The genesis of this blog was in part due the compulsion I often feel to share whatever it is that has recently inspired or moved me. This week I've had a few of those moments. My work and family schedule is fairly routine, but I am mindful of trying to regularly incorporate new experiences and opportunities for learning, part of a grander plan of saying “yes” overall to life. San Francisco seldom disappoints in its ability to provide such opportunities.

Earlier this week while celebrating a friend’s birthday with what else but Vietnamese food and a good scrub down at a Korean spa in the Fillmore, I realized it was Fat Tuesday - a moment to really see our diverse city in its glory. I love the vibrancy of the Fillmore: Fat Tuesday brought out partygoers with elaborate Mardi Gras costumes, sounds of music seeping out of the Boom Boom Room and the smell of BBQ emanating from food trucks and restaurants. The Fillmore reminds me why I love this town - you walk through it and you feel alive.

In a strange coincidence, the next day I was a guest at an event for the San Francisco Foundation where black women entrepreneurs from the Fillmore were being recognized. These are women who have almost every chance for success stacked against them: they have no experience running a business, few resources, poor credit, and live in a socio-economically challenged neighborhood. But what they do have is an entrepreneurial spirit. With the help of an organization called Urban Solutions designed specifically to empower black women through business training, mentoring, and financing, these driven and passionate women are opening up businesses in the Fillmore and revitalizing this historic gem of a neighborhood. One of these businesses, Bumzy's cookies, even catered the lunch dessert. I loved what the Executive Director of Urban Solutions said about her work: "Helping these women helps the family, helping the family helps this neighborhood, helping this neighborhood helps our city, and so on.”

Then today I attended an event for NARAL, an organization I’ve long supported, and heard the very reasonable, smart, up and coming politician, Sandra Fluke talk about the ongoing attack on women’s reproductive rights. The opposition movement to rapidly close local abortion clinics and restrict access to birth control is effectively eroding a right that many of us have come to take for granted. NARAL is the political arm of the Pro-Choice issue and deals with the governmental policies that can affect big change and yet when Sandra was interviewed about her role in politics, instead of talking about herself, she turned to us in the audience and said, “What will defeat us is silence. Our best weapon is for everyone to come out in the same way that ‘coming out’ raised the issue on GLBTQ rights. However you do that, whether it’s running for office or simply speaking with a friend about your values at lunch, we must come out and be heard.”

Somehow the culmination of these experiences this week left me thinking mostly about how even the littlest of acts can make an impact. Sometimes it takes hearing another person’s story to remind you of the value of your own. Instead of feeling dwarfed by the enormity of the issues of poverty or abortion rights, I felt both validated and inspired. Offering to bring a sick friend to the doctor, speaking out on issues that I care about, trying to raise good kids, volunteering at school, or even taking time to celebrate a friend in the Fillmore – these matter. Because it’s the collective force of each of us doing something good and meaningful, even if it’s small, in our own lives that will affect change in the world.