Minnow of the Week - "Make a Difference"

What's up Steemians?

Welcome to this egotistical post that you're about to read, so brace yourself. I was browsing Steemit the other day, and I saw this #minnowoftheweek challenge by @runicar, and decided to make my own post about it. You should join too. 🤗

INTRODUCE YOURSELF

I am trying to live my life to the fullest. I want to make a difference in other people's lives. I am currently serving as a public health nurse in one of the towns here in the Philippines. I've always wanted to work in Non-Government Organizations, but these are one of the ironies of life. Working in the government has a lot of dramas. Its not the best place to be, but I think I'm here for a reason. Given a chance, I'd love to work in Africa or be a part of Emergency Response Team, where we will be deployed in areas devastated by disasters.

I'm turning 27 his year, and I feel so old. I think my time is running out. 😅 So, I'm taking my time to explore this world, before I head to the other side.

I don't conform to the standards of society. I respect people's views, and make them feel that though they won't agree with me always, they have to respect my views as well. I am very independent. I'm a Taurus, and I think that's fairly obvious why I'm very stubborn. I am a private person, and I love having my me time.

I sleep a lot. And I can sleep anywhere, anytime under any circumstances. 😅

I don't sing nor dance. I'm not into arts. I didn't do well in academics when I was still a student, and I didn't excel in any kind of sports. I'm not so good with words. I'd usually stutter when I speak. I'm short and not exceptionally beautiful. I can't eat fire nor do magic tricks. I'm just the average girl. There's nothing extraordinary about being me.

I think I'm not sent on Earth, to entertain people with my talent, be a champion in sports and earn gold medals, win a crown in beauty pageants or discover the cure of cancer. Somebody else is tasked to do it.

But..

I'm here because I'm on a mission, and I think that's to become a... whale! Hahaha 😂

Kidding aside, I think I'm sent here to serve others. =)

When we had our capping ceremony, I couldn't forget what the priest shared during the homily.

*A mother was telling her child that she should study well so she can graduate and get a good job. With that, she can build a beautiful house, get herself a nice car, and buy all the things she wants.

Then the priest said, why are we telling our children these things? Instead, why don't we tell them that - if you graduate and get a good job, you'll earn money, in that way, you'll get to help a lot of people.*

Have you watched the comedy film Evan Almighty? Yes it was meant to make us laugh, but that movie left me with a good point to remember.

There was this scene where Evan was asking god (Morgan Freeman) on how he can change the world? Then god went to the dog nearby, gave him water, and said: "One act of random kindness, at a time."

We're not superman, and we can't save the entire world with our superpowers.

Everybody, is running contests here in Steemit, some are rewarding good artworks or good blog posts, but if I'll have the fund to run my own, I want to reward people for their good deeds.

Because, I think good deeds has becoming undervalued these days. People are desperate, they feel like they needed to be on top or do things that will benefit them the most.

Some people with good hearts, tend to become overpowered by desperation as well because they too need to survive. With that, they set aside their principles, shrug it off, because everybody else is doing it anyway.

I want people to make a stand. To do what is right, all the time, even if it takes people getting mad at you, even it means you're fighting for it all by yourself. Because that is courage, which is very rare nowadays.

I'd like to share to you this story not to brag about what I did, but for you to remember it, everytime you're in a situation where you can choose between walking away and helping, I hope you choose to help.. every time.

It was one morning, I just arrived in the office, I turned the computer on because I have set my mind to make my reports that day. As I was about to start, one of my workmates came and told me that there's a vehicular accident and an ambulance is needed. Honestly, I was really lazy to get up, but someone needs our help. I called the ambulance driver, and asked one colleague to get the first aid kit and come with me.

When we arrived at the area, there was this old man lying on the side of the road. He wasn't bloody but he wasn't moving and unconconscious. I saw a black bag nearby that contains some pieces of clothes and a blanket, it was all wet. There's pack of bread beside him as well, it could've been his food. We approached the old man, and noticed that he is pale, smells like poop, and his clothes are wet. The incident must have happened late last night or early morning. We checked for responsiveness. Then he moved a bit. He is still alive. We assessed and prepared him for immediate transfer to the nearest hospital.

