HumanKindMedia

Poems for your pockets

I nearly forgot Poem In Your Pocket Day today. I LOVE poetry. I once thought of myself as a poet (and actually still believe it's latent in me, my poet-ness, waiting for a moment to step out). In the meantime I enjoy any reason to read, share or talk about poetry and its indirect transformational powers. I think we should make congress speak in poetry for a few days and see if more compassion, clarity, and wholeness emerges where hate and vitriol seem to have taken root.

When I started searching for my poem for my pocket today, I had to change my clothes in order to have more pockets. Here are some of my favorites:

maggie and milly and molly and may -- by e.e. cummings

maggie and milly and molly and may went down to the beach (to play one day)
 
and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles,

and milly befriended a stranded star whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:

and may came home with a smooth round stone as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me)

it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

And, I found this one...and this one. To get your own poem(s), you can browse here.

And, here. OK, I'll stop now.

Hope

I get some notes and calls asking about the blog every once in awhile. There are many explanations for a 4-month lapse in blog-writing (too many to write about here) but mostly, what initially drove the blog was my feeling of a lack of hope in the world. As strange as it sounds, I felt like hope came back last year--in my life, in the media (well, some places in the media), and in the world. I may have quit writing because there was so much hope out there, I felt redundant.

Lately since my last post about "Yes We Can", I'm excited about vegetables, and I'm still exploring possibilities for my own version of Dave Eggars'826 Valencia to begin next fall to help ease the burden on teachers and schools in my community that are suffering severe financial cutbacks. Everything I want to do takes a community. I'd like to build a community of HumanKind writers (as you know I can't keep it up on my own :--), I'll be looking for a community of volunteers to implement my writing/tutoring group to support schools. Friends around me are losing loved ones, having illnesses, recovering from illnesses, and there is financial strain and worry everywhere. But, I find there is hope in coming together to solve the not-so-impossible problems if we're together.

There is nothing that cannot be helped by us creating, building, sustaining, and nurturing community in our lives, our regions and our world. This past week, Karen sent me the Stand By Me video by Playing for Change and I found the wonderful Antwerp Station video on You-Tube. If you enjoy them, share this post with your friends. I hope you're building your own communities around the things you care about. I'll be back soon. In the meantime, watch and enjoy these two (and, yes, if you feel moved to do so, dance!).

Now we can...or, after the mole attack

After my uncharacteristic political binge over the past few months, I've been going through a week of elated recovery, enjoying all the news (well, except some of the obvious poisons like talk-radio and Fox). It seems my adverse reaction to the media (which was the whole impetus for starting HumanKind Media) has dissipated. Now, (it's only taken a couple of years) I realize that my search for hope and possibility media, was really a search for hope and possibility, period.

Things have changed. Now, hope and possibility IS (are) the story du jour (or, hopefully, des toujours--all our days). For me, the most amazing part of the US election was the use of the media, particularly the internet, to galvanize, energize, and connect people toward a common goal in a way that hasn't been seen since the 60's. Many of us felt so galvanized and energized that we're now looking for something to do with all that galvanization and energy.

My new president even put up a website already where I can provide ideas, sign up to help, and eventually provide input to my government. People all over the internet, my media, are engaged and inspiring others to engage. (Check out this DailyKos diarist's lessons on the constitution). I'm jazzed. I'm starting to think of ways I can contribute that I never imagined before.

I decided my post-election post would be a "Yes we can" motivational piece, but the day after the election, Linda Bergthold, in the Huffington Post wrote this piece, and a day later Liz, my favorite accomplice, wrote this wonderful essay (below). So, yeah, I meant to say that...but they said it better (and faster).

So, I'll just say this about the mole attack. Yesterday--a beautiful, warm fall day in California--I finally approached my ravaged garden where the mole had had a free-for-all. Plants were uprooted, holes were everywhere, and though we had dis-invited the mole, the place was still a shambles. Once I got started, with my hands in the earth, a few packs of ground cover and some hardy annuals to spread around, I had transformed the devastation to something prettier than it was before, and possibly more easy to sustain in the future. Now, I feel better prepared to prevent moles in the future, and also infinitely satisfied at creating something beautiful out of a mess.

