Filed under: Inspirational Thoughts | Tags: ALS, hope, Inspiring Stories, Inspiring women
by Anis Salvesen
It is true that there are many inspiring stories out there, but some of them are just jaw-dropping. You’ll never guess who is the heroine of one of these stories. She does not live in the Third World. She has not suffered then overcome incredible acts of violence. She is simply living her day-to-day life, a doting grandmother and author. Who is she? Her name is Catherine Wolf, and you will be floored by her amazing story.
Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Imagine it’s 1996, and you start having a little trouble with your left foot and calf. You go from doctor to doctor until they realize that yes, you do have what they fear. You only have 2 to 5 years to live, during which time you will gradually lose the ability to move. Eventually, you will be unable to even breathe on your own. Your life can be prolonged by connecting you to a ventilator, but then you run the risk of becoming “locked” in your own body, fully conscious but unable to even blink. You have Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
It’s probably safe to say that most of us would crumble. I know I would be curled up in a corner bawling my eyes out. I would be unbearably sad, angry and most of all scared. Worst of all, I would feel totally and completely helpless – beyond all hope.
Yet Catherine found a way to fight, to cling to as much “normalcy” as possible given the circumstances. She was passionate about her work as a research psychologist at IBM and refused to let the disease take her down. When she lost the use of her hands, IBM got her an aide so she could continue working. She still attended company meetings, using a switch under her foot to communicate. When she was still able to move her neck, she was able to type by wearing a reflective dot on her forehead and then pointing her head to choose a letter on the screen.
Eventually, Catherine was obviously unable to continue in her professional career. But she was by no means idle. She wrote published poetry. She became active in the online community PatientsLikeMe. She co-authored a scientific article that was published in the European Journal of Psychology. Did I mention that she was able to do all of this despite being unable to move her neck, typing by raising an eyebrow to painstakingly select one letter on the screen at a time?
The things we take for granted, things like being able to eat and breathe on our own, Catherine is no longer able to do. She has to sleep alone, half-bent at a 45 degree angle to prevent her from choking, as she is unable to swallow. When she feels the saliva pooling in her throat, one of her health aides has to suction it out on her signal.
Inability to swallow of course means that Catherine is no longer able to eat. She is fed through a feeding tube. In fact, she wrote a poem called Last Supper, which celebrates the joy of food, the taste, the texture, the aroma. It is a recollection of the last meal she had, about eight years ago. Now her nutrients are tasteless and scentless, funneled into her body through a tube.
Yet Catherine still finds occasion to curl the part of her lip she can control into a smile. She has a remarkable ability to focus on the good things in her life, on her family in general and in particular her toddler grandson. Her story inspires me to another level of gratitude for the good things in my life. Not only do I have food, but I have the ability to eat it, to taste it. I even have blessings I don’t tend to think about, like being able to swallow, to breathe unassisted. It is amazing to think how many things we all take for granted, and I am thankful to be able to share this story with you.
***The source for this blog post was an article that appeared in the Brown Alumni Magazine (March/April ‘09) titled I Will Be Heard! and written by Beth Schwartzapfel.
Filed under: Holiday Giving | Tags: awareness, change, charity, children, Christmas, climate change, education, environment, generosity, giving in hard times, hope, Peace, Santa Claus, sharing, take action, Volunteering
By Cheryl Mahoney
It’s that time of year again. Garlands are strung and lights go up and the malls are packed and kids write letters to Santa Claus. And sometimes, adults do too. Here’s what I might ask for, if I were to write to the man at the North Pole.
Dear Santa Claus (or St. Nicholas, or Father Christmas, or Kris Kringle–whoever’s listening),
I hope you, and Mrs. Claus, and the elves, are all well this year. In the enchanted land of Santa’s village, I’ve no doubt you are. Out here in the rest of the world, I can’t complain for myself, but the world in general has quite a few troubles. But you’re likely aware of that, considering you have eyes everywhere! So for Christmas this year, while I would like Michael Crawford’s autobiography or the complete Star Trek DVD box set, there are a few bigger matters you might look into.
To start with the most pressing, time-wise, I’d like world leaders at Copenhagen to feel some of that giving, harmonious spirit you embody, and do the right thing for all of us by coming to an agreement for reducing carbon emissions and protecting the planet. Perhaps you’ve encountered the problem of climate change yourself, Santa–have you noticed any melting near the North Pole? If leaders can’t come to an agreement though, please, no coal this year. How about some CFL Lightbulbs instead? Could be a good way to change with the times…
My mother’s been asking for world peace for Christmas (and sometimes birthdays and Mother’s Day too) for years. I think we’d both settle for peace in the Middle East though. And in Darfur. And the Philippines. And…well, perhaps you’d better aim for world peace after all.
