Sunday, January 12, 2014

“One idea lights a thousand candles.”

“You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
― Mahatma Gandhi




     A few days ago Omaze "dream doctors", Matt Pohlson and Ryan Cummins  provided a temporary prescription for George Clooney love sickness. The delightfully delicious medicine is an over the top Omaze extravaganza as you "Walk the Red Carpet'" escorted arm in arm by the award winning actor/director/ activist.   Omaze is an incredible fundraising organization that sincerely believes in helping all of us achieve career altering goals and once in a lifetime dreams. You and a guest will have the opportunity to travel (all expenses paid) to New York City, chat with George Clooney backstage at the David Letterman show, ride in a VIP limo and walk the red carpet for the Monuments Men movie premiere on February 4th. http://www.omaze.com/experiences

     All entries and donations for the "Red Carpet" experience are applied to the Satellite Sentinel Project. The SSP allows you to help monitor human rights abuses by funding satellites in the sky and field analysts on the ground. So whether you are a fan of  the handsome, talented Hollywood heart-throb or not your entry donation will further fund an operation formed to deter serious war crimes. http://www.satsentinel.org/

     Launched in December of 2010, SSP is the brain child of Clooney and co-founder (Enough Project) John Prendergast. SSP's  major goals were to deter mounting civil war campaigns between northern and southern areas of Sudan and documenting threats to civilians along both sides of the border. SSP continues to shine a much needed world spotlight on controversial atrocities in Sudan. Satellite imagery and analysis is used to generate rapid responses to human rights and human security concerns.  Among the mass abuses monitored, the SSP  tracks movements of animal poachers, the greatest threat to saving and preserving wildlife in Africa. 

     There are certainly many people on the global self-serving political stage that take offense to actors, musicians, authors or artists adopting a "cause" or promoting awareness of a critical social issue. Any person or organization helping to resolve or focus on human and animal rights abuses is being human. Those who are in a position to draw attention or provide money and resources are using their fame and fortune for a positive productive purpose. Compassion is the responsibility of all . It is our collective responsibility to ease the suffering of others and if we cannot ease suffering at least not add to others misery. There are a lot of really good, positive "ordinary" people in this world who want to make a difference. Not all of us have the same resources but we all have the ability to take some form of action and be of service. Whether you buy a book, watch a movie or build homes in your community, be conscious.

 My thoughts about personal responsibility and doing for others can be summed up in the following quote by the highly esteemed American astrophysicist, cosmologist and author, Neil deGrasse Tyson,

“For me, I am driven by two main philosophies: know more today about the world than I knew yesterday and lessen the suffering of others. You'd be surprised how far that gets you.”