Daniel Lubetzky

This quote was shared by Stephanie di Paolo Miller at Trinity University:

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

                                                                – Plato 

Read this great article by Salam Fayyad.  It represents the Palestinian mainstream of today and is very powerful and moving. [Read more →]

Below is an amazing story that I received from my sister illustrating true KINDNESS and that one KIND act inspires another:

Sack Lunches

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. ‘I’m glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,’ I thought. Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation. ‘Where are you headed?’ I asked the soldier seated nearest to me. ‘Petawawa. We’ll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we’re being deployed to Afghanistan. 

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time… As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. ‘No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five bucks. I’ll wait till we get to base.’ His friend agreed.I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch.

I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. ‘Take a lunch to all those soldiers.’ She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. ‘My son was a soldier in Iraq ; it’s almost like you are doing it for him.’ Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, ‘Which do you like best – beef or chicken?’ ‘Chicken,’ I replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. ‘This is your thanks.’

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. ‘I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.’ He handed me twenty-five dollars. Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane.  When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand and said, ‘I want to shake your hand.’ Quickly unfastening my seatbelt I stood and took the Captain’s hand. With a booming voice he said, ‘I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.’ I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers.

Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.  When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!  Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base.  I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. ‘It will take you some time to reach the base.  It will be about time for a sandwich.  God Bless You.’

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers.  As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little… A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘ Canada’ for an amount of ‘up to and including my life.’

That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.’

by Adeena Schlussel on behalf of Daniel Lubetzky

In a New York Times article a couple of years ago, Steven Pinker discussed morality and specifically, when it comes to a head with culture, preferences and evolving standards.  Pinker’s conclusion makes an important point that an adversary’s opinion may seem completely immoral, when in fact it is “in the throes of a moral mind-set that appears to them to be every bit as mandatory and universal as ours does to us.”  Whether morality should be an immutable and universal code, or if it should be more subjective and evolve with the ages, it is crucial to remember that our personal inclinations should never “get in the way of doing the right thing.”

[Read more →]

"Where you stand depends on where you sit."
— Nelson Mandela

For years, Forbes has published a list of billionaires that reflects the cult of money we live in.  We lionize wealth.  Why? Wealth accumulation is only a means to an end.  What are you going to do with that money should matter to society much more.   Why is it that so many people forget that? At least partly it’s because our society glorifies financial success, and ranking it is relatively easier as you are dealing with a very easy measure: money accumulated.

It would be far more interesting, though, if a publication or organization measured and praised the social impact of the greatest contributors to civilization. For example, Mohammad Yunus from Grameen Bank, who is nowhere to be seen on the Forbes list, would rank quite high because of the enormous impact he has had on society.  Bill Gates would too, given how much of his wealth he has given out and in such methodic ways to try to impact society. 

My friend Martin Varsavsky forwarded me a list published by BusinessWeek that is a useful start – ranking the most generous philanthropists within the Forbes 400 list. 

What we need now is to take it to the next level, asking a trusted third party to develop a way to take donations into contribution as the BusinessWeek list does, but to not stop there.  To add a measurement for the way the money is given out, whether there is a social innovation or model that helps advance society in the process.  For example, the Skoll Foundation is among those responsible for supporting social entrepreneurship and making it “cool.” So it’s not just the enormous amount it has invested (donated) into the space, but also the way it has gone about doing it.  That counts more than just writing a check, assuming the process and the platform are well thought out and innovative.  And even if someone doesn’t donate money, but they create models to benefit humanity, whether through better health systems like Paul Farmer, or through the many innovations that social entrepreneurs from India and South East Asia (including several impressive ones selected by the Schwab Foundation) have introduced to truly impact their countries.

Celebrities also have a currency – fame, and the power to use it effectively.  So here again, we could turn blind worship of celebrities into appreciation for those that, rather than paying the dues their publicist asked them to, sincerely engage in ways that are sustained and impactful.  George Clooney comes to mind, but there are dozens others who truly dedicate themselves to make this a better world.

If Fast-Company Magazine or TIME Magazine could create a formula that is sufficiently consistent, transparent, and simple while robust, it could become the basis for others to start rallying around and quoting and praising those truly worthy of adulation.

People that truly want to change the world do not do it for the sake of a popularity contest.  Changing the world is not easy, so if you just want to be popular in today’s society there are shortcuts to think you can get there.  So this list is not intended to impact those people.  For that there is education – helping people find purpose in their lives.

But for our society as a whole, which is so obsessed with Hollywood celebrities, political power, and financial wealth, a credible list that focused peoples’ attention on the contributions people are making to society could help start changing the discourse.

And to make this platform truly inspiring and accessible to high school students and not just people already in a position of influence, a supplemental list could be created that would track the CREATIVITY AND MAGNIFICATIONAL IMPACT of just one simple action or relatively modest behavioral change within every person’s reach.  The power of the internet can be the great equalizer.   With Do The KIND Thing, the KIND Movement is trying to inspire unexpected acts of kindness that are the most KINDTASTIC – truly transformative and impactful.  Ideally we can start putting a spotlight on how “the average citizen” can make a far-greater-than-average contribution to their community.  It would be great if society could find effective platforms to praise those who step out of their zones of comfort to make others a bit better off, to show how a 15-year old can change the world, one idea at a time.

