The Effects of A Good Clean...

It all started with a bookcase...well, technically, it all started thanks to World Pulse. In April 2015, as part of theAction: The Path to Participation Initiative from World Pulse and No Ceilingscampaign, I decided that I would find some small way to make a difference in my community here in Canada, and in my home country of Argentina.

And, as the clean-freak that I am, I thought I would take advantage of the spring cleaning bug and clear out an old bookcase that had... let's just say, one too many books in it.As I wrote in my original post, what seemed a daunting task at first proved to be both therapeutic and uplifting. As one World Pulse member so accurately put it: a spring cleaning for the soul.I thought this post was worth sharing because I could never had expected how moved I would be by the end of it all.

I began by donating the English books to my local library (in Mississauga). Honestly,I was just expecting to drop the books off and leave, knowing that some curious child might stumble across one of them and be entertained, even if for a bit. But something even better came out of it: seeing the library assistant's reaction when I claimed to have three full bags of books to donate. As I passed them over the counter she just looked at me, slightly in awe. And then she thank me with such sincerity that I remember thinking at the moment how much her reaction meant to me after those long hours of sorting and cleaning and sorting and cleaning.

And so I had donated my family's English-language books. Now it was time to find a place for ourSpanish books. In my original post, I had mentioned that I planned to take the books with me to Argentina and donate them to a school in the small town where my family and I have a vineyard. And so, with the help of my family members, who put up with the extra weight in their carry-ons on the flight down, we made sure that they made it to this little school. Once again, I want to stress that we weren't expecting anything in return; knowing that these books would be new and exciting to children who had so little was enough on its own. But I thought it was worth sharing with you all the email that myparents recently received from the school principal, in which she wholeheartedly thanked them for the donations and marveled at their generosity as a breath of fresh air and of hope. And once again, those kind words made the heavy bags and the major clean-up so very worth it.

So I guess the point of all this is simply to share with the World Pulse members some thoughts, thoughts which I'm sure this wonderful community will echo, each in their own way. And that is just howgreat it feels to do good. Any minuscule amount of good. It all makes a difference in the greater scheme of things: a smile or a bowl of food, a dollar to a performing street musician or a hand jump-starting someone's car. It all helps. And trust me, however you choose to give, it all feels equally amazing.

Thanks, World Pulse, for reminding me of that.