Wherever you turn, the world feels full of bad news: Climate change. Gun violence. War in Europe. A global pandemic that has killed millions.
It’s easy to feel helpless, especially if you support common-sense gun control laws, believe that climate change is real and have taken every step to protect yourself and others the last few years in a world that feels like few people care about strangers anymore.
By: Caroline Weiss, Creative, Movement Maker Collective Contributor
Doing good in a world that feels hopeless
Wherever you turn, the world feels full of bad news: Climate change. Gun violence. War in Europe. A global pandemic that has killed millions.
It’s easy to feel helpless, especially if you support common-sense gun control laws, believe that climate change is real and have taken every step to protect yourself and others the last few years in a world that feels like few people care about strangers anymore.
The Uvalde, Texas, mass shooting, was another horror story that added to the never-ending stream of bad news we seem to live in.
What Are Good People to Do?
When bad people do bad things, it’s important that everyone else in the world does extra good, so that it outweighs the bad. Not just for the victims of tragedies, but for the rest of us in general.
Helpless and hopeless have been two commonly repeated words these last few years – but we cannot succumb to despair.
Good people have a responsibility to make sure the bad is the exception, not the norm. It’s so easy to get discouraged and want to give up on the world. But now is the time when we must do more—we must embody empathy, sympathy and generosity in big and small ways. Good actions still matter. Good work still has a positive ripple effect in a world of hate and hopelessness.
Good Actions Still Matter
When I listened to Matthew McConaughey’s speech to the White House Press Corps after the Uvalde tragedy, I was moved by Alithia Ramirez’s story. She was an artist who wanted to use her art to spread hope, peace and kindness throughout the world. Her big dream was to have an art show in Paris.
As someone who has made her career in film and television, I believe in the power of stories and art to change the world. I am spending a summer in Paris to re-center and decompress after the last few crazy years in Los Angeles.
I so often feel there’s nothing I can do to stop gun violence in America – and maybe there isn’t. But when I heard about Alithia, I knew one thing I had to do: Show Paris her artwork.
Alithia Ramirez Paris Retrospective 2022
I spoke about Alithia’s dream and her work and about the role of artists on Earth – to give life meaning, to provide a light in the dark – at a literature event for a community of international artists I have in Paris. They were moved by her story and volunteered to help put on a proper show for Alithia, whose body of work covers the last seven years of her life.
After speaking with Alithia’s parents, Ryan Ramirez and Jessica Hernandez, they gave us their blessing and support to make Alithia’s dream come true.
We will be putting on the Alithia Ramirez Paris Retrospective 2022 this July in Paris, France. The exact date and location are still to be determined, and we will be bringing her family out to Paris to see the worldwide impact their incredible daughter has made.
A Coalition of Good
If you were moved by the Uvalde tragedy – or any other shooting in America – I invite you to join the movement for Alithia and support in any way you can. Whether you can help us secure a location in Paris for the show, provide housing for her family while they are in Paris, help us with flights or simply do good in your own community, we are calling on the collective of good people who are out in every town on the planet to rise up and spread kindness and peace wherever they can.
We, the adults, owe it to the children of the world to stand up and do better. We owe it to children to be the better people we all can be and not give in to the hopelessness we may feel.
Whether you’re an artist or a corporate executive, we all can do more to make the world a better place.
Let’s do it for all of us – and especially for Alithia Ramirez. Let her legacy and her life lead your way.
Special thanks to the movement makers and firestarters who are a part of our event steering committee including Terri Broussard Williams, James Gebler, Jen Duran, Dale, Paris Lit Up, Kree Pandey and Scott James.
Can you support the Alithia Ramirez Paris Retrospective 2022 in some way? We would love to hear from you! Email ArtistsForAlithia@gmail.com to get in touch.
Not in Paris, but want to help? You can still join the movement! Do good in your neighborhood and use the hashtag #ArtistsForAlithia to help us spread kindness!
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