International Academy of Kindness

The province of Cebu in the Philippines received an unusual gift – a bronze monument called ‘Dandelion’. The art piece was donated by a well-known Russian artist, Gregory Pototsky. He is also the head of the International Academy of Kindness that has installed over 60 monuments in various countries. The monument ‘symbolizes the fragility of friendship, love and kindness’. He had also given an earlier gift to Philippines in gratitude for President Elpidio Quirino’s aid to 6,000 Russian refugees in 1951.

The artist says that the academy was founded when he and some friends reached the conclusion that the only solution to many of life’s problems is simple kindness. He cites himself as living proof, recalling his days in Stalin’s GULAG, where people survived merely on the benevolence of one another. The mission of the IAK is to both promote solving conflict with compassion, and to support individuals and organizations that follow humanistic principles, because “only kindness and gratitude can save the world and make it a better place.”

A Giving Spirit

‘Tzedakah’ is a Jewish word meaning charity, though its origin comes from ‘righteousness’ or ‘justice’, an awareness that the fortunate are only the custodians of the bounty of the Divine. The Talmud describes eight different levels of ‘tzedakah’: giving begrudgingly; giving less than you should, but giving it cheerfully; giving after being asked; giving before being asked; giving when you do not know the recipient’s identity, but the recipient knows your identity; giving when you know the recipient’s identity, but the recipient doesn’t know your identity; giving when neither party knows the other’s identity; and, enabling the recipient to become self-reliant.

In his book, ‘A Secret Gift’, investigative reporter Ted Gup, explores the stories behind a suitcase of old letters; all addressed to someone named Mr. B. Virdot. Gup discovers that ‘Virdot’ was his own grandfather, Sam Stone, and the letters were responses to an ad run by Stone around the Christmas of 1933, during the Great Depression. In the ad, Stone, identifying himself as Virdot, promises $10 to 75 families if they could explain their need. Some asked only for the bare necessities of life, others a toy perhaps.

Sam Stone was himself an immigrant, a Romanian Jew, who had endured difficult times; perhaps someone who could empathize with the hardship of others. These acts of kindness had an effect on the recipients, changing their lives in ways both big and small.

The Mighty Pen

In a part of the world, where fiery rhetoric is often put to deleterious ends, a woman showcased her poetry to give voice to her principles. 

Saudi Arabia still imposes draconian rules on its women, but it’s also a land that lavishes the kind of adulation on poets that other countries reserve for pop stars. Home grown versions of the popular U.S. based T.V. show ‘American Idol’, have sprung up in many countries. Saudi Arabia’s is called ‘Million’s Poet’, and in April 2010, the Arab world saw a woman, Hissa Hilal, dressed in traditional niqab, challenging on stage the invidious authority of clerics who promote religious extremism, discriminate against women, and bring their faith into disrepute.

Defeat fear and conquer every frightening cave,

Do not live life with one eye looking behind.

Hissa Hilal’s words won her the support of millions of fans…and the predictable death threats. 

Her courage and her poetry were praised by the judges, who placed her third, awarding her $800,000. The 43-year-old mother of four hopes to spend the money finding better medical treatment for her autistic daughter, and perhaps, a new home for her family. To her, winning wasn’t the most important thing – “I’m happy. I said what I wanted to say. I reached what I wanted to reach. Maybe the girls and ladies will say, ‘nothing is impossible’.”

A New Vision

Echolocation is a natural sonar found in the animal world most famously among dolphins, whales, and bats. The animal makes a sound, and the rebound of that noise enables it to gauge direction, distance, size, and even, texture of an object.We might think that this is merely one of the gifts that Nature has chosen to endow on a select few species. Perhaps, what is a natural instinct for one species is an untapped  ability for another.

Daniel Kish lost his eyesight when very young. However, by the time he was two and a half, he had already developed a form of echolocation that later enabled him to ride a bicycle, play tag, and climb trees. He uses the term 'FlashSonar' to describe his 'echovision'. He says that his method of clicking sounds, and listening to the patterns of sound reflections gives him 3D images of his surroundings.

