Sean Gibson's Blog - Posts Tagged "doing-good"
Do What You Do Well To Do Good
I generally write for personal pleasure. Occasionally, I write for financial gain. Beyond hoping that something that dribbles out of my digital quill might strike someone as entertaining, however, I have rarely thought of writing as something I do, or could do, to help people directly. Not so much because I’m a selfish jackass, but because I never really considered that my writing might be used to achieve that goal. And then we lost Sarah.
Dr. Sarah Pettrone passed away on July 25, 2014, at the unjustly young age of 38. She was a surgeon, and she was passionate about what she did—so much so that rather than vacation at the beach with a Mai Tai (well, okay, she might occasionally have done that), Sarah undertook several trips with Surgicorps International, an organization that provides free surgical and medical care to disadvantaged individuals in developing countries (see surgicorps.org for more). She joined a cadre of other doctors who volunteered their time and talent to travel, at their own expense, to places like Bhutan, Ethiopia, and Honduras to perform procedures that immeasurably improved the quality of people’s lives. Sarah had a gift, and she used that gift to do good in the world.
As I’m sure Sarah herself would have attested (no doubt gleefully, given her penchant for needling me), I’m by no means as skilled with the keyboard as she was with the scalpel, and I can’t use words to fix a cleft palate or restore function to a shattered hand. But, I can tell a pretty good story. And I can use that skill to help people in need.
I’ve pledged to donate $1 to Surgicorps for every copy sold of The Camelot Shadow—not just in memory of Sarah, but also to recognize and give thanks for her inspiration. I have every intention of telling many more stories in my life, and I am committed to donating some portion of the proceeds of everything I ever publish to organizations that enable people to leverage their talents to do something good for the world, whether that’s feed the starving, aid the sick, or fight for justice on behalf of those who cannot do it themselves.
I fear that Surgicorps is unlikely to reap a substantial windfall from my meager pledge (I mean, how many people out there really want to read a Victorian-set pseudo-historical mystery involving Arthurian lore?), but what if we all commit to doing something we love, something we’re good at, to make the world a better place? Everyone does something well—maybe it’s not something as immediately impactful as being able to heal the sick and injured, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to use our gifts to benefit others.
Individually, our efforts may register as little more than barely discernible pinpricks of light in what feels like an increasingly dark world. Multiply those small but significant efforts by a few thousand, or a few million, or a few billion people, though…now we’re a vast constellation stretching across the night sky, one whose brilliance can inspire and guide those struggling through even the darkest nights.
That’s a pretty cheesily melodramatic metaphor (my stock in trade), one that I have no doubt would have made Sarah roll her eyes. But that doesn’t change the fact that she was one of the bright lights in that constellation, and there’s no better star to steer by than the one that never fades, the one that is an ever-present reminder to keep dreaming of something beyond ourselves.
The sky is vast and there’s plenty of room for us all. Here’s hoping we all make it up there together.
Dr. Sarah Pettrone passed away on July 25, 2014, at the unjustly young age of 38. She was a surgeon, and she was passionate about what she did—so much so that rather than vacation at the beach with a Mai Tai (well, okay, she might occasionally have done that), Sarah undertook several trips with Surgicorps International, an organization that provides free surgical and medical care to disadvantaged individuals in developing countries (see surgicorps.org for more). She joined a cadre of other doctors who volunteered their time and talent to travel, at their own expense, to places like Bhutan, Ethiopia, and Honduras to perform procedures that immeasurably improved the quality of people’s lives. Sarah had a gift, and she used that gift to do good in the world.
As I’m sure Sarah herself would have attested (no doubt gleefully, given her penchant for needling me), I’m by no means as skilled with the keyboard as she was with the scalpel, and I can’t use words to fix a cleft palate or restore function to a shattered hand. But, I can tell a pretty good story. And I can use that skill to help people in need.
I’ve pledged to donate $1 to Surgicorps for every copy sold of The Camelot Shadow—not just in memory of Sarah, but also to recognize and give thanks for her inspiration. I have every intention of telling many more stories in my life, and I am committed to donating some portion of the proceeds of everything I ever publish to organizations that enable people to leverage their talents to do something good for the world, whether that’s feed the starving, aid the sick, or fight for justice on behalf of those who cannot do it themselves.
I fear that Surgicorps is unlikely to reap a substantial windfall from my meager pledge (I mean, how many people out there really want to read a Victorian-set pseudo-historical mystery involving Arthurian lore?), but what if we all commit to doing something we love, something we’re good at, to make the world a better place? Everyone does something well—maybe it’s not something as immediately impactful as being able to heal the sick and injured, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to use our gifts to benefit others.
