Call for Assistance

I had just returned from Zambia and was in conversation with a young woman who works in development for a very large, very wealthy organization. She had just received a ten million dollar donation. $10,000,000.00! My mind has a hard time wrapping itself around numbers that large so it went to something it can comprehend. “Wow, if we had just one of those millions we could do extraordinary things—clean water for everyone in Kantolomba, school and one meal a day for all the children, the medical clinic up and running.”

She nodded supportively. “Great. That seems like a manageable amount. There must be people in your organization who could supply that.”

“Well, perhaps, but we seem to run into this spirituality/money quagmire. An awful lot of people become very suspicious about ‘spiritual’ people asking for money. How do you get past that?”

“The first step,” she told me, “is education. It’s not about the money. The money is not the point. The point is to place available resources where they are most needed. Some people have goods to contribute—boards and nails—while others have the trucks to get those boards and nails to the job site. Someone else might have the communication skills necessary to get the word out, or they have building expertise, or can create flyers telling people where and when to show up. Everyone has something to contribute. The secret is to get together all the people who want to accomplish the same task, and then to coordinate the effort. The truth is that a lot of people can contribute money easier than time or energy. And the most important part to communicate is that they are needed. ”

Got it.

Here goes.

Living Compassion, the Zen Monastery Peace Center, the people of Kantolomba Compound, and, let’s face it, the whole of humanity need you.

We all need you—and me and her and him and them. We all need us to get HERE, to show up, to do our part, to make an extra effort, to join hands, to pull together, to share the load. We all need us to care, to be kind, to be gentle with ourselves and one another, to be generous, to give and receive, to appreciate and feel appreciated, to open our hearts, to get who we really are, to spread the word that all good is possible for all of us all the time together.

Now, if one (or more) of you reading this has that million dollars to pitch in—YEA! And on the off chance you don’t, here’s the next thing on the list that we need right now. On Thursday, May 17 in Palo Alto, California, Living Compassion will be celebrating some of the many accomplishments we have all achieved together. If you can attend in person that would be wonderful, we would love to have you. (That’s one of the places where if the voices say something like, “Oh, no one is even going to notice if you’re not there,” you can respond, “That is not true, people will notice, they are counting on me,” and be absolutely correct!)

If, however, you cannot be with us in person, we would love to have you join us via a webcast that will be coming to your computer. Which brings me to the request: On Friday, May 11 at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Standard Time, we will be testing the webcasting equipment and need many folks around the country (and around the world if possible) to help us work out any kinks. If you can help with the test, please call 209 728-0860 or email support@livingcompassion.org. And then, once it becomes clear that the technology works, please join us at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 17 for the live webcast of the event. Oh, and if you decide to join us, would you consider inviting some friends and/or family who might be interested in learning more about the work Living Compassion is celebrating?

(I just looked over at the 2007 Living Compassion calendar and saw the quote of the month of May: Each time we try to have something for ourselves we wind up with nothing because the “myself” we are trying to get something for is egocentric, karmic conditioning. Open the heart and it’s all yours, it’s all for you.)

We look forward to your participation – here, there, and everywhere – because you are needed.

 

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