Those few hours of work in the garden made me realize that, though I would have preferred that the past 8 years had not unfolded as they did in the US and the world, I truly believe that we'll see how the devastation and the mess created possibilities we couldn't have envisioned otherwise. These are the stories I'm looking forward to writing about.

Here's Liz:

The 5% possibility shift Obama gave us

On election night, I was in a packed concert hall in Brooklyn, every single one of us nervous and excited, watching a gigantic screen tuned to CNN. When the polls closed on the West Coast, and CNN flashed the words "Barack Obama elected president," the room just exploded. Tupac's "California Love" blasted from the speakers, twenty-somethings jumped on stage and danced like crazy in front of a screenful of talking heads, and the rest of us jumped up and down shouting in absolute jubilation. Then CNN went live to people celebrating in the streets in Times Square, Harlem, Chicago, Kenya, Berlin -- literally, we were all celebrating together.

During Obama's acceptance speech, I wiped tears off my cheeks, but they kept coming. Over the next few days, I heard friends and media asking, Okay, so what happens next? What's Obama going to do for us now that we've elected him? What if he doesn't live up to all his promises?

I see it a little differently: We have a huge promise to live up to. Obama inspired a huge shift in what's possible. He did what we're always talking about here at HumanKind: He talked so much about hope and connection and possibility that almost everyone who heard him started believing in it, and then we all started living like we believe it. And then in the ultimate show of commitment, we elected him president. Not a day goes by now that I don't hear someone saying, with a smile or a laugh, "Yes, we can."

By electing Obama, WE made a promise. While we all have high expectations of Obama, we now also have much higher expectations of ourselves. It's scary to think Obama might falter, or might disappoint us in some way. But I think what's really scaring us is the fear that we might falter in our own promise, in our commitment to hope and change. We're human. We probably will falter. But we will get up faster and with more optimism than ever. That's a change Obama has given us already. And from now on it's not about what he'll do for us next -- it's about what we will do with all the hope and confidence and joy he inspired in us.

Yes, WE can.

Confession: Feeling political

I should have posted a "Gone Fishing Political" sign on the blog for this past month. Though I have a queue of wonderful "heal the world" stories and a cool interview in my in-basket,  I confess I can't concentrate on anything but the upcoming US election.

My big "what if" for the world has always included an assumption that once this election rolled around (way back before I even knew who the candidates would be) that we Americans would find our way to operating from hope instead of fear; and, we would turn our eyes towards possibilities for the future and not cling to outdated ideologies and divisions that distract us from being united states and better global citizens.

Even though I got the blues occasionally from the divisive, polarized rhetoric, mostly I have been enthralled and thrilled at what we the people are up to via my favorite media facilitator, the World Wide Web. I have become increasingly interested in, as Webster puts it, "politics: the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy."

In the past 4-6 years we have become a nation of activists, bloggers, and citizen journalists--informed, engaged citizens not so eager to gulp down the 5-second sound bites of a consolidated media.

We, the people, have access (just take a look at the sheer volume of links on Alltop) like we've never had access before--access to all the candidates policies and speeches online, our own poll analysts, our own Voter Protection Wiki, fact-checkers, YouTube, and more free and independent eyes and ears on the ground than the soundbite people at Fox or MSNBC (or insert your broadcast media of choice here) could ever hope to pay for.

I am not undecided. I am definitely voting for "that one", the hope and possibility guy. But, I honor everyone's right to disagree, to have their own strong opinions and I don't want it to divide us.  I love the recent issue of Yes Magazine, where they look at the many more things we Americans have in common than the issues we think separate us.  I highly recommend their Purple Nation edition here.

In one of my all-time favorite Charlie Rose segments, Craig Newmark (Craigslist) describes the possibilities that our on-line virtual communities give to "embolden" the moderates (commonly known as the majority) and diminish the sway of the minority of extremists. (Starts around ll:30.)

During this election cycle it has been thrilling to watch the potential he describes play out as Republicans, Democrats, Independents, pundits and philanthropists and millions of us regular people participate in that 200+-year old experiment in democracy.

If you're one our US citizen readers, please vote. Read Yes Magazine's 12 Ways to Safeguard Your Vote. And, for fun and inspiration, here are two of my favorite recent You-Tube Get-Out-The-Vote videos. If you're one of our international readers, wish us well.

