Samaritan Blog

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Friday, November 6, 2009

Intention Friday

Set your intention for the weekend.

My intent is to transform myself in order to transform the world.

Am I living my values?

Be the change...

What is your intention?

Thursday, November 5, 2009

the things that are the same

Listen to ... Connecting to a Global Tribe (This I Believe)

"I believe globalization is forcing our brains to evolve.

I’ve had the privilege to see a lot more of the world than anyone my age could reasonably hope to. A few years ago, on a backpacking trip, I made a video of myself dancing terribly in exotic locations. I put it on my web site. Some friends started passing it around, and soon millions of people had watched it. I was offered sponsorship to continue my accidental vocation, and since then I’ve made two more videos that include 70 countries on all seven continents. A lot of people wanted to dance along with me, so I started inviting them to join in everywhere I went, from Toronto to Tokyo to Timbuktu.

Here’s what I can report back: People want to feel connected to each other. They want to be heard and seen, and they’re curious to hear and see others from places far away. I share that impulse. It’s part of what drives me to travel. But it’s constantly at odds with another impulse, which is to reduce and contain my exposure to a world that’s way too big for me to comprehend.

My brain was designed to inhabit a fairly small social network of maybe a few dozen other primates—a tribe. Beyond that size, I start to get overwhelmed.

And yet here I am in a world of over six billion people, all of whom are now inextricably linked together. I don’t need to travel to influence lives on the other side of the globe. All I have to do is buy a cup of coffee or a tank of gas. My tribe has grown into a single, impossibly vast social network, whether I like it or not. The problem, I believe, isn’t that the world has changed, it’s that my primitive caveman brain hasn’t.

I am fantastic at seeing differences. Everybody is. I can quickly pick out those who look or behave differently, and unless I actively override the tendency, I will perceive them as a threat. That instinct may have once been useful for my tribe but when I travel, it’s a liability.

When I dance with people, I see them smile and laugh and act ridiculous. It makes those differences seem smaller. The world seems simpler, and my caveman brain finds that comforting.

I believe my children will have brains ever so slightly better suited to the vast complexity that surrounds us. They will be more curious, more eager to absorb and to connect.

And I believe when they look into eyes of strangers, what they will see before the differences are the things that are the same." - Matt Harding

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Samaritan Experiment

Post Office, Downtown Boise Idaho

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

To Transform the World, Transform Yourself

Have you heard of Meatless Monday? I first heard the idea from Michael Pollan at PopTech. Meatless Monday is an international campaign that encourages people to cut meat out of their diet on Monday.

By removing meat once a week, the average American reduces their saturated fat intake by 15%, diminishing the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and various cancers.

According to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization... the meat industry generates nearly one fifth of the man-made greenhouse gas emissions that lead to climate change. Curbing meat consumption in the U.S. one day a week would have the equivalent effect of taking 20 million mid-size cars off the road.

Current meat production methods cause nearly half of all stream and river pollution. Meat also requires a great deal of fresh water to produce. The production of a pound of beef takes approximately 2,500 gallons of water. By not eating meat on Monday, each individual could save about 1,100 gallons of water a week.