This wasn't a vehicular accident, I think he was a homeless man, whose possibly a victim of hit-and-run. Aside from small abrasions on his arms, and a small lacerated wound on his upper lip, we didn't noticed any other injuries.

We arrived at the hospital and endorsed the patient to the ER staff. While doing their initial assessment, we stayed outside to grab some air. After chilling a bit, I went back inside to get the spine board, the doctor called my attention, and suggested that the patient be referred to a higher facility. And I was a bit confused. So I politely asked the doctor why.

And she said the patient couldn't be admitted because he has no S.O. who will take care of him, the patient couldn't even talk, and his identity is still unknown. And one of the staff said that the patient couldn't stay in the ER, because he is smelly, and the other patients might be arriving soon.

As I was listening to them, I think I was like a volcano, whose going to erupt any time. I paused and tried to stay relaxed. And then I said in a calm and polite voice, not wanting to offend anybody in that room, that we already transferred the patient in their hospital, so (following the rules of Service Delivery Network) if they want to refer the patient, they should be the one facilitating the transfer. I didn't want to sound arrogant, but I think everybody was shock with what I said, that they became so quiet, and the doctor responded with a very short. "I know.", and then there was silence again.

So I continued talking, and explained nicely, that if they would allow the patient to stay in the ER, as soon as he recovered, I will find a way to contact his relatives and I will arrange the transfer of the patient.

They agreed.

I was so grateful to RC (my colleague) who was still in the hospital that time. I asked him to stay with the patient, and I didn't even see a slight disagreement on his face. He took care of the patient, gave him sponge bath, cleaned his wounds, while I went to the market to buy some food and clothes for the patient.

It was that time when I got so thankful that I have money in my wallet. I'm so thankful that I have a job that pays me more than what I need, and that I get to help others faster that I don't have to depend on the financial assistance which will take years to arrive. Oopss. Haha. 🤗

When I got back at the hospital, RC and I changed the patient's clothes. Again, I was so thankful he was there, if it was only me, it'll be a lot harder since the patient was a tall guy, he was kinda heavy, old and he can't barely move.

So the old man pooped on his pants, and that explains the smell. After changing his clothes, we slowly gave him food. After he finished eating, we sat on the chair nearby, looking at him as he is warm, not hungry and peacefully asleep.

I talked to the police ealier, and he identified that the man lives in a town 30minutes away, and one of the DSWD staff know his relatives because she has once transferred this old man back to their house before. So I called the staff, and she confirmed that she knows this man, and that she will accompany us in transferring the patient. I called the ambulance driver, and told him to fetch us at the hospital.

After less than an hour trip, we finally arrived at the barangay where the patient lives. The son of our driver who is an army was with us that time.

He helped in carrying the patient to his house. I admire his willingness to help, and that he was the one who voluntarily said that they can just carry the patient because the house is in the center of a rice field and there was no way the ambulance can get there.

I talked to the Sister of the old man, and she said that his brother might have been going back to our town because that's where his wife was buried.

May this story encouraged us to make a difference in our little ways. I know we get lazy sometimes, or we have other reasons for not extending our help when someone is in need.

But think of this, what if you were the son or daughter of that old man, and nobody tried to help, what would you feel? What if it was you who needed help, and nobody cared. Always, try to put yourself on their shoes, I think it will become easier.

There are two kinds of people in the world, those who genuinely help others and those people who are like this:

I couldn't find the exact artwork on the internet, so I made my own, and I hope the message was clear despite the drawing. Hahaha.

STEEMIT JOURNEY

Steemit is such a big blessing to me, and I believe many would agree with this. I am seeing the potential of this platform to liberate me from the slavery of being an employee.

With this, I'd get to earn from doing the things that I want. On a bigger note, I'm seeing this as an opportunity to help many many people. In my 100days here in Steemit, I have tried cashing out once just to prove and have my own testimony that we can really earn from just posting and commenting.

I have used my other earnings to build my account, because a bigger Steem Power means more people can benefit from me.

Here in our town, youth's will find a job after highschool because their parents could no longer finance their college. The tuition fee per semester of the university here in our town would only cost around 20SBD (5SBD/1USD). Its hard to get that 100USD for them, but that's just one post here in Steemit, and it could mean totally changing their entire future.

