Today is Blog Action Day. If you've never heard about it, let me give you a brief explanation. Thousands of bloggers all over the world are uniting to discuss one issue, and this year the issue is poverty. At the time that I'm writing this, there are over 11,000 blogs participating in this event by drawing attention to the issue of poverty, with an estimated audience of over 12 Million.

The main idea behind it is that if enough people talk about the issue, that can give us the drive and momentum to actually do something about the issue. 

I remember in 2005, I spent my summer in Germany doing research for my Master's degree. The department that paid for me to go to Germany ran out of money so they could no longer afford to pay me. As a result of this, I was in Germany, without much money for an entire summer.

Because my funds were extremely limited, I could only afford to spend about $2 daily on food for many of the days that i was there. I started having 1 meal per day, and relying on others to be able to eat. Being in a strange country without enough money is a difficult place to be.

This was the closest I had ever been to poverty. However, every day as I left the lab, there was a guy on the streets with a shopping cart that went around digging through the trash to find food to eat. It literally broke my heart to see him every day.

There are many people out there that are in the same situation that he was in – some because of bad choices and some because of the situations beyond their control. It is always important to remember that regardless of your current situation – whether you are an entrepreneur making a whole bunch of money on- or offline, or whether you are stuck in a foreign country, with no money – there is always someone that is in a worse situation than you are. 

In other words, there is always someone that you can help. Lets all keep this in mind as we focus on the issue of poverty.

If you are not sure how you can do anything to help this issue, here are some suggestions:

• Donate old clothes to someone in need or to the salvation army
• Sponsor a child in another country with World Vision
• Volunteer at a soup Kitchen