Five Things You Can Do to Make the World a Better Place in 2007

Volunteer your time.

No matter what the size of the town or city you live in is, there are always organizations and charities that need people to help, in one capacity or another.

While it's wonderful that folks want to help during the holidays, many of us forget that there are hurting individuals all year 'round. Once Thanksgiving or Christmas or Easter passes by, donations dwindle down and volunteers decrease.

If you are physically capable of giving some of your free time to a volunteer organization, please consider dedicating a couple of hours a week or every other week to charities, etc., who could really use your assistance.

One doesn't have to necessarily be an expert, just be willing to help.

If you don't know just what is available in terms of volunteer opportunities in your area, try visiting the Volunteer Match website at http://www.volunteermatch.org/ to find listings of organizations who have particular needs at this time.

Commit random acts of kindness.

A lot of people seem to believe that we've morphed into such a self-centered, uncaring society that we fail to even think of anyone else except ourselves. Perhaps that's true a lot of the time, but it doesn't have to be the norm for all of us.

The world is crying out to see a demonstration of kindness and I believe every one of us is capable of bestowing something positive on our fellow human beings..

In 2007, make it your goal to do something thoughtful for others on a regular basis. It doesn't have to be some grand gesture. It could be as simple as opening the door for the person behind you, sending flowers anonymously to an elderly neighbor, cutting a disabled person's grass at no charge, whatever you can think of that brightens the life of somebody else.

The purpose should not be to draw personal attention to what you've done, but to put the focus on those who receive the help.

Make friends with someone from a different culture and/or religion.

I'm a firm believer that prejudice is largely based upon ignorance.

Too many times, we prefer to remain in our comfort zones, just being around those whose culture we feel most familiar with.