What Are You Doing?

I've recently been reminded of an interview I saw years ago. It was before I had Lilia, but it has a major impact on me as a mother. The interview was with Maria Shriver and she was talking about her parents. She talked about how her father, Sargent Shriver, had asked all his children frequently, "What are you doing?" By that he meant, "What are you doing for the world? How are you improving it?" And he took that quite seriously, making great strides in all kinds of charities. His wife, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, had a deep and lasting impact in the world on behalf of disabled people and others. Maria recalled that Eunice would put pictures on the wall of children who were disabled so that her own children would think about them often and think of ways to help them. She also served cereal for dinner each Thursday night and explained to her children that she was sending the money they saved to those less fortunate than themselves.

Now that is doing something! Changing the world as a person and inspiring your children as a parent at the same time. What a wonderful example.

Lately I've been seeing nothing but pictures of Haiti on news websites and reading stories of those who have been impacted by their earthquake. I can't get the voice out of my head that says, "What are you doing?"