Re: Choose

Pay no mind to the poster who was just trying
to start a debate in a support forum...it is
a valid enough question...and you have a right
to ask it.

I would love to speak with a homeless person
with dreams and goals...but I love rags-to-riches
stories, or those who do not always aspire to
financial riches, but attain wealth in other
areas of their life. I like to hear how the
single person was able to make a difference in
a positive way. So often we hear how one or two
people have terrorized a community by doing a
heinous deed and there is not as much attention
given to those who also go in their own focused
path to create their lives and to be a part of
others in many case, like the works of Mother
Theresa and her order she founded.

I find too, that many rich people were forged
in someway through hardship and so have come
by an appreciation which has in turn helped
them want to inspire others. There was one man's
story, "Pursuit of Happiness" which starred
Will Smith~~

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Pursuit_of_Happyness/70044605

about a real life guy, with a son, who was homeless
but determined to survive and THRIVE. It is an
inspirational movie truly of a rags-to-riches story.

When my daughter was growing up, we would pass
the school where Brad Pitt graduated and I would
tell her, see, Brad had a vision and dream and he
came from the same area you come from. You can do
anything you want to do if you want to do it enough
to take the steps to make it happen.

There were other men and women's lives which we held
up as examples, because truly, all you really have
to do to become homeless, is nothing. Do nothing
enough and you will find yourself without friends
and family and jobless and wondering where the
next PB&J is coming from. I do find it fascinating
though to hear what transpires in a person's life
to make them feel so hopeless that they sort of
"let go". Our business was very close to a mission
in the city we lived so we met lots of these types
coming in on a winter day to get warm or to ask
for help. We would give them work and developed
friendships with some who were actually in many
cases, broken by the Vietnam War, where death and
destruction destroyed their illusions of what it
was to be human. I also found it interesting
to see how reaching out to them in a loving way
and drawing them in, perhaps did not change their
circumstances so much, as they were determined not
to "play the game" any longer, but they did reach out
for healing in other ways. They needed what money
could not buy. If you got past the smell, often
you found what others in their past had found
lovable about them, and they were loving in return.

I would rather not choose, but if I have to though,
its the rich man, because many many, are unspoken
heroes and heroines and devote assets and time to
making other people's lives better. A good example,
would be Oprah Winfrey and her Angel Network and
other service oriented projects, but there are many
less known as well.

In our community back home, many years ago, a woman
began her effort to inspire and build a place for
families and people in crisis to come. She would
literally go door to door asking for help and many
reached out to be a part of her dream. She bought
a old hotel and reconverted it, and then there was
a kitchen, and then a restaurant run by homeless,
and it grew and grew into a successful model of
how one person can make a HUGE difference. No one
who lived in our town for any significant time did
not know her name and I would count in the thousands
and thousands, the number of people who were effected
by her kindness and ability to bring others in the
community online to make a difference. She never got
rich, and that was never her goal. She WAS rich though
in love and the kindness wished her by others and
she was loving and assertive and a woman dear to
all.

So, perhaps in these few examples, you can see
where it is not money, or the lack of it which
defines a person's worth, it is what you do with
the blessings you have been given.

Oh, that reminds, me I saw an article in the past
few days where there was a church service and
the pastor of a congregation GAVE everyone, including
the children of his congregation money. The adults
got 500 dollars, the children 50 and they were asked
to consider them as the "talents" described in the
bible given to be shared. It was reaaaaalllly cool
to see how people used that money (energy) to
do good things. Some people combined their money,
many seeded projects which have grown, and even
children were able to learn how to use assets to
build community and feelings of hope and peace.
What make them feel good was not the money, but
the fruits of their labor which the money was able
to provide for.

be happy, be well,
Zoe

-_-