What's Your Cause?

Yesterday a young lady by the name of Liza Starr was the last addition to what is now our 24 person Bike the US for MS team. As I have with all of my team-mates, I read Liza's bio to learn a bit about her background and see what her reasons for going on the trip are. In her bio, Liza outlines her reasons for signing up for the trip in addition to her past community service experiences, when she wrote something that caught my attention, she said "MS is a new cause for me." This got me thinking about what it means in life to have a cause.
Yesterday was also "TOMS One day without shoes," TOMS is a international shoe company that has dedicated their business to providing shoes to children in 3rd world countries that have none, for every pair of TOMS they sell they donate a pair to children in need. Yesterday TOMS celebrated "One day without shoes" during which people volunteered to spend their whole day without wearing shoes to raise awareness for the cause.  As people walked about the Virginia Tech campus in bare feet, they were representing their cause. Yesterday also marked the day that Captain Seth Mitchell of the United States Marine Corps died in action in Afghanistan, he marked the 8th Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Graduate to die in combat since September 11th, 2001. He died protecting his cause.

As I spend much of my time and energy fundraising and preparing for my journey across the nation this summer, I realize for the first time in my life the importance of having a cause. A feeling of purpose that gives your life a meaning, and the feeling that you are living your life for more than yourself. This is my first cause, and it is something I am passionate about and always growing ever more passionate about. Maybe my life will be filled with hundreds of causes or maybe I will choose only a few, but my cause is just as important to me as it is to the makers of TOMS or every Marine fighting in Afghanistan. I challenge you to think about your causes and what they mean to your life and realize that your causes give your life meaning and in many ways define who you are as a person. So, what's your cause?