Ive been silent for too long. You may be laughing at this, thinking that youve been waiting so long for me to be quiet, but what I mean is that for a long time now Ive made a conscious effort to silence my beliefs and to try to be less arrogant and to be less preachy, but I feel that my self-imposed silence in espousing my beliefs have led me to be less of the person whom I want to be. I have started a company, I have taken a years sabbatical and I have recently gotten a divorce. Why have I done all of these things? Because I feel that there is hope in the future and in our ability to work together, hand in hand, to bring about a better world. It is so easy to talk yourself out of these beliefs, so easy to look at the dark side of things, whether that be in the political arena, personal relationships or the power that greed has over our daily lives. But while Ive been waivering of late in my naivete and my consistent belief that good will triumph over evil, that those who passively resist will overcome those who are aggressive and the fact that true love will never die, I still believe. I refuse to let go of my hope in a world where people who do good, will somehow be karmically rewarded and people who wish others ill will will be punished. We are all in this thing together and until we start working together, we will never get back to that wonderful place when we were young where it didnt matter what a person looked like, or what color their skin was or what religion they were, just whether or not they were nice. While we may not get back to that point, that is the point to which I aspire to. I have been posting on this site (as well as many others which you are probably thankfully not tuned in to about my company Babysitting Barter and I think it is time (inspired by the talk below) that I outlined the why of the service because, I tend to focus on what we do. Why did I put together Babysitting Barter? Because I love my kids and I love my friends. I loved and continue to love my ex-wife and I wanted to spend quality time with her. Why did I create Babysitting Barter? Because I wanted to set up a service where people could easily and inexpensively nurture the relationships that matter most to them. By offering a crunchy cooperative vibe, friends could help each other when they need a break from their kids. I love my three boys more than I could ever love anything in the world, but there is always time where you need to go out with your spouse, your friends or just by yourself to get some chill time. Why did I set up Babysitting Barter? To share the wealth. Ive always been a communist at heart and thought that a couple of horribly repressive regimes shouldnt mean that sharing responsibility and equality of outcome for certain things should not be thrown out as decent ideas just because a few Communist regimes got it completely wrong. The same is true for all of the hundreds of failed democratic regimes. My core says that parents should be able to afford decent childcare, feel comfortable with their caregivers and be able to share those who care for their children best with others. That is why weve set up the Trustworthy Ties program which allows people too connect to their friends paid babysitters. Another reason that Babysitting Barter was set up was to help people in need. We believe that every mother loves their children the same, regardless of economic well being, ethnicity, or religion. Lets face it. One thing we can agree on is that we all love our kids. Imagine, having to choose between a food for your children and a safe childcare facility for them. Many face this dilemma due to the ridiculously expensive nature of childcare. For many, it does not pay to get a second job because it would cost more in childcare. I feel this is wrong and in the spirit of Pay It Forward and Kiva.org, we have a program called Build A Better World where our users can offer donations to women in need of assistance for childcare. This is the world I want to create because I think it is a just one. Are we going to achieve our goals with BabysittingBarter, I dont know. But that is why the site has been built: to help parents care for themselves and care for their children, the most precious resource in all of our worlds. Im not sure where this years sabbatical is going to take me and whether or not BabysittingBarter will get off the ground or find investors, but that is the reason Ive been trying to build it up. If it fails, I will move onto something else that I think can make the world a better place because the bottom line is that no matter how alone or isolated we may feel, no matter how many things can go wrong, no matter how heavy the weight we may feel on our shoulders, we are all in this thing we call life together and weve got to lend a helping hand whenever we can. Sorry for the rant. Peace, Brian
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 02:35:54 +0000