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Sometimes I look around and the world seems really bleak. But that’s big picture. It’s funny because the song “From a Distance” talks about how if you zoom out far enough, the world looks fine and we’re all just people. No hunger, no war, etc. And that’s fair enough. Mother Earth looks pretty beautiful from Space. But all the bad stuff in the world–war, poverty, pandemics–those are all big things. And it’s easy to get overwhelmed by them.
Sometimes you have to put the big picture stuff on hold, and look for hope in the details. Like teenage Mari Copeny, aka Little Miss Flint trying to solve not only the water crisis in Michigan, but to help kids out in other ways too.
Or young Greta Thunberg inspiring an entire generation to work towards climate change. And don’t forget Boyan Slat who, at the age of 18, began to take on ocean plastic. This generation of young people is AMAZING, and there are so many stories of them that make the future seem a lot brighter.
One example is 22-year-old Jaden Smith, off-spring of LA power couple Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, who is working hard to solve the food crisis in LA. Two years ago, Jaden started a food truck called “The I Love You Restaurant” with a mission of supplying healthy, vegan meals to the homeless on Skid Row for free.
The reason behind this act of charity is pretty clear: selfless love for others.
But Jaden didn’t stop there. According to Tank’s Good News:
During the pandemic, Smith found a way to supply care packages to Skid Row that included food, masks, other clothing items, and hand sanitizer.
Taking care of those in need is a pretty epic way to exist in the world.
Together with partner Drew FitzGerald, Jaden launched a charity cleverly named 501cthree with a mission centered around “deploying solutions for energy, food, water & shelter.”
They started with a water box to provide clean, filtered water in Little Miss Flint’s domain.
Still running the food truck, and popping up in places like the Midnight Mission to scale up their services, Jaden is looking forward to a new endeavor.
Next up will be an actual physical dine-in version of the “I Love You Restaurant” food truck, still free for the homeless, but serving the entire community and charging customers who are able to pay, to help fund the endeavor and allow diners to “pay it forward.”
What a remarkable young person. The kids really are all right. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
Do you know of an amazing teen or young adult that is going to do big things in the world? Tell us in the comments.