The latest "Don't Vote Video.

The original "Don't Vote.

PS - Share this with 5 friends. :-)

Revisiting the Global Oneness Project

One of my favorite places to visit every once in awhile for inspiring videos is the Global Oneness Project. Yesterday I found so much, I just have to invite you to visit, too. Amazingly, as I was looking for this original post we did on them last year, I realized that it was almost exactly a year ago that I found them.

Much has happened on the Global Oneness Project front in a year. From The People's Grocery creating sustainable food sources for an impoverished community in Oakland, and Goonj using every scrap of cloth to help the poor in India to peace efforts in Israel and Palestine, Emmanuel and the Global Oneness Project team have been meeting people around the globe so we can meet them, our fellow global citizens, too.

I especially recently enjoyed this blog about their visit to Israel, and still love this interview with Nipun Mehta of the smile card revolution.

The Global Oneness Project mission is simply to create short films and interviews from around the world to explore how we are all connected. To that end, they offer their amazing videos free for downloading or you can order a free DVD for use in screenings for your neighborhood, your communities, your friends. I'd recommend a favorite video, but now I have too many to mention them all. Click here and watch for awhile. You'll see what I mean.

Blog Day - 5 blogs I like

Today is Blog Day 2008 where bloggers around the world share new and diverse blogs they read and like. That means you and I have access to a huge list of cool blogs to explore over the next few months. I can hardly wait.

Many of my favorite "humankind-like" blogs are posted in the sidebars. I'm thrilled to have an excuse to share some of my other favorites:

37 Days - A "must bookmark" for media about possibilities and for every other reason. I could go on about this one, but that would keep you from clicking here.

French Word A Day - an Arizona girl marries a Frenchman and blogs her days in the vineyard with two kids and a husband. Combining wry humor, heartwarming love of a family and nature, and beautiful photographs, this site never fails to touch and entertain me.

Smith Magazine - Because I love stories and their power to change and heal, I'm fascinated by the Smith Magazine projects in "a home for story-telling with a focus on personal narrative." Sometimes on good and bad days, it's fun for the wanna-be-writer in me to see if I can distill what's going on into 6 words. Take a look at some of these.

TED Blog - A daily serving from the feast that is TED, the Technology Entertainment and Design talks, that have gathered the greatest minds around the world since the 1980's. Inspiring, educational, informative, and world-changing. So many great things have come from TED, I invite you to discover your own delights.

Digi-Dave and Spot.Us - When I went to "journalism camp" this year to learn more about the media, I met a younger man who offered to show me how to get set up on twitter. Later, as I learned more about new media, new trends in journalism, and the possibilities for the future, I learned that the "young man" was actually a seasoned journalist (Wired magazine, Seed Magazine, and the NYT) and a trailblazer in journalism. Already "branded" and established at the junction of technology and journalism, Digi-Dave, as he is known in the world of social and on-line media, now has received a grant from the Knight foundation and lots of good press about his new project for funding relevant, local, quality journalism for the public by the public. I read Dave's blog (and his twitters) regularly and have hope for the future of media. If you're interested in the changing media and its influence on our lives, follow Dave.

I can't make a list of blogs without mentioning the very first blogger I ever "met", Ze Frank. I found his blog on the last day of the "Show" which is 365 days of video hilarity by one of the quirkiest and most creative minds you'll ever meet. Perusing his most recent posts I read about the week he took over two people's MySpace accounts (with their permission) and also got to see this great video (he's a magnet for this cool stuff) of stop-motion spaghetti. There are literally years of genius and kookiness to explore here. Enjoy.

The New Orleans 100

On the anniversary of Katrina, there are probably more stories about new possibilities than there were about tragedy and devastation 3 years ago--probably thousands of stories about healing in New Orleans and the areas affected by Katrina.

Kudos to All Day Buffet for creating the New Orleans 100. In their words: " To combat top down media during the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we will leverage bottom up tools on the social web (email, blogs, twitter, facebook, digg, etc.), which can reach a combined audience of millions to raise awareness about New Orleans and inspire action to make a difference.'

