Taylor Swift is not only a superstar singer and actress but is also a humanitarian. She takes the term humanitarian to a completely different level and shows people what it is like to be truly selfless. From the beginning of her career, Taylor’s fans have always been close to her heart. She values those fans that have stuck by her throughout her career. Being an artist that made a drastic musical switch midst her career and maintained her high level of celebrity shows how truly popular she is.
In recent years Taylor has reached a new level of fame and not for her vocal abilities but rather for her kindhearted gestures that she makes to her fans and those in need. She is often seen looking at fans social media sites and responding to those people whom are going through hardships or need a little spirit in their lives. This past Christmas, or “Swiftmas” as it became known, Taylor found deserving fans on social media site Tumblr and sent them huge packages of gifts for the holidays. These gifts were not only hand picked by Taylor along her world tour but also accompanied with handwritten notes. This is only one example of the humanitarian work that Taylor has done for her fans. It is very rare to go through a week without hearing about Taylor’s generosity to her fans, her community, and her country. If other celebrities took note of Taylor’s kind heart and applied it to their lives the world would be a much better place.
Life has a habit of throwing situations at us that leave us feeling dissatisfied with where we’re at in life. Our success is determined by how we manage to take it upon ourselves to turn these negative situations into learning experiences that actually better us as opposed to growing complacent. Look at singer/songwriter Shakira, she’s literally the definition of self-made. By the time she was 8 years old she had written her first song and by the age of 10 she had been competing in both local and national talent contests. Shakira released her first album when she was 14 years old. Her album had been successful, especially for her age. She had received wide recognition in her home country of Colombia, but the goal was to become international. In an attempt to reach these goals, she had turned her focus to her acting career, however, her heart is in the music and it wasn’t long until she went back to recording. When Shakira got back into the studio, she took control over the direction of her music. She mixed both her Colombian and Arabic backgrounds to create a beautifully blended sound on her next album which started out as a slow seller, but it eventually became number one on the charts in EIGHT different countries! She continued to take control over her music career and prosper further. However, she wasn’t satisfied with bettering her own life, but those of children all over the world. At the age of 18, she founded the Pies Descalzos (Barefoot) foundation which is currently providing education and nutrition to over six thousand less fortunate children in Colombia. In late 2011 she launched projects in Haiti and South Africa. She went from growing up in a not so privileged home, to being one of the most distinguished pop stars in the world who does everything in her power to help those who are born into situations that aren’t the greatest. Life is what you make it and if you ask me, Shakira has mastered the art of living life to the fullest.
While we go through our life journeys, many of us get caught up in our own lives that we lose sight of the struggles other people around us face. It’s important that we remember where we came from and that if we can help, we should. Ellen DeGeneres takes advantage of being a talk show host by spreading positivity to her audience in the studio and viewers at home. She recently brought awareness to anti-bullying through creating a PSA and titling it “Be Kind.” Not only that, but she’s always encouraging her viewers to stand up for what they believe in and donate to causes that touch them and if they don’t have the means to financially donate, she encourages them to actively donate their time to DO something to make a difference. Not all of us happen to have access to a talk show, such as Ellen, but we have the ability to go through our neighborhoods and put together events to bring people closer, get a group of friends and spend a day cooking meals for the homeless. Greatness comes in many forms, but I believe the most everlasting is through sharing the brightness in our hearts with those who may feel as though they’re walking through the shadows.
