Four Things You Can Do for Paris Besides Pray
I was in the Houston airport last night when I happened to see the news of the Paris terrorist attacks on the news. I’ll spare you my “the world is going to hell in a handbasket” rant. I won’t tell you how things like this chip away at my belief in humanity.
I followed the stories as I flew home… inflight WiFi is such a cool thing, people. I, along with the rest of the world watched as the horrible things unfolding in Paris dominated the news media.
As President Obama declared, “This is an attack not just on Paris, not just on the people of France, but an attack on all humanity and the universal values we share,” people all over the world were glued to their screens, sending messages of support and praying. If I’ve seen the hashtag #PrayForParis once today, I have seen it a hundred times.
But is that really enough? Can’t we do something? Actually, yes we can. Here are four things you can do to help Paris right now:
1. Give money:
I did a quick Google search on what organizations are helping provide various forms of relief in Paris. Here are three and this is by no means all-inclusive… but it’s a start. As the dust settles on this, there are sure to be a lot of groups who will be providing assistance who’d gladly take your donations.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
“Doctors Without Borders”https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/onetime.cfm
As with any donation, don’t be afraid to ask specific questions about how your gift will be used.
2. Help a stranded traveler:
How bad would it suck right now to be a French traveler in the United States? To not know what’s going on back home or to be unable to get there? To not know if your family is safe? If you have extra room in your home, consider helping out a stranded French traveler by using the hashtag #strandedinUS
If you’re in France and are open to giving someone who needs safety and shelter a place to hang out, use the hashtag #PorteOuverte
3. Get the word out:
Providing a room to a total stranger might make you uncomfortable. I get that. It’s a nice thing to do but probably not a fit for every family situation. But, you can still help by sharing these stranded traveler initiatives on social media. You might reach someone who needs a place to stay… or someone who is willing to open their home.
Take a minute and hop on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and shoot these hashtags out there:
#strandedinUS
#PorteOuverte (this means door open, by the way.)
Anyone can do this, people.
You can also share the contact information of the main Paris embassies on your social media feed. If enough people blast this information out, the easier it will make things for the people who need this information.
4. Talk about it
Talk to your kids, your family and the people in your community about what happened. Kids absorb things from the media and from our conversations but it’s up to us as parents to make sure the kids understand and are appropriately processing information. Younger kids may hear you talking about the horror going on in France and worry for their own safety – or yours. Talk. Talk to your friends and the people in your community. Maybe your neighbor knows someone who was in the air and on the way to their Paris vacation when all this broke lose. Ask what you can do to help, and sometimes, helping means just listening.
These little things might seem like a drop in the bucket but these little gestures of kindness and helpfulness add up. They mean something. Although Paris is far away and the media makes it easy for us to keep up with events in real time, it’s natural to have feelings of helplessness. Making a small donation or sending out a tweet doesn’t erase the horrific terrorism but it does make a difference. Kindness is never wrong, people. A good deed can go a long way to counter-balance the ugly that happened yesterday. It doesn’t take it away but just maybe, our small acts of kindness can send the message that humanity is fighting back.
If you’re a praying person, by all means #PrayForParis. Get that out there. Even if you’re not a praying person… you just never know what the power of prayer can do. But I challenge you to do more than that. Help someone out. Do something. If enough people rally and send messages of hope and help… well, I think that sends a strong message about humanity. And, when things like this happen, sometimes our humanity is all that we have to hold on to.
Jill Robbins writes about adoption, motherhood and midlife on her blog, Ripped Jeans & Bifocals. She has a degree in social psychology that she uses to try and make sense out of the behavior of her husband and three children but it hasn’t really helped so far. She enjoys dry humor and has a love/hate relationship with running. Her work has been featured on Babble, Scary Mommy, In the Powder Room, and Blunt Moms. You can also find her in the December print issue of Mamalode. She willingly answers any questions that end with “and would you like wine with that?” You can follow Jill on Facebook and Twitter.