From the high visibility stories like Brad Pitt's Make It Right Campaign to the RUBAR (Rusted-Up-Beyond-All-Recognition) project restoring bikes and helping the youth of the 9th ward and the Nola 180 schools project which I hope also finds its way to Dave Egger's list of stories about possibilities for schools. The New Orleans 100 has great links and great stories from great writers including a moving Sports article (I love moving sports articles).

Here's to a fine example for celebrating possibility and providing inspiration for the rest of us! Help spread the word!

Revisiting my media diet: 3 more tips for the other 90%

People everywhere confuse what they read in newspapers with news.--A.J. Liebling

First, I'm back. There's controversy in the blogging world about taking breaks, feeling guilty and apologizing to your audience for your absence. Let me just say, sorry I've been AWOL. Thanks for hanging around, and if you're new, thanks for signing up. From the rise in my stats and subscriptions during my hiatus, I'm thinking that perhaps I should not post for a while longer. ;).

Though I haven't been writing much, I've been doing lots of research on good media, which is at the heart of the HumanKind Media mission. Lately, I have become a student of the "news." In 3 ideas for changing your media diet we suggested paying attention to your media intake the way you would your food intake--cut back on the fats, sugars, and empty calories, but especially pay attention to how what you take in makes you feel. We started out suggesting a meager 5% shift to inspiring stories about possibilities (rather than stories about what's wrong), and then early this year we boldly upped our recommendation to 10%.

Lately, I've been in a question about that other 90% of my media intake. A democratic world depends on an informed public making informed choices. I realized that by "dropping out" of the news stream, I experienced fewer of the adverse mood and spirit effects of "non-news" news, but I was also becoming less informed about issues I care about. While exploring how I can find news that informs me and inspires me to take an active interest, but doesn't make me feel like I just ate two Big Macs (sick), I've learned 3 things about staying informed as a global citizen:

1. Be aware of homogenized news. Find the entrepreneurial journalists inside and outside of mainstream journalism.

In my trips to the media conferences, I was disheartened to learn the story behind media consolidation (see this great piece on media consolidation) and its impact on the information we all receive on a daily basis. At the same time, though, I was astonished and inspired by the number of serious journalists (and an amazing number of amateurs like me, too) who care about the media and who are committed to keeping good journalism alive in this new community forum, the internet.

I'm guessing that even before the printing press people learned who in the village or countryside they could go to for news and who they could count on to sensationalize events and spin stories and stir things up. Later, the newspaper was easy, because you could just sit down and read it. But now that I know who "owns" my news in the newspaper and I know who supports my newspaper (advertisers), I'm more likely to pick the headline I care most about and go on-line and search out more points of view before I decide to believe it's "news". I still go on-line to my favorite columnists (Nick Kristof is a personal favorite) but am finding more and more independent news that broadens my understanding and awareness of the complex issues.

For "topical news of the day", I've subscribed to NewsTrust who asks readers to find and rate good news stories not only from the top news producers, but bloggers, independents, and international news sources. I like the idea of reading a variety on a single topical theme. I also subscribe to Common Dreams and the Huffington Post. These support my political leanings and interests. If you lean differently, take some issues you care about, google them, and find the independent voices that resonate with you.

2. To be truly informed, find a variety of independent sources on events and issues you're interested in.

As the mother of two boys in school, I have attended many story-telling meetings. The principal had one story, the teacher had another, and out of several boys (and sometimes girls) there were a few more stories. This was my greatest lesson in perspective and point of view. Though it's time consuming, the best picture in any event or issue comes from many points of view. In the past few months I have learned that there are as many amazing people out there trying to tell good, informative stories as there are people out there who are the stories.

When my son was in India I was reading more international news. I stumbled upon several articles in the Middle Eastern press about Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani's visit to America--all centered around hopes that there would be a resolution around the US unilateral air strikes, the most recent of which killed civilians on the Pakistani border in June (I had not heard about these). So, I turned to the NYT and the Post and the big US papers, and didn't find a single mention of unilateral air strikes--it was all about the Pakistani support of terrorists. Here was storytelling I could relate to--just like in the principal's office. After about 3 or 4 different articles from different places, I could see a bigger picture.

