Ferris Ziadie, Chairman of the Jamaica Red Cross, speaking at last Friday's fund-raising dinner of the Red Cross' Kingston and St. Andrew branch at the Hilton Hotel, New Kingston. - Contributed Photo The following is an excerpt of a speech by Ferris Ziadie, Chairman of the Jamaica Red Cross at the organisation's fund-raising event last Friday at the Hilton Kingston Hotel, New Kingston.
WE LIVE in a world where people are increasingly becoming victims of poverty, victims of natural disaster, and victims of injustice.
When we look in our own society, every day we see children on the streets begging; we see homeless people sleeping on the roadside. People continue to live below the standard of human dignity. But how can we as a society respond to this? Do we assume an attitude of that's not my problem, let someone else take care of it?
Not if we want to leave a better Jamaica for our children and grandchildren.
WARNING SIGNS
I firmly believe that if we continue to ignore these warning signs, it will be to our own peril. We will continue to be prisoners in our own homes.
Yes, the task is great, there's no easy way out; but the Chinese have a saying that if you want to move a mountain, you begin by removing one stone at a time. We need to be that 'one stone'.
Each one of us needs to embrace the idea of giving back just a little to help those less fortunate than ourselves. And the good thing is, we don't all have to start out by building children's homes or even go campaigning for social change.
Those are important but sometimes it's the little things that matter, the gentle words of encouragement, taking time out to mentor a child. Just one act of kindness, every day.
The Red Cross is an organisation that recognises the power of humanity. It operates in 178 countries around the world. Here is an organisation which pledges to prevent and alleviate human suffering with complete impartiality; without distinction based on race, nationality, class, religion or political ideology. How noble an idea!
Tonight's dinner, thanks to your support and the generosity of our kind sponsors and donors, will raise much needed funds to enable us to respond quickly and effectively when we are called upon to feed, to clothe, to comfort and to restore.
SLATE OF ACTIVITIES
For next year, we are planning a full slate of activities to raise funds to bolster our disaster, relief and humanitarian fund. Ladies and gentlemen, whether you make donations, purchase tickets, place ads in our newspaper supplements or simply come along to support functions like these your contributions will be well appreciated.
Don't be like the well-intentioned philanthropist who couldn't decide whether to save the whale, save the world or save the children and ended up instead saving his money!
Life is such that we work to secure a future for our children and grandchildren and our retirement, we should also consider giving back to this world a little bit in making it a better place than how we found it.
