There are a lot of deserving causes out there: diseases, disasters, education, poverty, hunger, saving the environment, and hundreds of other things that I can’t think of right now. With all these causes, with all these important things that need to be done, it’s easy to fall into a position of inactivity. As heartless as this sounds, the truth is that once a thousand people have asked you for money, it’s very easy to not even hear the one thousand and oneth.

Several weeks ago, my oldest son (who is 11-years old), came home from school and asked about starting a Relay for Life Team.

Embarrassingly enough, I hesitated. Both my wife and I work, and our kids are extremely active with school, sports, rock climbing, and playing musical instruments. With all this going on, my first reaction was to think about how little spare time we have.

“Why not?” he asked.

“Well…” my brain cycled through all the reasons why we shouldn’t get involved. They were good reasons, thoughts of practicality and pragmatism and all the things that, as adults, we have to consider.

That’s when I realized that my best reasons for not getting involved didn’t hold a candle to even one of the reasons why we should get involved. I mean, it wasn’t even close.

We called our neighbors. Unlike me, they immediately jumped on board. We held our first meeting the other day, and The Creek Eagles were formed.

How about you? If you’re local, why not join us at the relay? We’ll be walking and partying and remembering and, most importantly, raising money to fight a disease has affected all of us.

If you’re not local, well, keep my experience in mind. It’s so easy to spend a life on the sidelines, to tune out all the noise and need and just do what you do. The next time something comes up, though, stop a moment and think about what the 11-year old you would do. Would he or she ask you “why not?”

What would you say?

Want to comment? Hit me up on Threads or Facebook!