I don’t need money, but a few millions would be nice–a million trees planted and a million mosquito nets for Africa and a million soccer balls for kids in refugee camps. And a million girls going to school and a million babies born safely and a million letters sent to old friends.
I’d like unemployment rates to go down, and charitable donations to go up, for volunteering rates to increase and for UniversalGiving’s follower count on Twitter to reach 2,000. I’d like people to think about others who are in need of a little help, and to think about reaching out. And to keep that spirit into the new year.
And in the spirit of “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” I suppose I’m not really writing to the man at the North Pole at all, but rather–to whoever is listening. Santa might be the only one who can help everyone all by himself (with some help from elves), but everyone can help someone.
“Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy.”
Filed under: Giving, Social Change | Tags: awareness, change, climate change, Copenhagen, environment, future, hope, take action, United Nations
By Cheryl Mahoney
Copenhagen. It’s the capital of Denmark. In Viking days, there was a fishing village on the spot. In the present day, the city is considered one of the most livable in the world, the waters of the bay are so clean you can swim in them, and 36% of the population bikes to work.
And why, you ask, am I talking about Copenhagen? If I was going to pick capital cities at random, I’d probably talk about London. But it’s Copenhagen that has become a big focus in certain circles recently. And in those circles, “Copenhagen,” used as in “two more weeks to Copenhagen” or “send a message to Copenhagen” or “we’re gathering a delegation for Copenhagen,” hasn’t really meant the city at all. It’s been short-hand for the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009, occurring in Copenhagen and starting today. Delegates from all over the world are meeting in Copenhagen to talk about the future–theirs, yours and mine.
World leaders are convening to make promises and plans for cutting the emissions from their respective countries, in order to reduce the CO2 we’re putting into the atmosphere and, it is hoped, keep the planet from growing dangerously warmer.
I’ve waxed eloquent (I hope it was eloquent) about climate change, global warming and the environment before (here, here and here too) so rather than trying that again, I thought today I’d concentrate on resources. Not the kind of resources we’re hoping to preserve, but resources for learning about Copenhagen, learning about the situation, and taking action.
First, I recommend reading ”Closing the Gaps” in The Economist. I never liked math and trying to fathom the economy is…challenging, but this article is excellent for explaining the international situation (read: politics) going into Copenhagen. It seems simple enough–cut emissions or everyone dies–but of course it’s not. Well, on some level it is. But politically it’s not, and that’s what’s going to count at the conference.
Next, I want to point you to two inspiring videos about the effects of the climate change. I don’t know where you live, but if like me you’re in the United States (and if you’re not in New Orleans), we’re fairly insulated from the effects of global warming. Sure, on a hot day I joke that it’s global warming, but in actual fact I’m not seeing the effects first-hand. But some people are. In Bangladesh, where storms and rising waters are forcing people from their homes. Or on Everest, where mountain climbers are watching their mountain melt.
Now, hopefully, you’ve been inspired about the crisis, and maybe frustrated by the complications and probable foot-dragging of the politics. What can we do about it all? You can start by checking out 350.org, and Repower America, and Seal the Deal 2009 (who’ve registered more than a million hours of volunteering for the planet!) They’ll all give you ideas for taking action. Are you on Twitter? Follow @350 @WWF_Climate @algore @billmckibben @greenpeace and @LiveEarth. I’m betting they’re sharing ideas too.
And plant a tree. Because trees are good.
Filed under: Books, Social Change | Tags: Bay Area Events, Half the Sky, Nicholas Kristof, Statistics, Women's Rights
by Anis Salvesen
On our drive from Agra to Delhi not long ago, I saw quite a bit of countryside. One thing I noted was that the people I saw laboring in the fields were mostly women. I commented on this to the driver, and he said, “Women do everything. They work outside, take care of the children, cook, wash – everything.” His tone betrayed no lamentation of this fact. That’s all it was – a fact.
At that moment I thought of an event I had attended featuring Nicholas Kristof talking about his book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. I can’t believe I did not write about it previously! It was a great event, and the book altered my perspective on my life. There are so many rights I take for granted.
Before I go any further, I should probably tell you a bit more about Nicholas Kristof. He and his wife left the US in 1988 and moved to Beijing to work for the New York Times as correspondents. There, they witnessed the massacre in Tiananmen Square. It was naturally horrific for them and was covered widely in the news. That’s not surprising.
