many others that really supported the cause and realized how good we have it here. We get to go to school! We get to wear shoes! We get to go home everyday and not worry about how we will feed our family that day. We are so lucky to live here and many got to realize that through this cause. 

I have always stood for human rights and helping people. I volunteer within our community with every chance I get, I go out of my way to hep as many people as I can, and most of my future aspirations have to do with helping people. I believe that all people should should have the same basic rights. It breaks my heart to see that there are people complaining about having math homework while there's a child in Afghanistan who can't even walk the 9 miles to school because they have no shoes. Through time, I have come to realize that things don't just change on their own. People have to get up and bring that change.

We all have things in our lives that makes us want to just give up. Perhaps a parent died, maybe a friend turned their back on you, perhaps you broke up a long-term relationship, whatever it is, if you were to look back on your life seconds before you died, would you remember any of these things or would you remember all of the ways you have changed the world? 

The next awareness day I am partaking in is on April 16th on behalf of the LGBT (Lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender) community. No, I am not involved in that community, but as I stated earlier, I do believe in equal rights. On this day, I will not say a single word. That's right! I am going silent for the whole day to bring attention to the harassment, bullying, and similar hardships that LGBT members go through daily. This will not be a school event like One Day Without Shoes due to the sensitivity of the topic, but feel free to join in on that day too.

As you can probably guess, I have so much more that I want to say, but I will stop right here.