Individually, our efforts may register as little more than barely discernible pinpricks of light in what feels like an increasingly dark world. Multiply those small but significant efforts by a few thousand, or a few million, or a few billion people, though…now we’re a vast constellation stretching across the night sky, one whose brilliance can inspire and guide those struggling through even the darkest nights.
That’s a pretty cheesily melodramatic metaphor (my stock in trade), one that I have no doubt would have made Sarah roll her eyes. But that doesn’t change the fact that she was one of the bright lights in that constellation, and there’s no better star to steer by than the one that never fades, the one that is an ever-present reminder to keep dreaming of something beyond ourselves.
The sky is vast and there’s plenty of room for us all. Here’s hoping we all make it up there together.
Celebrate the Release of The Strange Task Before Me with FREE Copies! (And, relatedly, let’s make the world a better place…)
Yelling “free books!” on Goodreads is a little bit like yelling “free greasepaint and giant shoes!” at a clown convention; before you know it, you’ve got some very colorful people swarming all over you.
(Fortunately, I have a thing for being underneath a pile of sweaty clowns (don’t ask), so I’m okay with what I’m about to do.)
*Clears throat*
FREE BOOKS!
Or, at least, free virtual books. Though I won’t guarantee they’re good ones. And you need to do something to earn them. Skip to the “Here’s How You Get the Free Books” part below if you’re impatient and don’t want to read my blather on the way to finding out how to get ‘em.
On November 20, The Strange Task Before Me: Being an Excerpt from the Journal of William J. Upton, a short prequel to The Camelot Shadow, will be released. I would love nothing more than to put this story into the seltzer bottle-filled hands of a bunch of sweaty clowns—except maybe to put this story AND its predecessor/descendant (that’s a weird combo) into their hands as well.
“All right, Gibson, we’ll bite, even though we resent being called sweaty clowns, except for those of us who are actually sweaty clowns—we’re not convinced your drivel is worth our time, but, let’s say we were really bored one day and wanted to give it a go; how would we get our white-gloved hands on these stories?”
Lately, I’ve gotten increasingly frustrated with the divisive state of the world and the fact that, at least if the news and social media is to be believed, 1) everyone hates everyone else and only horrible things ever happen; 2) no one can accept or gracefully deal with the fact that others might have a different point of view on a controversial topic (and one worth understanding, even if you don’t agree with it); and 3) we will forever be judged and defined solely by the worst thing we’ve ever done in our lives, with no hope of forgiveness, change, or redemption.
Now, I don’t believe all three of those things are true—at least, I hope they’re not, because that’s not a world I want to live in, and it’s certainly not a world I want my kiddos to inherit. But, I could use a little restoration of my faith in humanity.
HERE’S HOW YOU GET THE FREE BOOKS
So, in order to score free copies of BOTH "The Strange Task Before Me" and The Camelot Shadow, I’m asking you to do three simple things between now and November 17:
1) Add both books to your GR TBR if you haven’t already (just so your friends know that you have quality taste in stories, not that they doubted you);
2) In the comment section below, share one instance you’ve seen in the past few weeks of someone doing something nice for someone else for no particular reason other than it was the right thing to do, being empathetic toward someone with a different point of view, or otherwise just acting like, you know, a human being toward another human being; and
3) Share this blog post on GR, Twitter, Facebook, or your social media platform of choice to encourage others to come share their stories. (After you’ve done that, I’ll send you a message to ask about format/email/etc.)
Honestly, I don’t even care if you don’t want to read the books (I get that not everyone is that cool)—just share your stories. Generate some collective love, hope, and peace. Help remind me, to paraphrase the redoubtable Samwise Gamgee in The Two Towers, that there’s some good in this world—and it’s worth fighting for.
I’ll give you one good example to get the ball rolling: a couple of weeks ago, when I picked up my son from daycare, he was grinning from ear to ear. Before I could even ask him why he was so happy, he held up a little action figure. Naturally, I expressed my surprise that he would be in possession of something so cool and asked him how he got it. It turns out that one of his teachers had given it to him for doing such a good job helping the teachers clean up while the other kids ran around like crazy people (as kids do, mine generally included). What’s remarkable about this story isn’t that a kid got rewarded at daycare for good behavior; what’s remarkable is that, as I later found out, the teacher supplied the toy herself, and she routinely brings in little toys for similar purposes.
So, here’s a woman who’s hardly being adequately compensated for doing what is, for me, the single most important thing imaginable—taking care of my kids—spending her own money to help reinforce my son’s good behavior. I was simultaneously proud as a dad—my son didn’t help clean up for the promise of a reward, because he had no idea it was coming; he just did it because he saw that his teachers needed help—and so incredibly touched as a person that his teacher would do that.
