Give a Child Life

To have an open, not a closed, heart.

On my morning walk today, I reflected on the importance of gratitude. Eighteen years ago, I was sitting at a table in a Stanford cafeteria, getting to know my colleagues. All of us had just started in the Ph.D. program in the communication department. The university not only covered our tuition, it also provided monthly living stipends in exchange for doing research or teaching.  With incredible unanimity, we felt a profound sense of gratitude. Each of us knew well our individual failings…each of us knew that we were not better or even smarter than others…but somehow this wonderful abundance had fallen upon us.  

It feels good to live with a sense of gratitude. To be thankful, not bitter, for what we have. To look at what surrounds us, not what eludes us.  To have an open, not a closed, heart.

I felt gratitude today when I looked at the pictures below. Carlos, our director in El Salvador, sent me pictures of children reading the books GCL provided.  I feel so grateful that I, with the support of friends like you, am able to help open a new world for these children. Feel good when you look at the pictures. Your compassion is making a difference.

 

Just in from Nairobi.

This just in from Nairobi:

I managed to deliver 35 bags of 50kgs MAIZE and 9 bags of 50Kgs BEANS yesterday.  The remaining items will be delivered tomorrow.

One thing for sure that the Stara community said and was also evident on their faces is that they were THANKFUL. They really appreciated your support since now their warehouse was empty and now they have a reason to smile during this August Holiday.

Make a lot of little kids happy.

Yesterday I was reading Thich Nhat Hanh’s book, The Art of Power. As he wrote about suffering, I thought about the cliché that suffering makes you stronger. Something about that has always rubbed me the wrong way. Suffering may build you up, but it also breaks you down. Instead of linking suffering and strength, Hanh draws together suffering and happiness. Because we experience suffering, he wrote, we become better able to recognize happiness when it appears.

I don’t know how much you have suffered, but suffering hurts. A lot. We experience suffering in different ways but the underlying pain is the same. The key is to accept suffering for what it is. Then let go of it and open yourself to happiness when it heads your way.

I want to make a lot of little kids happy. The kids GCL helps have suffered far more than any of us can imagine. Think how good it feels to make even one child happy.