Living the Sweet Life: #dosomethingfornothing


By Alisa Murray
www.AlisaMurray.com
Nationally recognized
portrait artist and
award-winning columnist.

Okay my sweet readers, this month what we are going to discuss is not anything new, but it sure is necessary. Morgan Freeman is one of my mentors. He has created a life of multi-prenuership as an actor, advocate and fantastic person. He uses his influence to change the world, teaching us compassion for others and showing ways other people are making a difference all around our world. His latest show on Netflicks – The Story of Us – is a beautiful collection of places and people all around our world practicing what it means to be human and showing us that caring for each other, no matter how different we seem, is the epitome of being human. In the days that we have just been through with senseless deaths and a seemingly unconscionable recklessness for the sacred spirit and life itself, he brings a welcome respite that we are all longing for.

Morgan Freeman.
Photo from Netfix.com.

In the episode entitled The Story of Love, Freeman gets candid with a young man who was abused and abandoned, then loved and adopted. The man found the receiving of love almost too much to bear as his spirit had been broken in the early, formative stages of his childhood. He speaks with the Haman tribe in Ethiopia where the women show their love by allowing the young men to whip them as a way of thanking them for protecting them. What we see culturally as abuse is very different in the eyes of the tribal community. Their scars symbolize sacrifice for each other, and as Freeman says, the bonds are what holds humanity together.

Freeman then goes on to discuss the idea of marriage, both arranged and “found.” Choices of marriage are explored and trusting family to know the proper match in many parts of our world ends up in happy and prosperous lives.  Love is not always left to chance.

The best part of The Story of Love was about our homeless. There are nearly five million “invisible” people across Europe and North America. Joshua Coons is a hairdresser in London who believes small acts of love can make a big impact. He walks around Peckim and finds people who need a haircut. Many people find themselves one minute with a home and the next on the streets. Not all of those people you and I see are any different from you and me. Giving support to each other shows a sense of caring in a selfless way, and the #dosomethingfornothing has taken hold all across the world.

Created as a social movement, #dosomethingfornothing encourages others – each of us – to do something for someone for nothing. It is, as they say, a beautiful thing. If each of us would take a moment each day to say hello, give a smile or do something loving for someone, as Freeman says, “Imagine what a transformation we could make in this world!” I could not agree more.

Take Care of YOU and one another!


Here’s my Sweet Life challenge from me to you. Take a minute to do something for nothing, and drop me a line at alisa@absolutelyfocusmedia.com telling me what you did. I would love to hear how we in Fort Bend can rise up to the challenge of spreading love.