One small act of kindness can’t undo the horror of a mass shooting. It can’t allay fears of nuclear war. It can’t protect the rights of all people and ensure that they get a fair shake in life regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, or sexual identity.
But, damn it, we’ve got to start somewhere. I’m tired of seeing people tear each other down. I’m sick of seeing the worst of humanity.
Share your story today—or, even better, go out and make your own story. Be kind. Do something nice for someone, no matter how small. Instead of spewing vitriol at someone you disagree with, take a breath and try to empathize and understand. When you hear about something horrible someone did, condemn the act but be open to the possibility that they can learn and grow and change and be a force for good in the world eventually.
And then go read "The Strange Task Before Me." You’ll like it—and you’ll have earned it.
(Fortunately, I have a thing for being underneath a pile of sweaty clowns (don’t ask), so I’m okay with what I’m about to do.)
*Clears throat*
FREE BOOKS!
Or, at least, free virtual books. Though I won’t guarantee they’re good ones. And you need to do something to earn them. Skip to the “Here’s How You Get the Free Books” part below if you’re impatient and don’t want to read my blather on the way to finding out how to get ‘em.
On November 20, The Strange Task Before Me: Being an Excerpt from the Journal of William J. Upton, a short prequel to The Camelot Shadow, will be released. I would love nothing more than to put this story into the seltzer bottle-filled hands of a bunch of sweaty clowns—except maybe to put this story AND its predecessor/descendant (that’s a weird combo) into their hands as well.
“All right, Gibson, we’ll bite, even though we resent being called sweaty clowns, except for those of us who are actually sweaty clowns—we’re not convinced your drivel is worth our time, but, let’s say we were really bored one day and wanted to give it a go; how would we get our white-gloved hands on these stories?”
Lately, I’ve gotten increasingly frustrated with the divisive state of the world and the fact that, at least if the news and social media is to be believed, 1) everyone hates everyone else and only horrible things ever happen; 2) no one can accept or gracefully deal with the fact that others might have a different point of view on a controversial topic (and one worth understanding, even if you don’t agree with it); and 3) we will forever be judged and defined solely by the worst thing we’ve ever done in our lives, with no hope of forgiveness, change, or redemption.
Now, I don’t believe all three of those things are true—at least, I hope they’re not, because that’s not a world I want to live in, and it’s certainly not a world I want my kiddos to inherit. But, I could use a little restoration of my faith in humanity.
HERE’S HOW YOU GET THE FREE BOOKS
So, in order to score free copies of BOTH "The Strange Task Before Me" and The Camelot Shadow, I’m asking you to do three simple things between now and November 17:
1) Add both books to your GR TBR if you haven’t already (just so your friends know that you have quality taste in stories, not that they doubted you);
2) In the comment section below, share one instance you’ve seen in the past few weeks of someone doing something nice for someone else for no particular reason other than it was the right thing to do, being empathetic toward someone with a different point of view, or otherwise just acting like, you know, a human being toward another human being; and
3) Share this blog post on GR, Twitter, Facebook, or your social media platform of choice to encourage others to come share their stories. (After you’ve done that, I’ll send you a message to ask about format/email/etc.)
Honestly, I don’t even care if you don’t want to read the books (I get that not everyone is that cool)—just share your stories. Generate some collective love, hope, and peace. Help remind me, to paraphrase the redoubtable Samwise Gamgee in The Two Towers, that there’s some good in this world—and it’s worth fighting for.
I’ll give you one good example to get the ball rolling: a couple of weeks ago, when I picked up my son from daycare, he was grinning from ear to ear. Before I could even ask him why he was so happy, he held up a little action figure. Naturally, I expressed my surprise that he would be in possession of something so cool and asked him how he got it. It turns out that one of his teachers had given it to him for doing such a good job helping the teachers clean up while the other kids ran around like crazy people (as kids do, mine generally included). What’s remarkable about this story isn’t that a kid got rewarded at daycare for good behavior; what’s remarkable is that, as I later found out, the teacher supplied the toy herself, and she routinely brings in little toys for similar purposes.
So, here’s a woman who’s hardly being adequately compensated for doing what is, for me, the single most important thing imaginable—taking care of my kids—spending her own money to help reinforce my son’s good behavior. I was simultaneously proud as a dad—my son didn’t help clean up for the promise of a reward, because he had no idea it was coming; he just did it because he saw that his teachers needed help—and so incredibly touched as a person that his teacher would do that.