Kish doesn't feel that he is unique, saying that there is historical evidence that others before him developed similar abilities. Trained as a psychologist, he later became the first fully blind person in the U.S. to become a certified orientation and mobility specialist, meaning he teaches the visually impaired how to get around. Since 2001, he quit his job to start a non-profit organization, World Access for the Blind, to share the secrets of FlashSonar with others like him.

Winds of Change

Malawi is a land-locked country in the south eastern part of the African continent. Its friendly people have earned it the nickname - “the warm heart of Africa”.

William Kamkwamba is a native twenty-four year old Malawian inventor who is putting his ingenuity to good use in addressing some of the practical problems that plague his country.  Kamkwamba was forced to discontinue his education due to his family’s inability to pay his tution fees. Undeterred, he took to visiting his village library in an effort to continue his studies in the only way available to him.

            One of the books that caught his attention was called, Using Energy. It had pictures of windmills, and described their function. This inspired the resourceful young man to construct his first windmill for his family’s use. The unassuming contraption, put together from Blue Gum trees, bicycle parts, and recycled material from the local scrapyard, successfully powered his some of his family’s electrical appliances.

            Encouraged, Kamkwamba went on to build two other windmills in his village, and a solar-powered water pump, no small blessing for a nation which is ranked among the world’s ten poorest, where 90% of Malawians live in rural areas.

Build a better mouse-trap, and the world will beat a pathway to your doorstep. Kamkwamba received the 2010 GO Ingenuity Award. With the grant from this award, Kamkwamba plans to hold workshops, to pass on his skills to other Malawian youth, that they too may play a role in transforming the lives of their community.

Virginia’s Secret Santa

Around the Christmas season, thousands of letters addressed to Santa Claus arrive at Post Offices around the world. If St. Nick were to actually read all the letters, the more vital job of delivering the gifts might get a little delayed.

This story is not about a letter to Santa Claus, but a letter about him. In 1897, an eight-year old girl called Virginia O’Hanlon, asked her father whether Santa Claus actually existed, or was a mere myth, as her friends said. Her father deftly suggested that she mail her question to “The Sun”, a noted New York newspaper of that age. Virginia took her father at his word, and addressed her question to the editor of “The Sun”.

Her question and the response, ran in the Sept. 21, 1897 edition of the paper. It has since become the most reprinted editorial in history. Here’s a brief excerpt from it:

“…They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little…Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. You may tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived, could tear apart. Only faith, fancy, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond.”

The un-named editor who wrote the reply was Francis Pharcellus Church, who was the lead editorial writer of the paper, owned by his brother. Francis Church had been a war correspondent during the Civil War, a time that brought about so much privation to the country, and resulted in much bitterness within the ‘United’ States.He could have easily chosen to ignore a child’s innocent question, or deflected it as her father had. Instead he chose to instill faith and trust in the unseen, and consequently the letter has struck a chord with the world’s adults. 

To read the complete editorial go to http://www.newseum.org/yesvirginia/

Tree of Life

I read a story once about a man who was surveying some land he had recently acquired. A barbed wire fence ran all around the boundary of the property. Two trees happened to be growing along the line. Apparently it was thought expedient to thread the sharp wire through the trunk of the trees, rather than go around them. The man observed that one of the trees had grown twisted and deformed, as if it had writhed in agony at having the wire run though it. The other had grown tall and straight, serenely unaffected by the experience. The man wondered what it was in Nature that could bring about such different reactions in similar organisms.

That story was very much on my mind as I read about Kalyana Raman Srinivasan. His father died when the boy was fifteen. Abruptly the family of five was plunged into poverty. Though Kal Raman’s mother was urged by her relatives to put her teenaged sons to work to augment the family’s meager income, the undaunted mother insisted that her children pursue their education. Raman remembers selling the plates to buy rice, and studying under the streetlights for lack of electricity. But having graduated from school, this academically gifted student secured admission into both Engineering and Medical colleges in the highly competitive world of India’s professional colleges.

