What is sad about this picture is that if you look at the reflection in the droplet, the world is upside down, and it looks as if the ant is trying, with its own might, to set it the right side up. No matter how hard it tries, it will never succeed. And no matter how monumental a task, no matter how futile it may seem, it will not stop trying. And neither should we.

The solution here, if we wanted to help this ant out, is not for us to help it roll the droplet, but for us to flip our world around.

* Image shared by Sherry Boyd through We Are Here To Inspire

But still, I am here. Diminished… but still here.

Yesterday, I peered out the drenched window of my car and saw a family of four squished on a single motorcycle, each soaked to the bone. The children, Oreo-ed between their parents, were no older than 6. Like the outside of my car window, my eyes started to bead and stream.

I looked at my own life, and realized how privileged I was. Felt guilty actually, that I had more to give, but was choosing to keep it all to myself. I was saving up for a rainy day.

I looked out the window again.

“I doubt it’ll get any more rainy than this,” I said to myself.

Today, I’ve made up my mind to donate all of my book’s profits for the month of November and December to charity. Depending on where one purchases it, I make anywhere from 49 cents to $2.66 from the sale of a copy of FUEL. From that, a portion already goes to a kids’ charity I volunteer at in Malaysia. The balance will now go to the Mother Theresa Children’s Foundation.

Be the change you want to see in the world. Be that miracle for someone else. I hope you will join me in this effort.

Ways you can help:
1. Purchase FUEL online. All profits for Nov and Dec will be donated. www.amazon.com/Fuel-Jeremy-Chin/dp/145388615X
2. Help me spread the word. https://www.facebook.com/events/250175248373823

Stephen and I are friends on Facebook, and I’ve never met him in person. But deep inside, I just have this feeling that here is a man who’d go the distance for his best friends. Mostly to amuse myself, I wrote this short paragraph in response to his post.

He told em he’d not only walk the line, he’d run it. I tell ya, once Camburn gets them ol legz movin’, there’s usually no catchin’ him… only this time, he wuz runnin’ round in circles. They gave him a minute before they intercepted his pattern, and wrestled him to da ground. This wasn’t his first run in with the law, but it was the first time he was running with em.

A year back, I read an article that stressed the importance of an author being as marketable as his book.

“What a pot of crap?” was my first reaction. “How about Stephen King? He did well for himself?”

And then I thought about the job they had done on Meyer, Rowling and Gilbert. Slowly, it sank in, fell on me like a heavy veil, that King was a rare exception of the past, as was Neil Young.

Voice in my head: “If ya wannit bad enough, ya gotta get out there and sell the living fuck out of it. And fuckin’ smile will ya. Ya gotta be a sterling brand ambassador for yer book y’know. And cut out them swear words while yer at it.”

Jay-Z said it best, “I’m not a businessman, I’m a business, man.”

The goal I’ve set for myself is to just get it done… to do this thing, and escape with my integrity intact. Some days I compare myself to the long legged lasses who parade around the boxing ring holding a number; except I’ll be holding my book instead of a square card, and my legs are not that long. I don’t like it, but sometimes, ya just gotta do yer rounds.

A pit of nervousness sits in my stomach right before this next interview about my book. I slow my breathing, ration my heartbeats.

“Let’s do this.”