Beyond FULL: TWO Awards from Sherry at Sage and Thyme

And I thought I’d get a few gifts NEXT week! I failed to follow up on a note Sherry at Sage and Thyme sent me a few days ago about a Be The Blog award and didn’t realize how much she’d complimented me in her December 17 post. Just reading what she wrote about my writing and about BEYOND Understanding was enough to send me to my room to cry my eyes out. Then she followed up with the inspiring Citizen of the World award, which she also gave to three of my favorite bloggers, Carleen, Olufunke, and Tara. Sherry, I’m so honored that you think so highly of my work!

What goes around truly comes around, and I’m pleased to award a Citizen of the World award to Lisa at Eudaemonia. I’d hoped to post a discussion of Lisa’s recent knock-out discussion of juveniles in American prisons; this gives me a terrific opportunity to simply point folks in her direction, with a link to her December 14 post, When Kids Get Life.

“In our country,” Lisa wrote, “there are over 2,200 juveniles who are in adult prisons serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. In the rest of the world, there are a total of twelve.”

This is a cause that impacts so many lives and yet exists under our radar due to the fact that the kids who most need our help and support have made crucial mistakes that completely derailed adolescence for them. The truth is, so many of these kids experienced extreme forms of abuse throughout their childhoods and deserve a second chance. Some laws are changing but life without parole remains reality for most of these victims of the U.S. penal system (many of whom have grown to be young men), and Lisa has set out to help spread awareness not only among the general public but among the powers that be about this issue. Kudos, Lisa, and best wishes for much luck with your work in this field. Your posts have always been thoughtful and inspiring, but this one touched such a nerve with so many of your readers. I completely agree with the one comment stating that you’ve obviously found a cause you care deeply about. Please keep us posted on any new developments and continue to remind us how we can help!

Another blogger who’s a citizen if I’ve ever met one (!) is Britt Bravo at Have Fun * Do Good. Read her recent post on the fascinating, life-altering Women for Women organization and you’ll see what I mean. I’m so inspired by Britt’s devotion and determination not only to spread the word about worthy organizations but to help other organizers do their jobs well. No wonder Have Fun * Do Good was just named a top social entrepreneurship blog. Congratulations, Britt!

Another nominee for the Citizen of the World award goes to Matt at Empathy. Matt has a soft spot not only for the wonderful Unicef organization, but for people who make a real difference every day in the U.S. and abroad. Thanks to his upbeat attitude and bright voice, I never tire of visiting his blog to see what’s up from an enlightened New Jersey perspective.

I just realized all the wonderful bloggers mentioned in this post are located so far from each other (NJ, CA, CO, and Sherry in the wilds of Canada, lol!) and yet share the desire to help others that unifies so many folks in the blogosphere, regardless of where they live, work, and write (and write, and write!). I love you guys!