Making a Difference on Newsstands

If you're looking for a way to spread compassion with your gift-giving, or a way to boost your health when you can't get to the gym, check out my articles in the current issues of "Natural Health" and "Woman's Day" magazines. The December/January issue of the former explains how you can send gifts of humanitarian aid -- school supplies, mosquito nets, medicine and more -- in the name of your gift recipient to those in need around the world. In the December 2 issue of "Woman's Day," I've written about reaping physical health benefits simply by helping others. In these financially troubled times, acknowledging those who have much less than we do can remind us of our own riches. I hope you'll check out the articles and share your thoughts here.

A Writer With a Story

If you have read my book, The Difference a Day Makes, or pursued the suggestions I used to post at BenevolentPlanet.com, you know that I advocate personal action over cash donations. But today, a writing colleague is in dire need, and I'd like you to consider helping in any way you can. Lori Hall Steele is a prolific, talented writer and single mom who, just this past June, published an essay in the Washington Post that poignantly explored her young son's questions about death and separation. A few months later, Lori began having troubling symptoms that included a growing paralysis. She is now confined to a hospital bed and breathing support, diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). Unable to work, she is in danger of losing the home she provides for 7-year-old Jack, and her mounting medical bills are staggering.

I've never met Lori, but I "know" her through the online writers' group I belong to. I have often marveled at the generosity of this group of virtual friends, and they are now mounting an extraordinary effort on behalf of Lori and her son. It is a testament to what we can do when we join forces with a shared purpose. Please read Lori's essay, visit her Web site, follow the blog, then find out what you can do to help -- from writing to her Michigan state representatives, to joining the effort's Facebook group, to passing the word to the other Everyday Altruists you know.

It's not often that we get to connect a face, and a very personal story, with a charitable act. Lori's story may be one among many, but it's one we can all sign our names to, as collaborators in compassion and faith.

How to Remember September 11

This Thursday is the seventh anniversary of the September 11 attacks on New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Honor those who died, those who survived and those who still struggle to recover with a compassionate act:

Create a special envelope for the Remember September mail art project originated by Gail Ellspermann. Learn about it here. (Sample at left by Marney Makridakis of Artellaland.com.)

Do a kindness for another as part of a growing movement to make September 11 a national day of service. Learn more at mygooddeed.org.

Watch the PBS "Frontline" film, "Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero." (Ask your library if it has a copy to lend, or order it here.) Gather family and friends to watch with you.

Find out how others around the country are commemorating the events of seven years ago at the Families of September 11 site.

Multiply the effect by paying it forward: share these suggestions with 5 friends.

Your Attention, Please

I confess: I am a news junkie. And while being informed is a good thing, I have found that too much of a good thing can be very bad. My immersion in cable news networks, major newspapers and Web headlines usually leaves me more overwhelmed than inspired. I actually wouldn't mind having more filters in place to highlight what I really need to know as opposed to what my insatiable curiosity finds interesting.

Apparently, I'm not alone. One DC-area blogger/author writes eloquently about the ways our brains might be struggling under the onslaught of modern life. In the August 24 edition of The Washington Post, Dusty Horwitt writes about the ways info-overload can undermine our democracy. His article asks, "If Everyone's Talking, Who Will Listen?" and notes that "the average visitor to newspaper Web sites stops by for just 1.5 minutes per day..."

What does this have to do with compassionate action, you ask? We can't respond to others if we don't even notice them. Permanently plugged into ipods and cell phones, we're oblivious to the hungry person on the sidewalk. Mesmerized by celebrity gossip, we pass by the documentary about genocide. Frenetically texting our way into the store, we let the door shut on the person behind us. We phone while driving, IM while channel-surfing, snap photos instead of seeing the subtleties right in front of our faces. When do we ever pause to pay attention to family, friends and strangers who have stepped off of our electronic canvas?

The Post article points out that you can't even help yourself by making your own voice heard amid the din. We're told that the Internet has opened up democracy, providing a platform for anyone who can post, blog or Digg. But generating messages is just the first step. To have an impact, you must be seen or heard. And we're all making that a lot harder.

Conquering Cruelty

This past weekend, I attended a conference on animal welfare. Near the end of the day, a fellow attendee confessed to me that she was tired and discouraged. She had spent the weekend viewing acts of extraordinary human cruelty against animals, and despite the efforts of so many compassionate advocates, she couldn’t imagine that behavior changing in her lifetime.

