Serving, Contribution, Calling

Why A Blogging Campaign?

By October 4, 2011 17 Comments

Today is the first day of the week-long Girl Effect Blogging Campaign. I think most of you know by now (but in case you don’t), I created the blogging campaign to mobilize bloggers to write about girls in the developing world.
 
About a year and a half ago, I first watched this short Girl Effect video (click here for the video if you reading this over email.)
 

 
I watched the video again and again and again, probably thirty times over the course of the week. I cried. I was moved. I was saddened and inspired.
 
And then that thing happened, when an idea pops into your head, and you really don’t know where it came from. A voice inside, a nonchalant, rather quiet voice said, “A day. There should be a day when the blogosphere is full with posts about The Girl Effect. There could be a day when people wake up and look in their blog reader, or inbox, or on twitter, and it will be buzzing with conversation about the harsh realities and incredible power of girls in the developing world. Oh, and Tara, you should go make that happen now.”
 
I know that voice well. When it shows up with a specific assignment like that, a clear vision that gives me that feeling of excitement and rightness, I go with it. I trust. I know I will be in for a great ride.
 
So the blogging campaign began.
 
Because of the work of incredible helpers, because of the tools The Girl Effect team has created, and because this topic resonates with so many bloggers, the project has grown with ease.
 
So, here’s the question:“Why a blogging campaign?” We are all very familiar with the campaigns that try to get us to donate money or sign a petition or raise funds for a cause.
 
This campaign is a bit unusual, because the real call to action is this: write a post.
 
I’ve gotten some unsettled questions about this lately: “But what do you want us to DO????” and “What good does writing a post do?” or “I understand that people are blogging, but what do you think is going to come of all this?”
 
I want to tell you my real answer to that question, and I feel petrified about saying it, for fear of being called naive: I am not worried that the bloggers writing are going to write a post and do nothing.
 
I’m not worried that people will write and feel, and form their own response to the issue, and leave it at that. I don’t feel I need to give people a specific x to do, a donation to make or action to take.
 
Do human beings ignore and do nothing about a ton of suffering in the world – the suffering down the block as well as the suffering around the world? Absolutely. But not when our hearts have been opened.
 
I believe that when people let their hearts make contact with some form of pain in the world – real contact – they change. Their hearts open. They want to make a difference. And they do.
 
I think that too many calls for social change focus so narrowly on making sure everyone does “x” that they fail to create the foundation for real, sustained doing. That foundation is changed awareness and being moved, emotionally. That inner “movement” is the precursor to powerful practical action. Too many efforts mobilize a bunch of people to make a donation – but there are no deep roots to the action, and so no further action flows from the small step taken that day.
 
I believe that writing is a kind of encounter that changes us. When a writer writes a blog post, or even a journal entry, about the Girl Effect, she has an encounter with the issues. An encounter with the upsetting statistics. An encounter with the inspiring stories. An encounter with her own feelings.
 
Writing forces us to sift through information, ideas, and feelings, and discern what is most important to write about. It requires us to explore and develop our ideas. In writing we “get further” – further through our own confusion, further toward our own core truth – than we would by just thinking about the issue.
 
I believe in the power of that process. I believe that when people let their hearts make contact with form of pain in the world – real contact – they change as a result.
 
You are invited to participate in the blogging campaign this week, by writing a post or by reading the posts. Click HERE to do that.
 
Love,
 
Tara

Join the discussion 17 Comments

  • Kim says:

    Thank you for inspiring us all, Tara. I have read some really interesting and diverse posts already this morning – ones that have really made me think.

  • Roxanne says:

    There is so much trust built into what you are saying: trust that we can speak and we can listen and that magic happens when we do that. Thank you, Tara, for spearheading this, for inspiring, and for moving us to action — whatever that means for each of us.

  • Emelia says:

    I’ve already felt an internal shift just being exposed to the Girl Effect. There were so many emotions after watching the videos and I didn’t know where to begin. After writing the blog, I realized my journey had already started. Just by becoming more informed and striving to spread the information through my blog, I feel somewhat empowered. Thank you for helping individuals like me to understand that we can make a difference at every level of service.

  • Anne says:

    Thanks for listening to your inspiration and making the blogging campaign reality Tara.

    As a coach I know that change begins with awareness. Spreading the word, will result in the girl effect being absorbed into the collective consciousness of the people that will read it. Then the drip, drip, drip of small actions will turn to a torrent and real change will be upon us.