What was surprising was that whereas the number of people gunned down (4oo – 800 protesters) in Tiananmen Square was shiver-inducing, it was nothing compared to the number of baby girls (40,000) that died in China every year. The contrast between the press the Tiananmen Square protest received and the dearth of press coverage of the deaths of little girls was just amazing to Nicholas and his wife Sheryl. This caused them to wonder about the marginalization of “women’s issues,” and it soon became apparent that this was not an issue unique to China. All over the world, females were being neglected, brutalized, murdered (basically every horrible scenario imaginable), and no one but the victims seemed to mind.
Fortunately, Nicholas and Sheryl decided to do something about it. They traveled through Asia and Africa and compiled an amazing collection of stories of individual women who lived through unimaginable nightmares but refused to succumb to their fates. Somehow they then weaved in relevant statistics and managed to paint a picture of the global oppression of women that was simultaneously universal and remarkably personal.
I could go on and on about what I learned from listening to Nicholas and reading his book, but instead I will mention two points that I found most striking and powerful.
- At no point in the life of a woman does their gender not endanger their life: as children they are discriminated against when it comes to the allocation of resources such as food and medicine; as young girls and through their child-bearing years, they can all-too often die from giving birth; as old women, they are seen as useless and even blamed (then killed) for famines and natural disasters.
- The oppression of women is (at least in part) directly responsible for the inability of entire societies to pull themselves out of poverty. It stands to reason that systematically holding back half your population is not the best way to build your economy. It wastes essentially half the country’s potential and fosters mediocrity in the workforce. Not only that, but the gender with the money and power is less likely to invest the money on things that would move the country forward – things like education, the health of their children and even small businesses.**
Perhaps the first point was something I already knew, but reading the specific stories that were representative of the bigger picture was what I found to be so powerful. As for the second point, it was an answer to a question that puzzles many: Why should women’s rights matter? Because the oppression of females does not just affect women! The systematic oppression of women is holding entire countries back, locking them in an endless cycle of poverty.
Alas, there is just too much great information in Half the Sky to share in one blog post. But I would like to leave you with a comment that Nicholas made that really struck me. He said (to very roughly paraphrase) that his generation was interested in what happened in other parts of the world, but it was more on an abstract, intellectual level. They did things like have sit-ins and protests against injustice, but they did not tend to intervene directly. Our generation, I believe he said, is different in that it is one of action. People today, thanks to technology, are able to connect with specific causes in specific regions of the world, and more importantly, with organizations on the ground that can help them make a very personal contribution to social change.
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** To illustrate this, Nicholas mentioned one particular study (more are found in his book) which was done in Ivory Coast that illustrates this fact. Apparently each gender grows certain crops. When the “men’s crops” thrive, more money is spent on vices like alcohol and tobacco. But when the “women’s crops” flourish, the household ends up spending more money on food!
Filed under: Social Change, Volunteering | Tags: awareness, change, climate change, commitment, community, environment, future, geography, hope, International Volunteer Day, International Volunteering, take action, United Nations, Volunteering
By Cheryl Mahoney
Have you ever thought about traveling thousands of miles from your home? Have you thought about doing it because you want to help someone? To change the world? To make a difference? If so, then you’ve thought about voluntourism, or international volunteering. And if you’ve already volunteered internationally–then you probably know how amazing an experience it can be.
Whether you’ve volunteered internationally before or are considering it or maybe haven’t even encountered the idea, this Saturday is a perfect time to do some thinking on the subject. This Saturday, December 5th, is International Volunteer Day.
International Volunteer Day was established in 1985 by the United Nations General Assembly, making it truly an international day. You can find out more at the United Nations Volunteers‘ site, or by visiting the World Volunteer Web.
The big campaign of the day this year is Volunteering for our Planet, an initiative of the UN Worldwide Campaign on Climate Change. The UN Volunteers are looking to gather up a count of registered volunteering hours on environmental issues, in order to send a message to the delegates meeting at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. The timing is convenient, because the Copenhagen Conference starts December 7th. I don’t know how the delegates will feel, but I’m already impressed. Right now, the UN Volunteers are listing over 860,000 registered volunteer hours, all of which occurred in the last six months. That’s more than 36,000 days, or 1,100 months, or 98 years. So that’s almost a century’s worth of volunteering time put in towards protecting the environment. Wow!
But that doesn’t mean, of course, that the job is done–far from it. In fact, I recently watched a powerful video about the effects of climate change in Bangladesh, bringing a human face to the crisis. Be warned–this might break your heart. And it shows that we all need to take action.
International Volunteer Day is still almost a week away. You might not have time to plan a trip that will take you thousands of miles from home, but I bet you can still find another way to help–for the environment, or for whatever other cause tugs at your heart.
