With childlike curiosity, Niaomi Nitisha started a website, Copperbottle.com, asking for minimum donations, just a few pennies, from complete strangers whom she has never met–strangers like you and me. She wondered what the end result would be–Would millions donate, or just a few? This whole concept undoubtedly brings to mind nostalgic memories of our own childhoods–collecting spare change in a glass bottle or piggy bank, knowing that with each penny we dropped in, with the jingle of coins as confirmation, we were one step closer to our goal, whatever it may be. So what if the whole world decided to chip in their spare change? What difference would that make?
Nitisha did not start the website as a means to receive donations, but rather, the website was created as a means of inspiring people. It inspires not only our spirit of giving, but a realization that each seemingly insignificant and mundane action we take can make the world of a difference to someone else–even a complete stranger. We are all connected in a global society, a concept we are probably more aware of today than ever before, as we update our status on Facebook or text a friend who lives five hundred miles away.
Not only are we connected to each other, but also we are connected to our environments. The choices we make always have an outcome, and this outcome can be positive or negative. Knowing this, hopefully inspires us to be better world citizens and make conscientious choices, even seemingly unimportant choices—as unimportant as, say, one cent?
Copperbottle.com was inspired by an event in Nitisha’s life. Strangers with full shopping carts in a grocery store let her pass to the front of the line (with her three items) rather than make her wait for them to finish—it was something nice, simple, that they appreciated doing for her, and better yet, it did not cost them anything. They were merely being polite.
We as human beings tend to be just like those strangers in the grocery store. We all actually do mean well, and when it is convenient for us, we like to help in any way we can. But we tend to not want to go out of our way too much. Another important point to mention is that we are unaware of each other, in spite of our “global society,” each in his or her own world. Nitisha realized that the strangers were more than happy to let her go to the front of the line, but it was not something that would happen on its own—she had to ask before they became aware of her need. CopperBottle is like that good deed of those grocery shoppers—it allows us to make a difference, costs next to nothing, is convenient, and does not require that we go out of our way. To add to this, it germinates an awareness that we are not alone, and inspires a global movement of strangers helping strangers.
At the risk of sounding cliché, we, all strangers to one another, can and do make a difference, every day and every second. We are the pennies that will be donated on CopperBottle.com. We are full of potential—alone, we are insignificant, but working together can change the world.