    Thanks for giving us a way to participate and contribute to change.

  • Erica says:

    Absolutely!!

    As a social worker for 15 years and having been active in Social Justice since before I even knew that was what it was called I KNOW that things happen when you invite people to become intimate with pain, with injustice, with the imbalance of power… BUT it isn’t a formulaic equation if we are talking about real, sustained, personal, political and permanent change… that has to happen just like this 🙂 Where people follow what they are drawn to do, not some prescriptive piece… but instead thousands of people are making their ripple, thousands of people are connecting, growing, reaching out, finding their voices, finding what change they are passionate about making… that is powerful stuff…

    Thank you for your courage, your bravery and your willingness to listen, to step up and to share your heart with the world!

  • […] is why I volunteered when Tara asked for help in getting the word out about The Girl Effect blogging […]

  • You were so right on to cause this to happen, Tara. It answered the call of your heart and elevated an issue to the awareness of 100’s of people. From my years of experience working with personal and organizational transformation, I know that nothing changes until you can shift the world view of people.

    Our actions are always consistent with the way we see the world, and when we shift how we see the world, actions will occur to us that never would have, otherwise. Your drop in the pond of awareness will have ripple effects beyond what you will ever see.

    Thanks!

  • Diane Easley says:

    So glad you listened to that voice! I can tell you that writing my little post did open my heart some more. I am inspired and hope to be an inspiration to others.

  • […] hundreds of bloggers, like me, are joining together to start the girl effect. It is a grass roots movement to highlight the problems girls around the […]

  • Have you ever been hungry for knowledge?

    I mean really hungry?

    This question became the pondering ah-hah-moment that linked my desire for learning to the palpable reality of what education looks like for the majority of our global sisters. With staggering statistics such as “out of the world’s 130 million out-of-school youth, 70 percent are girls,” it’s obvious that any additional family money beyond what is needed for food is not being put toward educating the girls in the house.

    Unbelievable right?

    That’s 91 million girls who want to go to school today, but nobody will let them.

    The truth should shake you.

    Read more here: http://karinmcdermott.com/2011/10/05/91-million-girls-are-waiting/

  • Tara, what you have done with this campaign is amazing. I was so moved by this work last year and so thrilled to add my voice this year.

    I am part of an active community of 400+ entrepreneurial women who took Marie Forleo and Laura Roeder’s B-School for women program. I helped mobilize and promote The Girl Effect blogging campaign in our lively and active Facebook groups, as did others. So many of us are blogging about this for the first time and sharing this movement, your vision, with our people!

    Thanks for following your intuition and shining your light so brightly. Ironically, I was not ready to “think big” when you launched your program last spring. But as I was writing my Girl Effect blog post, and as I reflected on all of my education, I felt guilt and shame that I am not bringing my work to the world in a bigger way. I suppose we hear the messages when we are ready. 🙂 Thanks for the work YOU are doing in the world. xoxo

    http://www.laurierosenfeld.com/2011/girls-transforming-the-world/

  • John Soares says:

    Tara, I really appreciate your efforts to promote the Girl Effect blogging campaign. I was surprised that I was one of only a small number of men that participated. Perhaps next year we can get more outreach to male bloggers.

  • Thank you so much for being a powerful force behind such an important cause. Thanks to Lora Sasiela I got involved and never knew how good this would make me feel. I love this you said, “I believe that when people let their hearts make contact with some form of pain in the world — real contact — they change. Their hearts open. They want to make a difference. And they do.” Poetry perfectly coupled with intention.

  • Jaime-Alexis says:

    Thanks so much for this great initiative! I’m hoping we can have a post up on Pathfinder’s blog this week! In the meantime, for anyone who wants to turn ideas into action, I encourage you to check out http://www.Girl2Woman.org. Every video shared on the site raises $1 for women and girls–up to $1M! For anyone passionate about The Girl Effect, it’s the perfect, simple way to make a lasting difference.

  • […] is also the week that Tara Sophia Mohr invites us to share The Girl Effect. It’s a campaign designed to spread the word about the […]

  • patty says:

    so happy that i stumbled upon this today, through another blogger who is participating in the campaign. and so it begins, the links in the chains of change.

    thank-you for doing this.

  • […] action, the inspiring and heartfully courageous Tara Mohr inspired over 500 people to write about The Girl Effect this […]

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