I’m still affected by the onslaught of chance meetings of past 365 friends and of 365 readers. Over the last week this occurrence is accelerating and it happening in a city as vast as Los Angeles has, in a way, knocked me to my knees in wonderment, motivating me to reach out as far as I can. In doing so, I’m working to take 365 on the presentation road. Not for aim of self-glorification, but in support of the message it is building and for the community it is forming. If we can get this much traction via a blog, what can we do if we hit the media and speaking circuit?
This is the motivator that led me to set up a TED profile yesterday, my first outreach in actively promoting 365. I’ll push harder and see what other vehicles I can find, but we have to start somewhere. Anyone know a good publicist who takes on pro-bono outreach projects?
And to commit to the long-term, I’m even setting up a .org to build a permanent model for the 365 mission, I’ll keep you posted.
We are almost half way through the initial one-year challenge that got this whole ball rolling, and I stand beside myself, amazed at the unity it is forming and the works I am witnessing.
Every day via those we meet, and the comments received, I am reaffirmed that each one of us truly has the potential to do exceptional things. And as stated yesterday by Jerry, “We all have a purpose,” and no matter what our status in life or business, we can make a difference on planet earth.
I remain resolute in my findings of the absolute power of one, as I paraphrase the combined thoughts of many of our 365 friends, “We’d rather see many doing small works every day, than to hear of one large work that will probably fade away.”
Today I spend a short thirty minutes with yet one more individual who is doing his part, humble Eddie.
Eddie and I run into each other during a wait for family, myself, along with my wife, sit in wait for my daughter to finish her art class, and Eddie, for his wife’s end of workday call.
“Where are we?” you ask.
Where else, a shopping center… OK, stop throwing the bricks! I know I’ve said malls are my least than favorite place… But please don’t thrash me… I’m waiting for my daughter. Is there any nobler cause?
Anyway, now that I have dug a deep hole of self-recrimination… “Dude, you’ve also hidden behind your kid… Wake up and take the humbling.
Alright, I submit, there are great people to be found in enclosed shopping madness, And despite the climate control and twenty-four hour artificial sunlight, I promise to return… Might we move on?
Go forth Richard, but we’re watching you buddy!
Thanks, I shall not judge the malls ever again; let’s get back to Eddie.
Like I said, Eddie is humble… Very humble… and he accepts his opportunity to contribute without hesitation.
Eddie is a very spiritual man, this is evident in project he is working on as I interrupt his privacy, a talk he will be presenting at his church. But as we talk, he prioritizes the importance of freedom and of free will.
“We know what is right or wrong,” he suggests with a smile of acceptance in setting the stage for his thought for the people of the world.
“I ask for peace, and if everybody will contribute, we have a future to look at.”
“We can learn from our past, look at what happened in World War One and World War Two.”
Eddie’s war reference pushes me to think of the greed, corruption and deception of blindly following pregidous leadership. I think of Hitler and the carnage and horrors he left in his wake, as well as the atrocities endured by an innocent people. This reference in itself is enough of a thinking topic to end our discussion. But we still have time before Eddie’s wife calls and my daughters class ends, we resume.
Eddie references another instance of mans fall in supporting another hot issue for Eddie. “We need to take care of our planet. Look at what happened in the Philippines with the deforestation in the name of profit. Now there is terrible flooding, landslides, loss of wildlife and risk to the health of the countries people and agriculture. The people who caused the problem were caught up in greed and not thinking of the next generation.”
Let me spin Eddie’s case studies by saying this, two negatives can add up to a positive.
Per Eddie, “If you consider everything, the difficult economy, the stresses of the world and instead think about the people, and if everyone could do something for others and focus on respecting the earth – the planet has the potential to be a nice place to live in.”
“It is up to us to teach, and to the next generation to do their part,” Eddie advises.
“And whatever we do today, the next generation will have to live with. This generation is looking at us… We have to think about our kids.”
Eddie, thanks for your call to action, we will do our best to honor your advice. Friends, whatever positive you have… Pass it on.