Be The Good

Sarah Jarman - 7 Jan 20

Be the good

2020 dawned with enthusiasm and new-found optimism that this year, this new decade, really could be better. Then reality kicked in, Australia is burning, the media reports that billions of animals have been killed. Trump is up to his usual antics and, try as we might, Brexit has not gone away. A week in and the weather is pants, the world is a mess and, let’s be honest, everyone partaking in ‘Dry January’ is having serious regrets right now. How is this decade going to be any better than the last? I am naturally an optimist, but even I struggle sometimes.

Therefore, this year I am taking a very small step back, so as to not look at the world as a whole but, instead, to look at the good that is being done right under my nose. Two months ago, I wrote a blog which was, unashamedly, a massive cry for help from a small community. Anna Drysdale, my daughter’s eight-year-old friend, was fighting, is fighting, Osteosarcoma, a rare form of cancer, and needed £460,000 for ground-breaking immunotherapy treatment in New York. The sheer scale of the money sent me into an internal panic every time I saw the figure. How were we, a tiny town in the Cotswolds, going to possibly raise enough money to even begin the treatment, let alone see it through to the end. We had big plans to try and get Anna’s story to go viral. We hounded the press, we stalked celebrities on social media (even being banned from contacting people once or twice), but it turns out, a tight knit community is all you really need.

Last month, through sheer determination, will power and generosity ‘Team Anna’ reached a very important milestone which has enabled Anna to fly to New York and begin the preliminary scans and tests, with treatment starting as soon as possible. Not a single person buried their head, or ignored the situation, everyone did, or gave, what they could to get this little girl well. I have watched, with tears in my eyes, the smallest children donate their birthday money, the largest estates launch ‘A pound for Anna’ during their busy Christmas season, amazing local celebrities pull together their friends in the hope of gaining as much publicity as possible, and strangers, touched by the community, donating anonymously. It worked, we got Anna to New York. The fundraising goes on and the community will not give up yet. We will keep on raising money until Anna is well, gathering what we can for every medical expense or accommodation cost, Anna, we are here for you.

This tiny, tight knit community has shown me that people really can change the world. If we can raise a seemingly impossible amount, to save a little girl’s life, just think what all the communities out there can do. The Earth, as a whole, seems like a scary place, with a million impossible tasks, but if we collaborate, we can bring about the changes ourselves. This year work together; plant a tree each, create a communal garden, grow fresh vegetables instead of buying them wrapped in plastic, swap clothes, instead of buying new. We all want to save the world, but we all think in the same way, what can I do? Surely one person can’t do all that? Perhaps not, but each of those individuals, when working together, can create a truly unstoppable force that can do anything they put their minds to. Let 2020 be the year that we stop relying on someone else to sort it out and instead, be the good, because, together, we are incredible, and we can be the superheroes the world needs.

Sarah Jarman

Primarily a Mum, aspiring Author, Freelance Writer and Artist, Blogger, Foodie and Jewellery Designer just having fun doing all the things I love! My portfolio available to view over on my website www.saspsdesigns.com

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