You are holding a cup of coffee when someone comes along and bumps into you, making you spill your coffee everywhere. Why did you spill the coffee?
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When your dreams feel just out of reach, and you’re searching for something to give you a boost, build your own ladder.
I learned this in the campo. One day, I was working on a latrine with a group of volunteers and Moreno, one of our OG Dominican team members. He was about ready to put the roof on the structure when he looked over to me and asked for the ladder. At that moment, I realized we had left it back at our basecamp and told him I could run to go get it.
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There is a famous parable about a man who lived in a cottage by the sea. Every morning, the man went fishing and caught just enough fish for the day. Afterward, he would spend time playing with his son, take a siesta, and enjoy lunch with his family. In the evening…
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Ana Mercedes is a joyful woman and who helps feed her community in La Luisa with her beautiful garden patch where she grows produce like eggplant, spinach, aloe Vera, cilantro, oregano, etc.
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A group of American school children were asked to list what they thought were the present “Seven Wonders of The World”.
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A few years back I was scrolling through one of my favorite blogs, Humans of New York.
Humans of New York was created by photographer Brandon Stanton. Stanton has spent the past decade going around the world, taking photos of strangers and asking them deep personal questions.People get very real with him. The stories shared are often traumatic and dark and quickly make you realize you may not have it so bad.
One day while scrolling through the page, I stumbled upon a photo of a fashionable older Asian man, smiling and posing.
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Yadira is a teacher in the small rural town of Cabeza del Toro. She is one of those teachers that changes the course of peoples lives because her work goes beyond curriculum. She says that she plants seeds to cultivate love, confidence, and hope in her students.
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I thought of a blind old lady I had met a few years ago in the campo. She was by far the poorest in the town and lived in a ramshackle tin hut with her son. Although securing food was a daily challenge for them, she said whenever her son brought in a bushel of plantains she would tell him to take a quarter of the bunch and give it away.
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A couple of weeks ago I received a letter from a woman who had been reading my books and had come across the line “Something wonderful is about to happen!” Of the thousands of pieces of correspondence I receive, from time to time a note, a letter, or an email will provide an extension that is exhilarating.
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In March I worked on a water project in Los Guayuyos Abajo. It’s a town that lies disconnected from the rest of the surrounding area because the only way in or out is through a river who’s water level reaches your ankles on a dry day, but becomes totally impassable after a rain. I met an older lady named Neneda…
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Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones.
But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was…
Francisco Antonio German de Jesus is an adorable old man, around 72 years old, he’s not absolutely certain…
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A long time ago, a man died and got to visit heaven AND hell. He came back to Earth miraculously and his description of what he saw on the other side of life has been passed on for hundred of years. Legend has it, that his first stop was hell. Upon arrival he was very confused because what he saw wasn’t the fiery lava pit he always imagined Hell to be...
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