Jackson Free Press

When hungry alligators surround you, so the joke goes, you might forget that your objective is to drain the swamp.

When you're worried about paying the light bill, the rent and whether you can put food on the table, it's easy to get sucked into a vortex of fear. It's natural to protect yourself from further harm, and it's natural to find others to blame. But living in fear has consequences, and one of the inevitable casualties of economic crisis is hope.

As difficult as it might be, when you're in the depths of your own hopelessness, it's exactly the time to try and remember who you are. It's the perfect time to count your blessings and reach out to those less fortunate. A simple act of kindness can begin to put things back into perspective, alleviating the fear that is so deadly to our city's and the planet's well being.

Harvey Johnson Jr. recognized the dynamic when he spoke to Ward 5 residents last week. Poverty and crime are inextricably connected, he said. With a quarter of Jacksonians living in poverty, the city can't simply focus on crime and ignore the poverty lying just under the rug of economic prosperity and growth. The city, Johnson indicated, has to do its part to put people to work.

We think Johnson is on the right track. Hopelessness, borne of poverty and ignorance, is a problem in Jackson, as it is wherever the two conditions exist. It's an issue we asked Johnson about prior to the Democratic primaries, and his response was one of the reasons we endorsed him.

So what can one ordinary citizen do? Take your pick. With the amounts of misery in the world, you don't need to do a lot of searching to find a way to make a difference. People just need to open their eyes to see where a bit of understanding and compassion can help.

The wonderful thing about kindness is that you can direct it at anyone or anything. If your heart breaks for kittens and puppies, go spend an afternoon helping out at a shelter. If it breaks for the environment, go weed a community garden, pick up litter or help in the office of a non-profit like the Nature Conservancy.

If listening to a child trying to mumble his or her way through a complete sentence sends you over the edge, find a way to be a tutor.

Doing good—whether through random acts of kindness or through major commitment to a cause—is never a waste of time. It might take a little more effort in troubled times, but the rewards—fending off those alligators even a little bit—far outweigh the costs.

Another way to do good awaits at Jackpedia.com. You can find organizations there that need your help—or add your own!