Also while reading Middle East news, I came upon this great series, People and Power, from Al Jazeera, not the first place Americans usually look for news. I especially liked this piece on Peak Oil which we don't hear much about in our mainstream press. I have to say I've been interested in AJ ever since I saw The Control Room (I highly recommend this film about journalism, war, and humans.) So many important events in the world shaping our future, I think it's important to hear many sides.

3. Bias is everywhere, but bias is not the news.

In the mainstream media in the US, one of the things that turned me away a few years back was the dividing of us (and the media itself) up into red and blue, republican and democrat, citizen and immigrant, for and against, you and me. It was upsetting to me. All the organizations, groups, and individuals we like to follow at HumanKind Media have been moving toward that single bias - humans.

I love the work the CS Monitor is doing at Patchwork Nation for the upcoming US election. Any journalistic enterprise that plays to our similarities and common difficulties, and appreciates our diversity has my vote. (Read about the Monitor's unique history and mission here.) They also write great HumanKind kinds of stories for the 10% media about possibility like this one.

For the 10% media about possibilities, we've found many (see the sidebars) resources and will uncover more, no doubt. For the other 90%, for your health and the health of all of us humans, we hope you'll ask yourself, who owns your media? Who's writing your news? What are all the views (or at least a couple more) on the topics you care most about? Pretend you're in the principal's office and you want the whole story, so no one is harmed and all are appreciated for their flaws and their contributions. Let us know what you discover!

Doldrums links

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
--Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

I've been in the doldrums all week. Technically, in sailing terms, doldrums mean windlessness and drifting. That's how I've been feeling. Windless. I've had blog block and project block and I've been sleepy.

This condition could be the result of the Young Man's departure. (Now that he's left and will be on his way to college when he gets back, I've dropped the "Boy A" name.) After months of planning, he left for India for 18 days earlier this week. That was a big effort, and poof, now he's gone and there's nothing to do on that front but wait for him to come home. Sigh.

It's hot here, too. Even the dog isn't his usual peppy self. Also, I had one of those sneaky internal narratives going on about not posting enough, not doing enough, not being enough, not, NOT! ENOUGH! Heavy sigh.

Ever get one of those going in your head? Not a good loop for focusing on what's possible. No wonder there's no wind in my sails.

The best interrupt I know to any "stuck" story is to review, edit, and to get going making more news that I like (about myself and the world). If I review the evidence, there's enough worth sharing here without too much composing or creating necessary:

My Young Man's graduation trip to India came with suggested reading which I did and he did not. The very attractive photojournalism trip also includes many days staying with villagers, farmers (and goats and yaks maybe) in Ladakh, an area near Tibet which many consider to be a model for sustainability (and for trying to stay sustainable under heavy western tourist influences). A good book about this is Ancient Futures.

And yesterday, as I was looking for a link to put on the Boy's (oops) Facebook page in case he's checking his e-mail and has a sudden desire to read about where he's going (hah), I found this fabulous NYT article by one of my favorite writers, Pico Iyer. I wonder what impact this balancing act in Ladakh between a sustainable, connected people and Western globalization will have on an 18-year old California boy.

Speaking of sustainability, this spring I signed on as a part-time volunteer with the Story of Stuff project after I wrote this post about Annie and this about the Story. Let's just say I have become hyper-conscious of what I buy, where things come from, and where they're going after I'm done with them. I was delighted to read this wonderful post by Britt Bravo at HaveFunDoGood about Ari Durfel, a guy who kept his trash for 6 months--a trash meditation (a braver soul than I). If you've been thinking about your own move to zero waste (or something closer to it) his story is a must read.

I've also been putting more of my attention to giving now since June. I reentered the 29-Day Giving Challenge for a second round, hoping someday it will become the natural way of my thinking in everything I do and everywhere I go. I haven't been great about my journal on the site, but I have been pretty consistent at remembering the intention. Some of the highlights are my donation to Camfed, many gifts of non-martyr-like assistance to my sons, free-cycling clothes and household items to anyone and everyone, and I returned a client's payment for a month as a gift. She was surprised. Mostly, the giving has been small, but intentional and, because it causes me to see everyone as someone receiving a gift from me, my relationships and my days seem to be lighter and happier, even in the doldrums.

