Angelina

Okay, so I never thought I would ever be writing about Angelina Jolie, but here goes.

I found myself in a waiting room last week not really in the mood to read anything serious, so I picked up a “fluff” magazine. The picture of Michelle Obama caught my attention. It turned out that the magazine was running a special feature on the world’s top ten women in commemoration of International Women’s Day. So I read about how the world is in love with Michelle and then I turned the page and noticed several other women being featured, one of whom was Angelina Jolie. There were two points in that article that surprisingly stayed with me and led me to ponder a bit.

First, the article mentioned that in addition to her time, Angelina gives one third of her total earnings to charity. It went on to say that this was a simple decision for her and her statement was something to the effect, “I just don’t need that much.”

Well, that’s good to hear. Imagine if all of Hollywood’s stars donated one-third of their earnings. What about the rest of us? If we all think long and hard about what our needs are perhaps we would discover that we have the capacity to spend so much more on charity. Consider the amazing social implications of that.

Secondly, the article was describing how people are amazed with how Angelina is doing so much. Jolie commented, “I live a bold life and that’s what makes me a happy mother.”

Hmmm…I started thinking about the word “bold” and wondered. Not that I turn to celebrities as role models, but I couldn’t help but wonder: Am I living a bold life? According to the dictionary, bold means “confident and fearless”. It may also mean “immodest or impudent”. Okay, let’s focus on the first meaning. Aren’t we supposed to push ourselves to be the best we can be and contribute to society to make the world a better place? Shouldn’t we be championing global-scale causes? And how does this affect our happiness as mothers? Knowing that we are doing serious work that will leave an impact, or lasting effect on our children, certainly gives us a sense of hope and a sense of positive energy. So, let’s choose a cause and make it a focus. It could be saving the wildlife, alleviating hunger or supporting cancer research. Whatever the cause, we should confidently and fearlessly lead the way.

Mayce Ibraheem

Mayce Ibraheem lives in Ontario, Canada with her husband and two sons.