How much do you have to do?

9. You are not responsible for the rest of the world. I sponsor two children, one in the United States and one in Indonesia. I do it because it doesn’t cost very much and because maybe it will help them somehow. I also recycle and give money to the Friends Committee to Abolish the Death Penalty. But that’s about it. I used to want to join every group that worked for something I believe in. But then reading all those mailings and trying to divvy up my annual contributions budget between 327 different organizations just got to be too much. So I picked a couple I think work and I stick with them. You can’t save everything or everyone. All you can do is your little bit. Someone else can worry about the whales. I’ve got Indonesia covered.

Michael Thomas Ford, “Scraps,” in James L. Harmon, ed., Take My Advice: Letters to the Next Generation from People Who Know a Thing or Two 79, 82 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002).

Take the dog out

3. There is nothing so pressing that you can’t take the dog for a walk. I have a Labrador who likes to go for walks. Lots of walks. I have lived with him for eight years, which means that at four outings a day I have been on approximately 11,680 walks. I don’t always feel like taking Roger on walks. Sometimes I even try explaining to him that I’m far too busy with deadlines to go anywhere. But inevitably he doesn’t listen, and whines until I am forced to abandon what I’m doing so that he can drag me down the street to the park. When I do, and I see how happy it makes him, I feel better myself and I find that my writing is much more enjoyable when I go back to it. So take your dog out a lot. If you don’t have a dog, I feel sorry for you. Everyone should have a dog.

Michael Thomas Ford, “Scraps,” in James L. Harmon, ed., Take My Advice: Letters to the Next Generation from People Who Know a Thing or Two 79, 81 (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002).