Category: Inspirational

Not sure how it all began. I guess it was just a continuation of something before. 30 days of Impact. Already I can sense we are heading somewhere.

On the third day we restocked some food for the Second Harvest Food Bank. It is the simple pleasures my roommate always says. I think I understood this on that day. As we labeled soup cans and ramen noodles, there was silence in our motion. It was as if our lives reconnected with what we were supposed to be doing: Helping others. Isn’t that why we are all here… to feel what it is like to help others.

Throughout this journey, we met with friends. Friends that share a common vision for the planet. Friends that encourage me to be more of who I truly want to be. We met on Thursdays, on Sundays, during the week, and on weekends. We chatted during work hours, while driving, and while eating. We took every opportunity we could to push our species forward… inch by inch.

And then we made more friends:

Gabriella Miotto from Tias Arms, the external speaker of the month, taught us about love. How helping others in a different country can actually be a rewarding experience. Her slide show on Chiapas, Kosovo and South Africa brought sadness and encouragement, all at the same time. Gabriella taught me… that I can still do more with my own life. … and how great it feels to know that a little boy is sleeping soundly in a make-shift hammock because the relief team realized that the boy isn’t used to sleeping in soft beds.

… and today I went even deeper within myself to assess my own prejudices. Michelle Adinolfi, the internal speaker of the month, not only showed us where we were as a species during the times of Hitler, or how far we may still be from Rev. Martin Luther Kings’ vision, but she also showed me where I have been, where I am, and how far I still have to go. We all carry our own prejudices.

In these 30 days I have been honored by the commitment of my friends. We have reorganized ourselves in a new committee structure to make the work that we do more efficient and more meaningful to the universe we live in. I know that great things lie ahead.

The greatest impact to me, however, is in the moments to come. Our greatest work yet, is still ahead of us. Onward then, to the mouths we will feed, the sick we will console and the smiles we will create.

Sukh

After hearing Gaby’s message today, I think of all the things that could use a little improvement on our tiny little planet. Hearing of Chiapas, Kosovo and Africa… speaking of Water, India, and HIV all in the span of 1 hour makes me reflect on how fragile it all is. Here we are, these “master” human beings, with the power to alter the very landscape that brought us life, and we still cannot find ways to adequately care for our own kind… let alone other species.

I think about how many doors still need opening. What a beast of a world we live in. I recently read in a National Geographic issue that 27 million of the world’s population currently lives in slavery, most of them sex slaves in Asian countries. 1 billion of the world’s population lacks access to safe drinking water. 1 billion live on less than a $1 a day… and of course 1 in five people in South Africa are effected with HIV. I wish these were just numbers… but the unfortunate thing is that these are not numbers, these are real people. Real people like you and me, with their own hopes, desires, flaws, thoughts and families. They too have Thursday evenings. They too have 24 hours each day. They too wake up to the sun and fall asleep to the stars.

And I am thankful… to be living right here in Orange County, for the rest of the world cannot change if we cannot change. Alfred, Mike, Anshul and myself went to watch an Indian movie on Tuesday. A scene with a dance number performed on the front of the American flag caught my attention. I began to realize how deep of an infatuation the rest of the world has for this country. They wear our jeans, buy our hamburgers, and fall in love with our celebrities. American fans exist in all corners of the world… they are outside Mecca, outside the Taj Mahal, and in South Africa. Everybody wants to be an American. I think of how much “power” we have. We buy bombs, they buy bombs. We drive nice cars, they want nice cars. We send a man to the moon, they send a man to the moon. We are the older brothers of the entire planet. Sometimes I wonder how amazing it would be if America could actively begin to model Compassion. It is almost as if the “love” revolution would have to begin here for it to actually have a global impact. Only we have the power to change the world.

There are a few families in India that have heard about Be The Cause and what we are about. Some of them have visited the US and they continue to be shocked by what we do. Rightfully so, it is shocking… a community of compassionate minded folks actually exists here. I know that we all could be busy with different tasks, busy with different goals, busy with different lives. I believe that it is in our busiest of moments, when we are working towards the greater good of all life, that we will realize our greatest purpose of existence.

Thanks for making the difference you all make in this beautiful country: A lot of doors still to unlock. It is a beautiful planet we live on, and that is why we must work.

Big thanks to Shaheda’s family for being such amazing hosts!!! More meetings to come I hope. Next time I get first dibs on washing dishes.

In the deeper search for keys that unlock doors to hearts,
Yours,
Sukh