Holiday Greetings 2009
It’s been a while since I’ve been here. I’ve taken time to shop, spend time with friends and family, and to celebrate the holiday season. For me, it was a good holiday season. I was able to give some gifts that were really appreciated, and spend time thinking about what this season is really about. Love, Family, Service, Spirit – not necessarily in that order.
I’ve also gotten to spend some time researching and thinking about life purpose. I found a few good books along the way, as well as a couple of good websites that I will introduce you to.
I was inspired by another TED Video. This time, the video is by a Pakistani man speaking at TED India. With him, he had brought pictures and greetings from ordinary Pakistani citizens. He read about each of their lives, their life aspirations for their children, and brought a greeting of peace from each of them. He was successful at separating the politics of the nations from the daily dreams and aspirations of everyday people. It occurs to me that these dreams and aspirations are universal, regardless of the nation, religion, or ethnic background we happen to be born into.
We all want to make a difference. We want adequate food, health, and shelter. We want to be known. We want to prepare a better life for those who are to follow us. We want to be able to follow our dreams. We want our rights to be respected. We want a government that allows us to achieve these goals. I believe that these dreams and aspirations are universal, regardless of the country, religion, or ethnicity you happen to have been born into.
For this holiday season, I wish for each of you to have the opportunity to experience your life dreams. I believe it is our common birthright, regardless of our country or religion of origin. I wish this for every citizen of the United States, Canada, Britain, Iran, Japan, China, Taiwan, and the citizens of every other world country. I wish this for every Christian, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, and the participants of every other religion. My prayer is that we learn to embrace our commonality of desire, not our differences.
Blessings for a bright, safe, and healthy Holiday Season.
Something to think about…..
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What can I do?
“What can I do?”. How many times have you looked at the world around you and asked that question? The world seems such a mess – and our media seems quick to teach us that. From the perspective of one person, it can seem impossible.
Here are two things you can consider doing this holiday season, to make a difference in the life of others.
KIVA (www.kiva.org) – KIVA is a Micro-Finance company that lends money to entrepreneurs from poor countries, to assist them in their efforts to help themselves. KIVA allows you to view each entrepreneur’s profile to decide whether you want to loan money to help them achieve their business goal. KIVA states that 97+% of the loans given on that site will be repaid within a year, so the money can be reinvested in another worthy project. Thus, your gift can become a gift that keeps on giving.
Heifer International (www.heifer.org) is an organization devoted to providing tools for families in poor countries to help themselves. While on that website, you can purchase goats (to provide milk for the family), hens (to provide eggs), cows, ducks, sheep, etc.
Neither of these organizations require that you fund the entire need. You can donate what you can afford. Donated money is pooled together to purchase the needed items.
In addition to these two charities, there are many other quality charitable organizations who could put a donation of any size to good use.
Together we can all donate a little and still make a difference in someone’s life.
Something to think about…..
We don’t have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. – Howard Zinn – Playwright and Social Activist
Quality Web Resources
On the right side of my blog site, you will find that I have begun listing a variety of inspirational, spiritual, self development, motivational, and blogging web resources. These are sites that I have found to offer quality material, and I wanted to share those sites with you. I will keep those sites updated as I find new sources of information that you may find helpful.
Most Fascinating People of 2009
We turned on Barbara Walter’s “10 Most Fascinating People of 2009″ special last night, expecting typical Barbara Walter’s quality. Boy, were we disappointed. In fact, we dropped out after the first 5 minutes.
Of the 10 people picked, five of them fell into my category of being the types of people that I don’t want our younger generation to emulate! Of the rest, OK, but there are SO MANY deserving people out there who deserve the honor much more – people who serve humanity on a daily basis.
Who are they? Well, the list is far longer than this space will allow. Everyday people do great things everyday. We have the work of many people to thank for making our lives as good as they are today. We live in the age of everyday air travel, the Internet, cars that will transport you anywhere, medical miracles that are too numerous to mention, the longest human life spans in history, and scientific advances that are truly unbelievable. Each of these advances have been brought to you through the tireless effort of someone, somewhere, performing their everyday tasks.
Of those, some touch thousand, millions, or more lives. Those are the people that I want our society to hold up before others. Let’s be inspired by those whose work touch many. Here are a few links of places that list people who may deserve that recognition. For everyone listed, there are many, many more who should be. Let us hold these people in our hearts and minds as people deserving of the “Fascinating People” awards.
Something to think about…..
Time Magazine’s Top 100 People
BeliefNet’s Most Inspiring Nominees of 2009
Amazing Facts Inspirational People
Visit www.TED.com for scores of fascinating people
Bear in mind that the wonderful things you learn in your schools are the work of many generations. All this is put in your hands as your inheritance in order that you may receive it, honor it, add to it, and one day faithfully hand it on to your children. – Albert Einstein
Understanding and Honoring Cultural Differences
As the United States deals with other countries in matters of trade, peace-conflict, environment, and/or any of the other hundreds of issues we may have to discuss, I believe that it’s important for us to take a learned look at the culture, customs, values, and potential mindsets of each of the other countries we’re dealing with. Without that learned approach, we can unintentionally sabotage our opportunities for success in whatever issue we’re currently dealing with.
I thought about this recently when people reacted negatively to President Obama bowing in greeting to Emperor Akihito from Japan. I believe that the negative reaction President Obama received was from Americans who understood what the action meant in their culture, based on their upbringing. In the Japanese culture, however, the bow (or lack thereof) may mean something far different. I am reluctant to pass any judgement on that bow, since I understand that I am not well versed in Japanese customs or culture, nor am I well versed in diplomatic protocols. I do, however, understand that the bow may have been a component of achieving a mutually satisfying exchange of ideas, informal agreements, etc.
From my perspective, a bow may simply have been a respectful greeting, honoring the humanity of the person being greeted in a manner most appealing to the person being greeted. From my perspective, it did not signify American subservience to Japan, nor did it signify any weakness of America. I don’t believe the bow in any way weakened our position to negotiate or discuss our relative positions. In fact, I think President Obama may have strengthened our negotiating hand by greeting the Emperor in a manner meaningful to his traditions.
This is similar to how I hope to greet you, should I ever have that opportunity. I hope that I have the knowledge and grace to greet you in a manner that is pleasing to you. With that greeting, I intend to honor your humanity. After the greeting, we can go to work to discuss anything that is of importance – including those areas where we may strongly disagree.
In a recent TED presentation, Devdutt Pattanaik presented a far clearer picture of how this works than I can do here. His 19 minute presentation discussed the difference between the Western and Eastern culture, religions, traditions, and resulting mindsets. In a world hungry for conflict resolution, I think it is a video worth watching. Just click on the link that follows.
Something to think about…..
BOINC !
Do you want to help change the world? The problems can seem so huge. What can little ol’ me do? I can get stuck in that canyon a lot. Well, here’s one small thing you can do. BOINC.
What is BOINC, you say? Well, BOINC stands for Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing. If you install the free BOINC software on your computer, BOINC will make use of your computer’s unused processor time to help solve some of humanity’s most important problems. By making use of unused processor time on millions of computers world-wide, scientists are making great progress on these problems.
The most well known of these is SETI, the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. But, that’s only one of the projects we can tackle with the use of your computer. Below, I will share a few of the many other projects you can assist with. Can you share some of your unused computer time to help find a resolution to these problems? Read more »
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