One small act of kindness can’t undo the horror of a mass shooting. It can’t allay fears of nuclear war. It can’t protect the rights of all people and ensure that they get a fair shake in life regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, or sexual identity.
But, damn it, we’ve got to start somewhere. I’m tired of seeing people tear each other down. I’m sick of seeing the worst of humanity.
Share your story today—or, even better, go out and make your own story. Be kind. Do something nice for someone, no matter how small. Instead of spewing vitriol at someone you disagree with, take a breath and try to empathize and understand. When you hear about something horrible someone did, condemn the act but be open to the possibility that they can learn and grow and change and be a force for good in the world eventually.
And then go read "The Strange Task Before Me." You’ll like it—and you’ll have earned it.
Giving Tuesday: It’s Not Just for Enemas (Anymore)
And now that I’ve got your attention…
I feel about Giving Tuesday a little bit like how I feel about Valentine’s Day: you shouldn’t have to pick a day to help other people, just as you shouldn’t have to pick a day to say I love you and be nice to your significant other, because the implication is that it’s okay to NOT do those things the rest of the year. (On the plus side, Giving Tuesday doesn’t involve the giving or receiving of bad chocolate—that’s what kills me most about Valentine’s Day; the chocolate is terrible, and every time you eat bad chocolate, and angel gets stabbed in the earhole by a devil.)
That said, I’m all in favor of something that gets people thinking about how they can be a force for good in the world, and if Giving Tuesday is the mechanism that makes that happen, then I’ll, um, mechanic it up (I have no idea what that means).
For reasons detailed here, I like to donate a portion of the (meager) proceedings from my books to worthy causes. In the case of The Camelot Shadow and The Strange Task Before Me: Being an Excerpt from the Journal of William J. Upton, it’s Surgicorps.org (for reasons described in the link above), and in the case of The Chronicle of Heloise & Grimple, it’s ProLiteracy (for reasons that should be obvious to anyone on Goodreads).
HELP ME GIVE MORE!
In an effort to augment my usual annual donation to those groups and the book proceeds, I’m going to donate an extra dollar to each cause for every copy of my books sold between now and Friday. Is that going to enable both organizations to completely fulfill their missions and close up shop? Of course not. But, maybe we can throw a little extra good their way and, in the process, provide essential medical care to those in need and help some people learn to read (and gain all of the power (and great responsibility) that knowing how to do that entails).
If you want to participate, just pick up a copy of one of the books (or multiples—they make great gifts) and let me know that you made a purchase, either in the comments below or by messaging me directly; I’ll make the donation on Saturday.
Regardless of what causes you support and how you do that (sometimes money is tight, but time, old clothes, food, and other commodities can always help), thanks to all of my GR peeps for being rays of light in an increasingly dark world.
Happy Holidays to all!
I feel about Giving Tuesday a little bit like how I feel about Valentine’s Day: you shouldn’t have to pick a day to help other people, just as you shouldn’t have to pick a day to say I love you and be nice to your significant other, because the implication is that it’s okay to NOT do those things the rest of the year. (On the plus side, Giving Tuesday doesn’t involve the giving or receiving of bad chocolate—that’s what kills me most about Valentine’s Day; the chocolate is terrible, and every time you eat bad chocolate, and angel gets stabbed in the earhole by a devil.)
That said, I’m all in favor of something that gets people thinking about how they can be a force for good in the world, and if Giving Tuesday is the mechanism that makes that happen, then I’ll, um, mechanic it up (I have no idea what that means).
For reasons detailed here, I like to donate a portion of the (meager) proceedings from my books to worthy causes. In the case of The Camelot Shadow and The Strange Task Before Me: Being an Excerpt from the Journal of William J. Upton, it’s Surgicorps.org (for reasons described in the link above), and in the case of The Chronicle of Heloise & Grimple, it’s ProLiteracy (for reasons that should be obvious to anyone on Goodreads).
HELP ME GIVE MORE!
In an effort to augment my usual annual donation to those groups and the book proceeds, I’m going to donate an extra dollar to each cause for every copy of my books sold between now and Friday. Is that going to enable both organizations to completely fulfill their missions and close up shop? Of course not. But, maybe we can throw a little extra good their way and, in the process, provide essential medical care to those in need and help some people learn to read (and gain all of the power (and great responsibility) that knowing how to do that entails).
If you want to participate, just pick up a copy of one of the books (or multiples—they make great gifts) and let me know that you made a purchase, either in the comments below or by messaging me directly; I’ll make the donation on Saturday.
Regardless of what causes you support and how you do that (sometimes money is tight, but time, old clothes, food, and other commodities can always help), thanks to all of my GR peeps for being rays of light in an increasingly dark world.
Happy Holidays to all!