The system is still not known here, especially that the town is a bit tradtional and I'd probably be accused of being a scammer if I talk about this infront of many people. Haha. So I'm spreading the word, one student a time. I'm planning to educate them on how they can utilize this amazing community to finance their studies.

If the government bans Steemit, I will fuckin kill them all. Hahaha. Do not take away this one sure ticket that will help people out of poverty.

Being at 54 makes it harder to earn, because curators prioritized newer members and that is a good thing. We need to encourage newbies to stay in the platform. If I am a curator, I'd do the same. I'd probably help someone until that person can finally survive on his own, and find other minnows to support. And I hope those that I supported, will support newer minnows as well, and the cycle continues. That way, nobody will be left behind.

When I get enough money, I'll start an internet café that will be free of use to those who will sign up in Steemit until they can buy themselves their own laptop/internet. (Dream big! Hehe)

For now that I still don't get that much power, I'll concentrate on building my account. I'm planning to look for delegations that I can afford, try bid bots (that follow the rules), join contests, interact more, and try my best to produce quality blogs despite the hardships in writing using the English language. Hahaha 😂

My biggest achievement so far is @mermaidvampire. I've read her post about her first payout in Steemit and it melted my heart, not only because she has a gift with words that they can really pierce through your heart everytime, but also I am happy that she finally did experience herself what Steemit can offer.

I hope she gets the Kidney transplant soon, and with Steemit, I know its now possible.

By the way, me and @mermaidvampire met at a hostel last month when we were both stranded because of Typhoon Urduja. I was really inspired by just listening to her, and I want her to inspire a lot of people, that's why I told her that maybe she should check out Steemit because I know she could write really well. I was right!

Here she is now, inspiring other Steemians too. If you are reading this and you have't checked her account yet, I would suggest you visit it now, its totally gonna be worth your time. I promise you.

If she would write a book, I'd surely get copy even though I'm not a really a book lover.

If I die, I'd like to donate my organs.

Life is too short, so I hope you live it well that when its time for you to go, you won't be needing to ask for more time.

It might be one comment to brighten someone's day. It could be a very warm welcome message to a new member. You may answer someone's question regarding Steemit. Or thanking someone who tried to help. Upvoting a post even if your voting worth is only $0.01, because that $0.01 could mean a lot to that person. It means someone read the post. It means someone appreciates the post. Someone has seen the post and she is not alone in this community.

I would remember getting $0.00 on my posts before, and I would somehow feel sad that nobody noticed it. But I'd feel so excited everytime my post would get $0.01, it means someone liked it.

When my voting worth is still at $0.00, my goal was really to make it $0.01, because I get so happy everytime I see a $0.00 post turns to $0.01. I feel like I have superpowers! Hahaha.

One thing that made me loved Steemit, is on how the community welcomes even those that are not really good in English. When you're in blogging, and you have a crappy English, its impossible to get people to read your blogs. But in Steemit, "Flaws are allowed." (-@surpassinggoogle).

Nobody cares about the grammar, how you write well, how good you are in vocabularies, you just have to write and people will read it, they will upvote it, and they will leave nice comments.

You'll get to interact with people of different races. You get to know them more by reading their introductory post. You get to see different places through their photos. And you see people who encouraged one another.

The list goes on, and I don't really see any reason why people won't be here. There's just so many things to love about this platform.

Okay this makes me so excited! Haha!

As I was writing this blog, I decided to start my first ever contest here in Steemit. I will be rewarding 10 people who will share in the comment section below one good deed.

I doesn't have to be saving a building from fire, or giving a homeless man one million dollars.

It could be inspiring words that you said, or doing your workmates a favor, fixing the computer of a friend for free, encouraging your student, giving your client a smooth transaction, driving your kids to school, taking good care of your baby, being nice to your colleagues, saying sorry to someone you hurt, politely answering the question of a stranger, upvoting a $0.00 post, motivating those who are starting to get hopeless, writing nice comments to a blog, or running a contest for Steemians.

It could be anything, no minimum words or other rules required, I just want to know what you did. Contest will run until post payout.

I am very much excited to read your good deeds! Enjoy your Saturday everyone! 🤗💚