Make time for the important things in life, like helping others.

“I expect to pass through the world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
— Stephen Grellet, 1773-1855, Quaker leader

Super Bowl Sunday always gets me thinking about priorities. I still don't understand why everyone gets so worked up over a GAME. Because that's all it really is—a game. A game played by a bunch of strangers whom most people will never meet. What's the big deal? Why do people become so obsessed about it? Well, it just goes to show that humans are very susceptible to obsession.

The big problem with obsessions is that they can take you away from what's important in life. An obsession can suck up all your time. That's OK if it's something worthwhile, but more often than not, it's something silly or meaningless or trivial. And how is that going to play when you arrive at those pearly gates and you're asked to account for your life's deeds? "Well, I spent every Sunday watching football," or "I spent most of my time shopping for clothes at the mall," or "In my spare time, I collected and traded frog figurines," isn't going to go over that well.

I mean, I totally get that we all need to escape the madhouse of life from time to time. (I do it by watching movies that I rent from Netflix.) But that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about when the pursuit of happiness revolves around ME, ME, ME, with no thought for the bigger picture and what life is like for others who are less fortunate.

I really hesitated to write about this because I thought, "Everyone is going to think that I'm just a killjoy who wants to make everyone feel guilty" (which isn't true at all), but then, while walking on the beach yesterday (during the Super Bowl!), I met a woman who had all but given up her high-powered corporate attorney job in California to come to Norfolk, Virginia, to spend most of her workweek running a nonprofit organization that encourages literacy in children. She really inspired me! So I'm going to soldier on:

Each of us has only a limited number of days to live on this planet. There is an enormous amount of suffering going on throughout the world. With a little effort, each person can make a huge difference in the lives of needy animals or people. For those of us who were born into circumstances that helped us reach a secure and comfortable position in life, shouldn't we be reaching out to help those who were born into less fortunate circumstances or who have encountered great misfortune during their lives?

Personally, I feel an obligation to help others less fortunate than I am. For some reason, not everyone feels this way. But for those of you who are so inclined, I would ask you to reevaluate your lifestyle and see if you couldn't contribute just a few hours a week (or a few more hours a week) to helping animals or people. This is a dog blog, so I'm going to suggest that you go to your local SPCA or animal control facility and offer your services as a dog walker. You could also hold a yard sale or a bake sale to raise money for your local animal protection group. You could write letters to the editor about dog-related issues. You could help out the neglected dogs in your own neighborhood. There are a gazillion things that you can do on PETA's activist Web site, many of them dog-related.

As my new acquaintance from the beach said, once you start incorporating service into your life, you find that you become much happier. You learn how to recognize what's really important and what's not, so life becomes simpler. I couldn't agree more!