His challenges didn’t end there however. While in university, he often had to go hungry, when he couldn’t afford to pay the fees for the college mess. When he sat for his final semester exams, he hadn’t eaten for a day and a half. The hard days are behind Raman now. Once he had completed his education, his rise was meteoric. Today, he is the CEO of GlobalScholar.com, a company that offers online tutoring programs.

His is an inspiring story in more ways than one. Kal Raman has adopted all the orphanages around his village, providing education to some 2,000 children, some of whom are handicapped. In his words, “I do not do this as charity; it’s my responsibility. I am giving something back to the society that fed me, taught me, took care of me and gave me hope.”

Christian the Lion

Friendship leaves an indelible impression on our hearts, even when it is experienced second-hand, even when it is among the unlikeliest of friends.

In London, in 1969, two young men, John Rendall and Ace Berg, saw a lonely little lion cub in a cage, in the exotic animals department of Harrods. They decided to bring him home, and for about a year, he lived the life of an urban cat in the basement of Rendall’s flat in Chelsea. The lion, now named Christian, would occasionally take his exercise in the grounds of a local church.

However, as he grew larger, even though he was still friendly, it became apparent that he should be returned to the wild. Rendall and Berg made contact with the conservationist, George Adamson, and it was decided to move Christian to a lion preserve in Africa.

Rendall and Berg maintained contact with Adamson to keep tabs on Christian’s new life. In 1974, the conservationist told them that the lion had finally adapted to the Wild. He was the leader of his pride and had a litter of cubs. Though advised by Adamson not to bother, Rendall and Berg nevertheless decided to make a trip to see Christian, and to say a final goodbye. Go to the following link to watch a clip of that unforgettable reunion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNv2A4Kfx4k&feature=related

From Burma with Love

In December 2004, some fishermen off the coast of Tamil Nadu, India, spied something floating on the sea, glinting  in the sunlight. Curious, some of them went to investigate and returned with a make-shift bamboo raft, festooned with silver foil flowers, and carrying a small metal icon. There was nothing to identify it, except a few vases, some candles, and a maroon monk’s robe with ‘Burma’ sewn on it.

These simple fisherfolk of Meyurkuppam, were unable to recognise the 5 inch idol for what it was – a Jalagupta Buddha, revered in Burma. The Burmese embassy, alerted to its presence, sent a representative to verify the rumour that it was a valuable antique. That rumour proved false. It was only a ‘commonplace modern statuette’. Not so to the people of Meyurkuppam. This incident just happened to co-incide with the Asian Tsuanami - a time when thousands of lives were lost in the coastal areas of South India. Oddly though, all the 980 inhabitants of Meyurkuppam, most of them fishermen and their families, escaped intact.

If it’s a miracle, the villagers know who to thank. They believe their ‘Buddha Swami’ (Lord Buddha) has protected them, and they pay him the same homage as their other gods. The fishermens’ families offer him daily prayers, and the Burmese generals have apparently agreed to fund a temple. 

“This is part of a wondrous cycle,” said Phra Vivek, a Bangkok monk. “Buddhism arrived in the river deltas of South-east Asia in the third century when the Indian emperor Ashoka sent missionaries to the Golden Land. Now the ocean has carried Buddhism back to its source.”

Ties of the Heart

One afternoon, on a late summer day in 1989, two teenagers, Christopher Astle and Emily Yanich, discovered an abandoned newborn. They took the baby to Emily’s home where her stepfather called the police. The authorities briskly stepped in, and assumed custody of the baby girl who was later adopted.


Taken in by others, but not forgotten by the two young people who had played such an unexpected and crucial role in the baby’s life. Emily would cry when recounting the story to others, and the two of them remained friends. Over the years, Chris and Emily moved, married other people, and had their own families, but they nevertheless stayed in touch, bound by their rescue of the baby. They would call each other every year on Sept. 6th - the day they had found the abandoned child.

