On my morning of my birthday I was walking to work, listening to the Vinyl Cafe podcast, and it was so touching and heartwarming I almost cried.
Stuart McLean was handing out the annual Arthur Awards, which go to people who have made a difference. It doesn’t have to be a big profound thing they’ve done; it can be a small seemingly unimportant thing that affects only one other person.
Or, in this case, one little homeless paralyzed bunny.
It’s true. Andy Blau, a volunteer with the Toronto Humane Society, wanted to do something to make Blueberry the Bunny’s wretched little life better. Poor Blueberry had rear-leg paralysis. She just sat in her cage, and if she fell over she had to wait for someone to set her upright again. She loved attention and affection, but her world was very limited. Her prospects for adoption didn’t look so hot either, because there’s not much of a market for paralyzed bunnies.
So Andy built Blueberry a wheelchair. When she’s strapped into it, she can use her front legs to wheel herself around. Look.
Andy’s best friend – who nominated him for the Arthur Award – said: “There are lots of problems in this world, and chances are hardly anybody cares about one paralyzed rabbit in an animal shelter filled with needy animals. It’s a tiny problem in a big world.”
And here are some snippets of what Andy said when Stuart McLean phoned him and conducted an impromptu on-air interview:
Stuart: “Why did you do it?”
Andy: “… The world is a complicated, complicated place. Sometimes it’s hard to tell if you’re doing something good or you’re doing something bad. But I am absolutely certain that in building this wheelchair, I made the world a tiny tiny tiny better place.”
Stuart: “Some people listening today would say that building a wheelchair for a rabbit is not the most important thing a guy could do and he should be helping other people who are in need.”
Andy: “I agree that building a wheelchair for a rabbit maybe isn’t the most important thing to do. I think it’s important just that people do something. I would be absolutely thrilled if everybody did a little something extra for their society. This is where I chose to do it.”
He’s so right. We look at the world’s problems and they’re overwhelming. We feel like there’s nothing we can do because we’re just one little person and the world has so many huge, seemingly insurmountable problems.
So today, in honour of Andy Blau’s heart-warming philosophy of life, I’m issuing the Blueberry Challenge to all of us, myself included. Let’s all try to find one tiny way to make the world a wee bit better this month. Then come back here and tell us about it in the comments. Or write about it on your own blog, and leave a link in the comments. It doesn’t have to be a big thing like building a wheelchair. It can be very, very small. Remember, we don’t have to FIX the world, we just have to find a way to make it a tiny bit better.
(If I read this on someone else’s blog, I think I’d be scared to go first, so I’m hoping one of you is brave enough to leave the first comment.)
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What a heartwarming story, and such a great idea to follow it up. I have no idea what I’m going to do yet, but I will come up with something… promise!
Well, Georgiana, you beat me to it when you said “heartwarming”, that IS the word!
I probably won’t write about the next time I do something to make a difference, but I will be thinking to myself – “This is a Blueberry Moment” and, the next time I am a recipient of a thoughtful gesture / kind act, I will share this delightful Blueberry story.
Look at Blueberry go!
That is the SWEETEST thing in the world. I hope that I can do something so lovely…
It starts with opening my eyes. Thanks for Blueberry’s story.
Just look at Blueberry zoom around!!!
I agree the world was made a better by Andy’s choice to help Blueberry. It created this happy seed of hope in me when I read & saw what he did for Blueberry.
It tells me that someone cared enough to take action and make another living being’s life easier because he thought it was something he could do and he actually made the time to do it.
He didn’t bother with excuses (too busy, too tired, etc…), listen to naysayers (or critics) or just forget about it as something unimportant. He made the cart for Blueberry and can now watch him zipping around.
I’m in for the Blueberry Challenge!
Georgiana – thank you for going first, and also for deciding to take up the Blueberry Challenge.
Sassy, I can understand the reluctance to write about your Blueberry Challenge contribution, and of course I can’t make you do it, but could you at least come back here afterwards and give us a hint?
Robin, I know, he’s like the fastest bunny at the SPCA now. And probably the happiest because he remembers what life used to be like before he got wheels.
Melissa, thank you – I look forward to hearing what you come up with. (And also to hearing what I come up with…)
Mo – excellent, thank you! We’re up to five people participating in the Blueberry Challenge so far!
I wonder if anyone has adopted Blueberry? I sure hope so.
Kudos to Andy, and boo to anyone who says doing a big nothing is better than doing a little something. This story certainly brightened my day!
Sweet! Now I’m going to have to think about the Challenge. It reminds me of random acts of kindness. But the best thing for your karma is when no one knows you did the kind thing. It’s like when I go out and pick up garbage around the hood but then I ruin it by bragging that I did it. Like I said, I’ll have to think on it.
[whsipering voice]
OK I cave, well sort of. I recently took a friends car in for servicing and, to have it winterized. This friend has been out of work for a long time (lots of financial worries and still looking) and was recently in an accident that resulted in two broken arms (yes, that’s correct, both arms).
The arrangements that my friend had made with the service garage were that, I would bring the car in and pick it up and the garage would put the charges in my friends credit card.
On top of all the other car-work, it turned out that a new battery was needed. I had the garage install the new battery and put it on a seperate bill, and not mention it to my friend. I paid for the battery and upon returning the car, just gave my friend the statement for the other work.
The car has been back with my friend for a few days now and so far the new battery has not been discoverd.
I have no plans to every say anything to anyone else about this – it’s just between me and you readers so shhhhhh, please.
Yay Sassy! First of all for secretly helping out your friend, and secondly for going first in the Blueberry Challenge. I think it was very kind of you on both counts.
A most excellent challenge. I will be back!
I just did something that I think would count – I’ve belonged to Amnesty International’s Urgent Action Network for a long time, and today I finally got off my arse and wrote an email about a case for the first time in far too long. One person writing may not seem like much, but as I read recently, “If you think you’re too small to make a difference, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room.”
Good one Georgiana.
p.s. I love the line about the mosquito in the room.
Georgiana, thanks so much for playing the Blueberry Challenge. I read once that each citizen who takes the time to write to a politician about an issue is considered to represent the views of a huge number of people since most people don’t bother. Your small act might have much more impact than you think.
And I just want to say that submitting something to the Blueberry Challenge is in itself a way to make the world a tiny bit better, in my humble opinion. I can’t explain why, but I feel it intuitively. Thank you.
So my neighbor called me earlier this week and asked me to drive her daughter to her horseback-riding class early on Saturday morning. I had a whole line of reasons to say no, and I almost invented an excuse (I treasure my Saturday mornings, and I do I want to spend it standing around in a cold arena??) BUT I agreed to do it. I don’t want to, but I am.
It’s a small thing, a very small thing, but I aspire to have good neighbors, and I want to be one too. And I want to show my kids how to be a good neighbor too.
(I realize, as well, that we don’t call it the Golden rule for nothing. It applies … again and again and again. Do unto others, right?)
My thing for 2008, now that it’s over and I need to choose a new thing, was to help keep the Westboro Beach clean. Every swing through, which was almost daily from March to November, I picked up a minimum of three pieces of garbage from the sand. I tried especially to find glass and bottle tops that might be a danger to bare feet. The side benefit was the slowing down, the really looking at and for something, and meeting some very nice people.