Afford Anything - There Are More Heroes Than Villains

Episode Date: October 3, 2017

There are more heroes than villains in this world. We have seen a tremendous outpouring of love and support today. Please support the cause that's calling you, whether it's supporting the victims of the Las Vegas shootings, or disaster relief in Puerto Rico, or ongoing humanitarian crises that don't make headlines. Please support the victims of the Las Vegas massacre at https://www.gofundme.com/dr2ks2-las-vegas-victims-fund Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, this is Paula. This is not an episode. This is just a note that I wanted to share with my community. As many of you know, I live in Las Vegas. And Las Vegas, unfortunately, has gone through a very tragic moment. It's hard to describe it in words. I, Mandalay Bay, where the shooting took place, is eight miles from where I live. I mean, it's down the street. And when something like this happens this close to home, it's a little bit surreal. And it's a little bit surreal. And, And I cannot imagine what the friends and family of all of the victims are going through right now and my heart really goes out to them. But I did want to share this message with you for one very, very important reason. Two really important reasons. First of all, within all of this tragedy, there is something that I want to communicate. And that is that the size of the love that has come out, the outpouring of support and generosity and care. hair that has come from, everyone is so much bigger than the negative. It's so much bigger than the one deranged lunatic. And I know it's so easy to focus on the evil that has happened.

But let's not forget. In fact, let's celebrate all of the people, all of the love, all of the support. This morning, starting at four in the morning, there were people lined up to don't I'm giving a speech at a conference in a couple of weeks, and I hired a public speaking coach to help me, and we meet typically every Monday at 11 a.m. She sent me a text message at 7 in the morning saying, hey, meetings canceled. I'm going to donate blood. And as soon as I woke up and saw it, I called her right away, and I was like, where are you? I'm coming. And she told me, she was like, don't do it right now. The line is so backed up currently. It's a six-hour. wait in line just to get checked in, at which point they give you a number, send you home, and then tell you when to come back. That is how many people in Las Vegas showed up early in the morning, Monday morning to donate blood. And I tell that example because it is such a perfect example of how many people care and how many people are heroes within this story. There are so many more heroes than villains. Uber is giving free rides to people who need to go to the

hospital or who want to go to a family reunification center or who want to go donate blood. I know multiple airlines are waiving their change fees for flights coming to and out of to and from Las Vegas. And I've heard of one that is even flying families of victims to Las Vegas for free, waving the ticket fee up. There's a crisis response page on Facebook that's super active. I've been checking it all day and people are constantly just normal everyday people are saying, hey, who needs a ride, who needs food, who needs water, food and water. You know those long lines of people who are waiting in line to donate blood? Well, there's a secondary outpouring of volunteers, the support staff, so to speak, just volunteers who are coming down to those lines

to drop off water and snacks and shade so that the people who are waiting in line to donate blood can have some food while they're waiting. I mean, that is the level. of support. Those are the heroes that we are seeing here in Vegas today. And I do not want the story of the heroes to get lost because this is what makes our community strong. Las Vegas is a town. I really, I call it a town because we have 2 million people and 40 million visitors per year. So for everyone, the local resident, there are 20 visitors in a year. So the experience of being a Vegas local. It unites us. We are, we are Vegas. And then when I think more broadly about all of the tragedies that have been happening about Orlando and Aurora and, and I'm not just talking about

gun violence either. I mean, all of the tragedies, Puerto Rico, the hurricane, I mean, natural disasters, there are so much going on. And in every one of these stories, the common thread is that there are so much more good than there is bad. So that was the first thing that I wanted to say. And then the second thing which closely follows on the heels is please, please, be a part of that good. There's a page on gofundme.com that is raising money for the victims families, the victims of the shooting in Las Vegas. That page, as of noon on Monday, has raised more than $800,000 so far. Goal is $2 million. Please head to the GoFundMe page and give whatever you can $5, $10, $1, get anything that you can to the victims of this shooting in Las Vegas. We will be linking to

that page in the show notes and on the blog and in social media. I'll be linking everywhere to the GoFundMe page. I'm giving money. I urge you to do the same. And if you live, especially if you live in the western U.S. in any of the neighboring states, please make an appointment to donate blood. Even though we do have hundreds and hundreds of people lining up here in Vegas, we will need more and blood will be sent in from other centers around the country. So please, particularly if you have O-negative blood and or particularly if you live in a neighboring state, please donate blood. Finally, the last thing that I want to say is that there are, unfortunately, there are tragedies like this everywhere. People in Puerto Rico are dying. And while these disasters

make headlines and they grab our attention, let's also not forget about the ongoing humanitarian disasters that are unfortunately part of everyday life. We live in a world where one in nine people lack access to safe drinking water and one in three people. And one in three people, lack access to improved sanitation, to a toilet. Worldwide, among children under the age of five who pass away, 20% of those deaths, 20% of the deaths of kids under the age of five is due to a water-related disease, something that we don't even think about

because we can turn a tap and have clean drinking water come out of it. So please, give to any cause that speaks to you If helping the victims in Las Vegas is the thing that is calling you right now, do that. If it's Puerto Rico, if it's natural disasters, if it's helping the people in Nepal who suffered the earthquake in 2014 and who are still trying to rebuild, even though their story is no longer in the headlines, whatever the cause is that speaks to you, please give to that. And that includes all of these causes that just that don't make headlines because they are just. as important. We can build a world where everyone has access to clean drinking water and to food and to toilets. We can have that world because there are more heroes in this world than there are villains. By a huge margin, there are many, many more heroes than villains. So please

find what calls to you and do that. Thank you.