They were not the only ones who remembered. Twenty years later, on Dec. 2nd, both of them received a Facebook message from a college student named Mia Fleming – Were they the same Chris and Emily who had found a baby left outside a stranger’s door? If so, she just wanted to say thanks.

Mia, ever since she had learned the story of her birth had never forgotten them, and had been trying to track them down for several years before she was finally successful. She says, “I didn’t know how they would feel.”

Chris and Emily know exactly how they feel. Emily says, “It's like a miracle… My heart is filled now. There was always a little spot missing.” Chris says, “It's the best Christmas present I have ever gotten.”

Not all relationships can be easily named, and ultimately, kinship is a matter of the heart not merely the ties of blood.


Source: The Washington Post, Thursday, December 17, 2009

A Dream of Service

In 1984, at the age of five, a young girl named, Nasreen, started attending one of the first schools to open up in the north of Pakistan, a region where women were traditionally denied the opportunity to learn reading and writing. Excelling at her classes, she distinguished herself as one of the smartest students in the school, until 1992, when her mother’s death and father’s remarriage brought her studies to an abrupt halt.

Despite her heavy workload and harassment at home, Nasreen studied relentlessly. Her hard work earned her the equivalent of a high school degree at the age of fifteen, and an annual scholarship from the Central Asia Institute, that would enable her to fulfill her dream of obtaining her rural medical assistant degree.

By this point, Nasreen was engaged, and her mother-in-law strenuously resisted the idea of being deprived of Nasreen’s labor at home. The council of elders who decided all matters of local importance, upheld the mother-in-law’s objections, and forbade Nasreen from accepting the scholarship.

For the next ten years, Nasreen toiled at home and in her family’s fields, gave birth to three babies, suffered two miscarriages, all without any medical attendance. During her brief moments of respite, she kept her heath-care dream alive by seeking out and caring for the sick, the elderly, and the dying within her community.

In the summer of 2007, the leadership of the council changed, and they decided to set aside their opposition to Nasreen’s pursuing her vocation. Today, Nasreen Baig is continuing her schooling in order to obtain her OB-GYN nursing degree, and hopes to begin providing medical care that the Wakhan region, one of the most isolated and forbidding places on earth so desperately needs.

Nasreen harbors no bitterness. “Allah taught me the lesson of patience while also giving me the tools to truly understand what it means to live in poverty,” she says. “I do not regret the wait.”

A Cinderella Story? Yes, but a different kind of dream, and a different kind of heroine.

From Greg Mortenson’s “Stones into Schools”

Christmas on the Battle Front

Western Front, December 1914

On December 24th, during World War 1, British and German soldiers were hunkered down in their respective trenches, when suddenly there could be heard the sounds of carol singing from both sides. It was Christmas Eve after all.

This was followed by requests for a ceasefire, and once a truce was called, something more magical happened; soldiers met their ‘enemies’ face to face, laughed, joked, and even exchanged gifts.

While some high-level officers harrumphed at this insubordinate fraternizing with the enemy, others, both German and British, took a more tolerant position.

Christmas Eve was followed by Christmas Day with many recorded games of soccer played between the warring factions. The day after Christmas, in most places, the business of war resumed, but perhaps, not quite business as usual.

Source: www.firstworldwar.com

One Day in Vietnam

It was early in the Vietnam War, and an American platoon was hunkered down in some rice paddies, in the heat of a firefight with the Vietcong. Suddenly a line of six monks started walking along the elevated berms that separated paddy from paddy. Perfectly calm and poised, the monks walked directly toward the line of fire.

"They didn't look right, they didn't look left. They walked straight," recalls David Busch, one of the American soldiers. "It was really strange, because nobody shot at 'em. And after they walked over the berm, suddenly all the fight was out of me. I just didn't feel like I wanted to do this anymore, at least not that day. It must have been that way for everybody, for everybody quit. We just stopped fighting."

(from "Emotional Intelligence" by Daniel Coleman)