To Write Love On Her Arms is a registered non-profit based out of Florida. Their mission statement, ripped from their website, is "to present hope and find help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide." Personally, I discovered them via t-shirts sold at concerts, but many others have found them through MySpace or Facebook, or simply by word of mouth.
I'll admit I was initially hooked by clever design of the shirt, but what sold me was the story.
This isn't theoretical Christianity. This is real and raw. This is compassion and grace. I was inspired, and I was convicted. It's saving a precious life through prayer, coffee, music, and cigarettes, but mostly through Love.
The Love that seeks to rebuild. The Love that pulls someone back from the brink. The Love that gets dirty. The Love that gives and gives and gives and gives.
Today was To Write Love On Her Arms day. What is beautiful about this event is that it was not started by TWLOHA themselves...no, it began as an event created by a fifteen year-old girl in Ottawa. She was filled with the desire to affect change, and once she posted said event on Facebook, an astounding 499,000 (and counting) people identified themselves as taking part. Nearly half a million people pledged to write love on their arms today.
I was one. I took a black Sharpie and wrote 'LOVE' on my left wrist. I had been screwing around in Photoshop with a concept drawing involving the word for a while, and I tried my best to recreate it using marker and skin.
I learned that I am a terrible artist when it comes to using tangible things like pens. I have way more success with computers and cameras, so I think I'll be sticking to them.But it did the trick. I was asked several times why I had written on my arm, and I was able to share the values and goals of TWLOHA with them. Awareness was spread.
I'm under no illusion that I personally made any huge breakthrough today. But I was one of (maybe) eight at work today with love on his arm. I was one of a half million around the world. Did I make a difference? Maybe, maybe not. But did WE make a difference?
Unequivocally, yes. I firmly believe it.
13.11.08.
2 comments:
Thanks so much for featuring me in your blog. I'm really happy that the message of to write love on her arms has spread. ;]
I self harm and i have for a while. I never felt good enough for anyone and thought that i deserved it. Seeing that so many people cared enough to support a cause such as TWLOHA truly inspired me to work on quitting. Just knowing that it matters to someone, more or less thousands of people, somehow makes a difference. Even if they dont know that I do it, they know that people do. And that it is a problem, an addiction, and a life controlling one at that. thank you for supporting this cause
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