Full disclaimer: Hannah Teter, the two time Olympic Medalist in halfpipe snowboarding (Gold in 06‘, Silver in 10) is my not so secret Olympian crush. Setting aside that she’s a hell of a snowboarder and really beautiful. She has earned my respect and admiration her philanthropic work in Kirindon Kenya, with World Vision and support of other causes like Doctors Without Borders in Haiti among others.
I’m not saying that she doesn’t deserve the praise or the attention that she gets for her efforts. But why does the media go out of their way to publicize the efforts of Hannah Teter and other celebrities? The answer is simple because their actions are more than we’ve come to expect from an increasingly self centered, populace that has grown more concerned with material things than human suffering, both globally and in their own backyard.
There are millions of problems that confront us, both locally and globally. If even thirty-forty percent of us would engage within our own communities or take the time to study a global issue and DO SOMETHING about it, maybe this world wouldn’t be such a bad place to live anymore.
You don’t have to be a globe trotting snowboarder flush with cash like Hannah Teter to make a difference. You can volunteer time or if your passionate about a global issue, find an organization that does such work, research carefully, and then give whatever you can.
We should not need celebrities to act as our moral compasses. Many of these problems that celebrities champion existed way before they decided to lend their voices to the cause. I’m calling on everyone who reads this blog to lend yourself to a cause because celebrities can’t save the world alone. Even if they are super accomplished snowboarders J
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