Time To Do Your Bit

Wednesday 12th 2008f November 2008

'WHEN was the last time someone smiled at you on the tube?' asks an advert for the charity ActionAid on the underground .

The inference is clear. In the grumpy surrounds of train carriages, transporting weary commuters on their way to and from work - as is British custom, avoiding any eye contact with each other - the simplest gesture of geniality could make their day.

In short, we can all make a difference, we can all have a positive impact on the well-being of our fellow man and woman, individuals who we may not even know and who we may never see again.

Of course, there are those among us whose lives are dedicated to this end - charity workers, philanthropists and volunteers who give of their time and money on a daily basis to improve the world we live in for the benefit of those less fortunate. There are those also whose extraordinary courage, strength, conviction, commitment and determination justly earn them the accolade 'hero'.

This week in the paper, we note the achievements of Minerva Award winner Eva 'Bobby' Neumann, the Holocaust survivor who in her seventies started to lead tours around the concentration camps where she herself was interred and where her family were slaughtered; we also note the passing of Jason Boas, the terminally-ill cancer victim who, despite his own battle with the disease, devoted his final few months to raising awareness, funds and support for others similarly stricken.

Next week, meanwhile, we will announce our own 'Community Hero', chosen from six candidates, all of whom give of themselves with no thought of reward or recognition.

Heroes, one and all. But as the advert on the tube so aptly notes, while we may not all have the time or the resources, or indeed the qualities of character, that would enable us to emulate these individuals, one need only to do the tiniest thing to make a whole world of difference.

This Sunday provides the perfect opportunity to do just that. Across the UK, countless organisations are doing their bit and inviting you to take part in performing a good deed: from painting walls to gardening to filling aid packages to donating blood to visiting care homes - these just a handful of the hundreds of projects being run on Mitzvah Day up and down the country. As a newspaper, we're proud to support this incredible initiative. As individuals, we hope you'll all join in.