Once again I wish to share with you an email with a brief inspirational video link I received this morning. I hope the practical ideas within the presentation speak to YOU as they do to me.
"Dear Virginia,
It started with a piece of trash.
Matthew Emerzian, a successful music industry executive in Los Angeles, was walking back to his office with a co-worker one afternoon in 2004 when he stopped to pick up a plastic fountain drink cover from the sidewalk and put it in a nearby garbage bin.
"My co-worker quickly asked me what I was doing," Emerzian recalled. "I explained what I thought to be the obvious, but apparently I was wrong." To the co-worker, litter simply belonged to the litterer, not to the population as a whole.
"I explained to him that litter and pollution are everyone's problem not just the person who couldn't find the trash can for their cup lid. He profoundly responded with 'Dude, you're weird.'"
Emerzian, now 38, walked back to his office both angry and sad.
"I couldn't believe that someone could remove themselves so far from the greater good of our world."
Matt began to think, 'what if everyone in the country picked up one piece of litter on the same day.' Or 10 pieces! The math was easy, yet so powerful. He then began to think of a few other easy things that 300 million Americans could do to make a difference.
From this, a great idea was born. He called his friend, Kelly Bozza, and told her that he wanted to write a book about how all of us can make a difference with our lives. Within a week, they had over 100 items on their list and were ready to start writing.
Their book, titled Every Monday Matters...52 Ways to Make a Difference, has sold 120,000 copies. The ideas are simple - small acts that collectively add up to an enormous impact for the greater good.
Dr. Martin Luther King said, "Everyone has the power of greatness; not for fame, but greatness. Because greatness is determined by service."
To celebrate the release of our new movie, the next 500 orders of Every Monday Matters will receive a free Simple Truths eco-shopping bag. By shopping with a reusable bag, you can use 1,000 fewer plastic or paper bags this year, especially shopping for groceries.
All the best,
Mac Anderson
Founder, Simple Truths"
1. The original challenge to perform at least one act of kindness per day continues.I invite you to participate in either or both challenges as time & energy permit. Clicking on the Simply Kind and/or Everyday Kindness logos at the top and bottom of this page will take you to others participating.
2. The new challenge is 'Simply Kind Tuesdays' ... the goal of which is to increase awareness of the kindness that surrounds us.
"We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once." Calvin Coolidge
4 comments:
Hello, Virginia,
I simply must do a Simply Kind Tuesday post very soon.
This was an excellent, practical post. The quote, too, was 'spot on.'
Tonight I'm off to a tech prep meeting with one of my daughters who is interested in pursuing a health career.
See you around!
Boy what a wonderful message and a wonderful movie! Thank you so much for sharing it! :)
Yes, it even the tiniest effort can save a life.
What a lovely idea and what a kind person you are to spread the word. A great post, inspiring!
Hugs, G
I'm having the worst time getting to your blogs. I usually read them in Bloglines and then click on your header to go to your blog to make a comment. Now when I do that, your blog loads partially (just the left-hand sidebar) and then I get a Windows pop-up that says Internet Explorer can't open your blog address. Action aborted. I also tried typing in your direct blog address (no Bloglines) and got the same error. I tried it on the library's computer yesterday and got the same error. So I can see your posts in Bloglines but I can't comment.
It's very weird. I'm not sure how I got this old comment box to open, but I finally did.
Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I loved the collage you recently posted with the blue sky and the dark trees. That's all.
This comment box has lots of junky letters and parts are missing. The space to choose check to subscribe to these comments and the Google sign-in are missing. I hope my comment reaches you.
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