Reading this article brought to mind so many images, it’s hard to pick one. One of hope was a story I saw, I believe, on 60 Minutes that involved a male hairdresser. A solution he saw to restoring some dignity to his fellow human beings on the street was to walk the neighborhoods offering free hair cuts and shaves. He felt that it was a way for the individuals to glimpse their way back to themselves, a self that got lost in the complexities and challenges of life. I remember tears rolling as the newly transformed person looked in the mirror that the hairdresser carried with him. They all responded with such overwhelming emotions, one of which was gratitude for this man’s compassion and loving spirit. Random acts of kindness have the cumulative affect of a tsunami if we all decided to do our small part within our own neighborhood. It’s the ripple affect and the beautiful thing is, it’s reciprocal.
Yes.
We all play a part. It’s easier, more fun, and healthier to give more than you receive.
Sometimes I think that the entire culmination of all my deepest thinking is merely this: we are all equal, and sacred, and one, in the end. Jeff Bezos and a homeless person - Same same.
I grew up pretty sheltered. I didn’t see homeless people on a day-to-day basis in the small, upper middle class town where I grew up. Then I spent most of my early 20s in the Bay Area. Homelessness was a thing, but nowhere near as bad as it is now. What I’ve been seeing more recently in Oakland and SF looks like some of the toughest slums I’ve ever seen, in places like India, South Africa, Brazil, and China.
This is the issue that, I think, defines Silicon Valley. Only in a society that can live like this would people produce the kind of technology that’s currently being produced. We need to ramp up on compassion, humanity, community.
The worst part is how everyone acts like this is all so hopeless. It’s not! We can do so much better. We just need a slight shift in mindset. These are profoundly solvable problems.
Reading this article brought to mind so many images, it’s hard to pick one. One of hope was a story I saw, I believe, on 60 Minutes that involved a male hairdresser. A solution he saw to restoring some dignity to his fellow human beings on the street was to walk the neighborhoods offering free hair cuts and shaves. He felt that it was a way for the individuals to glimpse their way back to themselves, a self that got lost in the complexities and challenges of life. I remember tears rolling as the newly transformed person looked in the mirror that the hairdresser carried with him. They all responded with such overwhelming emotions, one of which was gratitude for this man’s compassion and loving spirit. Random acts of kindness have the cumulative affect of a tsunami if we all decided to do our small part within our own neighborhood. It’s the ripple affect and the beautiful thing is, it’s reciprocal.
Yes. We all play a part. It’s easier, more fun, and healthier to give more than you receive. Sometimes I think that the entire culmination of all my deepest thinking is merely this: we are all equal, and sacred, and one, in the end. Jeff Bezos and a homeless person - Same same.
I grew up pretty sheltered. I didn’t see homeless people on a day-to-day basis in the small, upper middle class town where I grew up. Then I spent most of my early 20s in the Bay Area. Homelessness was a thing, but nowhere near as bad as it is now. What I’ve been seeing more recently in Oakland and SF looks like some of the toughest slums I’ve ever seen, in places like India, South Africa, Brazil, and China.
This is the issue that, I think, defines Silicon Valley. Only in a society that can live like this would people produce the kind of technology that’s currently being produced. We need to ramp up on compassion, humanity, community.
The worst part is how everyone acts like this is all so hopeless. It’s not! We can do so much better. We just need a slight shift in mindset. These are profoundly solvable problems.