Daniel Lubetzky

Check out this not-so-random act of KINDNESS that I spotted in Central Park one weekend a while back!

You know that a field must be hot when even fraudulent scammers start adopting its tone and position themselves as such. You used to get scams offering you millions of dollars from a despot in Nigeria or a corrupt official looking for a partner in crime.

Now check out the email I got: they want to donate their life-savings for my charitable/humanitarian good work!

You were recently recommended to me by a Journalist (Chris Hondros) who gave me your email address. Before the Journalist was killed, he told me about you and your humanitarian wiliness when I was sharing my thoughts with him about donating my entire wealth to a kind hearted person for humanitarian work.

My name is Mrs Eman Abdul-aziz, I am a widow living in Libya. I seem to have become very heart-broken after my entire family was killed by armed forces loyal to Gadhafi.

I have intentions to donate my entire savings to you for charity use. Please acknowledge my email for more details about me and my donation. my email is : mrsemanabdul-aziz11@nba2k.cn

Sincerely,

Mrs Eman Abdul-aziz

I realized social entrepreneurship was hot when corporate marketing departments tried to position their campaigns as "corporate social responsibility." But nothing can attest to the trend of people wanting to make a difference like the compliment that these scammers pay us!

A few years ago some ‘happiness’ researchers contended that parents were actually less happy than couples without children because of the sorrows and headaches accompanied by raising children. I remember thinking that is the most ridiculous and superficial analysis I’ve ever read. Of course there are challenges. But they underline the exponential rewards.

Now comes a new analysis about what truly constitutes happiness in a well-rounded way. It debunks the equation of temporary moods or even positive attitudes with ‘happiness."  These are of course interrelated, but so is meaning, a sense of accomplishment, engagement, etc.

The attached article shares some of the new thinking on measuring happiness. Some of these insights reminded me of the theme of the commencement speech I gave at Trinity University a couple weeks ago.

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In an environment of scarcity, relationships move from transactional to strategic.

- From my friend David Kamenetzky, Executive Board Member at MARS Incorporated

One of the reasons that Teach for America is so successful is that the organization harnesses young passion.  Venture for America (a program that we learned about from a great previous intern, Liz) hinges on a similar concept, only VFA places fresh college grads in start up environments in struggling parts of the country.   The idea is that the start-ups get inexpensive talent and passion, while the grads get hands on experience that will benefit their careers for the years to come. Venture for America seems like a great idea and it will be interesting to see its impact.

By Adeena Schlussel

Below is Tzippy Livni’s code of democratic values, based off of recent events in the Middle East, and decades of history:

Current events in the Middle East highlight the urgency of adopting at the global level what true democracies apply at the national level – a universal code for participation in democratic elections. This would include requiring every party running for office to embrace, in word and deed, a set of core democratic principles: the renunciation of violence and the acceptance of state monopoly over the use of force, the pursuit of aims by peaceful means, commitment to the rule of law and to equality before the law, and adherence to international agreements to which their country is bound.

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This stunning picture was taken by a National Geographic photographer; it is hard to believe that this is unadulterated nature and not a painting!

This video is very well done, regardless if one thinks that Israel should return to her 1967 borders. As the video describes, some Israelis are very concerned about returning to their previous borders from a defense perspective, and it is important to understand their viewpoint.

Others feel that Israel would be able to adequately defend herself (as seen in the 1967 war), and that the West Bank is not crucial to doing so.  As Mr. van Creveld, an Israeli military historian said in an article in the New York Times: “Strategically speaking . . . the risk of giving up the West Bank “is negligible.” He continued: “What is not negligible is the demographic, social, cultural and political challenge that ruling over 2.5 million — nobody knows exactly how many — occupied Palestinians in the West Bank poses. Should Israeli rule over them continue, then the country will definitely turn into what it is already fast becoming: namely, an apartheid state that can only maintain its control by means of repressive secret police actions.”

Spotted by Daniel Lubetzky, by Adeena Schlussel

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Although this article by Tom Friedman over simplifies the tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, it promotes a laudable lesson: Israeli and Palestinian leaders need to come together over a share goal, instead of working separately to advance their own agendas. The lessons learned from Mubarak’s ousting from Egypt teach that non-violence and leveraging  political and economic advantages will save the day.

by Adeena Schlussel

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An interesting set of studies suggest that as we grow older, we forget things because our brains don’t have the ability to remember prior incidents as well and they associate similar but non-identical experiences as having been identical (as seen here). But another possibility was ignored – that part of the problem is connected to the challenge we all face as human beings that as we get older we become less critical in our thinking and we accept connections and assumptions without questioning them. So instead of this being necessarily a reflection of our dying brain cells and neurotransmitters, it could be a result of socialization of our inputs into prejudicial assumptions that no longer question matters.

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