This week’s quote of the week is an excerpt that I came across in the Yizkor Service on Yom Kippur and found particularly moving :

When I die give what’s left of me away

to children and old men that wait to die.

And if you need to cry,

cry for your brother walking the street beside you.

And when you need me, put your arms around anyone

and give them what you need to give me.

I want to leave you something,

something better than words or sounds.

Look for me in the people I’ve known or loved,

and if you cannot give me away,

at least let me live in your eyes and not in your mind.

You can love me best by letting hands touch hands,

and by letting go of children that need to be free.

Love doesn’t die, people do.

So, when all that’s left of me is love,

give me away.

                                                              – Meritt Malloy

I also appreciated another concept from the prayer book that speaks of the power of generations, and provides an element of comfort when thinking of those who are deceased:

If some messenger were to come to us with the offer that death should be overthrown, but with the one inseparable condition that birth should also cease; if the existing generation were given the chance to live forever, but on the clear understanding that never again would there be a child,or a  youth, or first love, never again new persons with new hopes, new ideas, new achievements; ourselves for always and never any others- could the answer be in doubt?

Earlier tonight at a reception by the Skoll Foundation on the occasion of the CGI conference, I had an interesting conversation with Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America.  One of her insights is that the key to improving our education system is not in undermining teachers, who are far stronger than the stereotypical condemnations would lead one to believe. The key is to empower students with the vision that they are worthy and deserving of a higher education and a brighter future – to increase their self-worth through visualization about the possibilities before them.

What I found interesting is that, like OneVoice’s 2018 insight about visualization of a two-state solution as key to get there, here in education an ability to visualize a better future is again central to getting there.

Like Thoreau wrote, "If you have built clouds on the sky your work need not be lost.  That is where they should be. Now build the foundations under them." (I paraphrase from memory so don’t quote me)

I have always thought that the keys to improving our education and giving young people an "edge" is to teach kids about IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY, about how to be INTROSPECTIVE AND SELF-CRITICAL, about how to do CRITICAL THINKING and evaluation of issues before them – questioning all assumptions, and to be RESILIENT/PERSISTENT, and GOAL-ORIENTED.  Wendy agreed all of these are very important aspects of growth in education.

But a prerequisite seems to be the ATTITUDE.  And that attitude can emanate from a positive view of ourselves and our future.

Guy Deutscher wrote a fascinating article about the impact of our mother tongues on our alternating perceptions of life. He quotes Roman Jakobson’s maxim to summarize that “Languages differ essentially in what they must convey and not in what they may convey.”

But the insights go so well beyond what you might think. This article is a must read.

What it does not explicitly conclude (but I would like to infer) is that learning additional languages helps us expand our horizons in yet more ways than you’d ever had realized.

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You’d think that the most important question in our lives would get sufficient attention and introspection by us all.  Alas, as we live every day with little distractions, many people never ask themselves, “why am I here?”, “what is my purpose?”

People follow career paths and spend decades working without every asking themselves, “is this truly what makes me the happiest?” “Is this how I can best change the world and make it a little bit better?”

When asked for career advice, my only two pieces I tend to give is, “whatever you do, give it your best and your everything”, and “make sure you ask yourself what is your passion, what moves you, and then try to find a way for your work to be your passion.”

Think about it.  Beyond sleeping, your work life may be what you dedicate the most hours to in your life.  Why not make it something you truly enjoy and are passionate about?

The only problem with the above advice is that you may become so passionate that sometimes you become a workaholic and do not sufficiently appreciate the need to balance your life with other enjoyments like family and friends.  But may that be the problem you’ll have – that you enjoy your job so much that doing it is a hobby, a passion – your favorite thing to do.

More often, when I ask applicants about what is important to them, what gives them meaning, they draw blanks.

This column from David Brooks can be very useful for people who want to think about this issue.

David Brooks maintains that 24-year olds may not be capable of answering the big questions about their purpose in life.  I find that is often not true, that even far younger people can find some level of passion when they take the time to think about it. It doesn’t mean that every college graduate must know whether solving the Arab-Israeli conflict, or reversing global warming, or eradicating poverty is what most gives them a sense of fulfillment and what they most consider to be a priority.  For some it may just be directional – helping people feel better, giving structure to thoughts, organizing people, creating things, etc.  And each of these can give one a sense of the direction where they want to start discovering opportunities. 

Certainly when evaluating options, peoples’ circumstances will determine at least some of their vantage points and realistic options, as Brooks suggests.  But I think everyone has the right to take a couple hours to do some hard thinking and go BEYOND what may seem like limiting circumstances or options.  For it is in deep introspection that some will find purpose outside of their common circles, and, once they find it, will move mountains to journey in that direction.

For, just like purpose gives us fulfillment and satisfaction, it also gives us the drive and energy for maximum impact and accomplishment.

Purpose, then, is not about the world we live in, or about the person we are, but about the intersection between them and the energy that pours out when we find ours.

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