Her despair reminded me of Larry King’s interview with Ingrid Betancourt, who was recently released after being held as a hostage for seven years in the Colombian jungle. When asked to name the worst thing she had to endure, Betancourt didn’t mention a particular torture tactic, or the long years apart from her family, or the effects of a failed escape attempt. After a long, thoughtful silence, she said the worst thing was “realizing that ... human beings can be so horrible to other human beings.”

Being confronted with the human capacity for cruelty can shake our faith to its core. We recognize that there are limits to our reasoned arguments, our pleas for mercy. When we hit the wall of ultimate indifference, we can only look to ourselves for redemption. Our choice is to surrender, to believe that hatred conquers all, or to affirm a more powerful force that elevates all humanity.

Betancourt has triumphed; against all odds, she has already resolved to forgive her captors. In doing so, she reclaims her power. I hope my fellow animal advocate can redirect her energies from anger against those who do harm, to the larger mission of caring for our fellow creatures. Her heart is greater than the conflict at hand, and the innocents need all of its might.

3 Reasons The Difference Still Makes Me Smile

My book, The Difference a Day Makes, was published three years ago, which the industry considers a lifetime. But expressing the humanity we have in common, in simple, daily ways, seems to have a long shelf-life; the book is still selling nicely, and this week, it was the #1 bestseller in its category on Amazon.com. That means our community of Everyday Altruists is growing every day.

And speaking of sales rankings, another thing that makes me happy is the good fortune I had to interview Greg Mortenson as one of the “expert voices” in The Difference a Day Makes. Greg’s book about his personal quest to build schools for girls in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Three Cups of Tea, was the #1 nonfiction paperback on this week’s Washington Post bestseller list, and it was the first book club choice for Body + Soul magazine readers. Among other experts I had the privilege of speaking with, all of whom are still busy building a better world, are Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States; Sarah Brady, honorary chair of the Brady Campaign to End Gun Violence (read my article about her and husband Jim here); and Bill Shore, founder and executive director of Share Our Strength. Having these extraordinary leaders lend remarks to Difference is an honor for which I am truly grateful.

A third thing that brings a smile to my face is an email I received recently from a reader in New Zealand. Having discovered my book in her local library, she wrote: “Living in a world where so much negativity abounds, hearing or reading comments of an encouraging nature has such a positive effect on my soul. We encouragers need all the encouragement we can get.”

Let us all be encouragers. Tips for green living are all the rage right now, and I’m glad the first chapter of Difference is about Nature Nurture. But what makes me hopeful is that the other chapters offer the same simple recipes for fighting poverty and homelessness, ending violence and hunger, honoring animals and elders and more. So while we’re waiting for the Al Gore of compassionate living to come forth and make it trendy, why not start our own quiet revolution? Tell your friends, engage your social network, write to your newspaper, adopt The Difference a Day Makes as your community group’s project. I guarantee you'll smile.

Wounded and Wiser

I’ve talked before about the unique ability we have to help others heal from pain we’ve experienced ourselves. Those who have suffered, whether from violence or illness or unexpected tragedy, are uniquely qualified to light a path for people who must find their way through a similar forest. We see this every time a crime victim, school dropout or bereaved parent launches an effort to restore justice, engage students or support the grieving.

Larry King recently interviewed Lee Thomas, a TV broadcaster in Detroit who has vitiligo, an incurable disease that is turning his black skin white. You can read the transcript or download the podcast about Thomas’s struggle here. The interview was truly compelling, but what stuck with me was Thomas's assertion that his affliction "has made me the man I always wanted to be." He said he is more understanding, more compassionate. He is in touch with the struggles of others, and with children who have vitiligo in particular. He is using his high media profile to bring much-needed attention and acceptance to a condition that often generates despair.

Similarly, a newly released book, Strong at the Broken Places, profiles ordinary people with various chronic health challenges who are triumphing, emotionally, in the face of great odds. The author, Richard Cohen, has multiple sclerosis and is a colon cancer survivor. The book is giving hope to those who battle illness every day, as well as to those of us with our own "broken places" awaiting transformation.

What are your broken places? What might you offer to others who share a similar experience or challenge? Take a small, initial step and feel the healing begin.