Well, now that I've put this all down, I can feel a little breeze lifting my sails. Hope you found something here to click and enjoy, and if you've hit your own summer doldrums, I hope you find a different story and your own light breeze soon.

Carpe Millennium: The Long Now Foundation putting things in perspective

At the Long Now Foundation museum in San Francisco there's a sign on a staff person's computer that says, "Carpe Millennium". For some of us on the planet, Carpe Diem is a tough one. Carpe Millennium, Seize the Millennium, puts every issue, every question, every intention into uncommon perspective.

The Long Now Foundation began as an e-mail from MIT PhD computer genius (paralell processing), Imagineer, inventor and thinker, Danny Hillis. He wrote to some friends,

"When I was a child, people used to talk about what would happen by the year 2000. For the next thirty years they kept talking about what would happen by the year 2000, and now no one mentions a future date at all. The future has been shrinking by one year per year for my entire life. I think it is time for us to start a long-term project that gets people thinking past the mental barrier of an ever-shortening future. I would like to propose a large (think Stonehenge) mechanical clock, powered by seasonal temperature changes. It ticks once a year, bongs once a century, and the cuckoo comes out every millennium."

In 01996 (the extra zero is to solve the deca-millennium bug which will come into effect in about 8,000 years) futurist Stuart Brand, musician Brian Eno, former Wired Magazine editor and author Kevin Kelly, and a long list of other amazing humans, joined Hillis to form the Long Now Foundation. In their words, the Foundation would provide "a counterpoint to today's 'faster/cheaper' mind set and promote 'slower/better' thinking...creatively fostering responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years." On New Year's Eve, 01999, this prototype (a much smaller version) heralded the second millennium by chiming twice.

I'd like to write an essay marveling at the Long Now, but Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Chabon wrote this a few years ago, and I'll admit right now, there's no way to top it, unless maybe Michael Chabon does a follow-up piece when they install their 10,000 year clock in the Nevada desert.

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Donna and I visited the Foundation's museum not far from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, wandering among the prototypes, browsing through the mind-expanding bookstore, and skirting around the researchers working on Long Now projects. It was a great outing, but not essential as there is almost more to savor on their site on-line.

There's more about the clock--for philosophers, engineers, and dreamers. The Foundation sponsors regular seminars by many interesting people and there's a treasure trove of blogs and essays pondering the possibilities of the future. On one of my recent re-visits I discovered this essay by Danny Hillis about working with Richard Feynman on thinking machines and learned why my space-ship can't go faster than the speed of light.

At LongBets you can read about long-term predictions and bets, or place your own Long Bet. Here, you'll get a sampling of bets and predictions spanning from 02003 until 02203. Though Ted Danson won the bet about whether the US would win the World Cup before the Red Sox won the series, the jury's still out on Warren Buffett's bet about the S&P or the bet that the US Constitution will be ammended to cede to a global government by 02025. Pilotless air travel by 02025? Will at least one human alive in 02000 be alive in 02150? It's a fascinating glimpse into possible futures by some of our brightest minds, and a reminder that everything changes.

I must say thinking about the Long Now and their projects has had an impact on me. I'm pondering small things like imagining some unknown being finding my plastic water bottle during an excavation in 10,000 years. I'm conscious of larger concerns about how my children will contribute to a developing evolution of humans, rather than how much money they can make after college. I'm reimagining my responsibility for electing stewards of a larger future during this election. I think of that clock ticking away back only a few hundred miles from where I grew up, and my imagination goes wild. I am at once excited about the possibilities, and remorseful that I won't be there. What a great job for a person of the future to be a caretaker of the clock! (Maybe I'll come back.)

Hillis had a conversation about the clock with Jonas Salk before he died. Salk asked him about the clock and what problem he was trying to solve, or what he was trying to preserve. I like his response because it mirrors what the whole Long Now Foundation mission evokes in me:

"OK, Jonas, OK, people of the future, here is a part of me that I want to preserve, and maybe the clock is my way of explaining it to you: I cannot imagine the future, but I care about it. I know I am a part of a story that starts long before I can remember and continues long beyond when anyone will remember me. I sense that I am alive at a time of important change, and I feel a responsibility to make sure that the change comes out well. I plant my acorns knowing that I will never live to harvest the oaks.

I have hope for the future."

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