The Millionaire who gave away the fortune that was making him miserable.
"My idea is to have nothing left. Absolutely nothing," he told The Daily Telegraph. "Money is counterproductive – it prevents happiness to come."
Instead, he will move out of his luxury Alpine retreat into a small wooden hut in the mountains or a simple bedsit in Innsbruck.
His entire proceeds are going to charities he set up in Central and Latin America, but he will not even take a salary from these.
"For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness," he said. "I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years," said Mr Rabeder.
But over time, he had another, conflicting feeling.
"More and more I heard the words: 'Stop what you are doing now – all this luxury and consumerism – and start your real life'," he said. "I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.
I have the feeling that there are lot of people doing the same thing."
Shumuley Boteach travels to Zimbabwe with Dennis Prager and about seven Christian volunteers.
No Holds Barred
Indeed, of the hundreds who came to our feast, only a few were young mothers and fathers; the vast majority had already been lost to AIDS. We saw scores of young children strapped to their grandmothers' backs in the African way. An entire generation has been wiped out by this killer disease, which is still met by denial in Africa. Most of the people we spoke to who lost relatives to AIDS told us that "they got sicker and thinner." They knew exactly what caused the ailment but would never pronounce it. Strict moral codes govern life in southern Africa, so a sexually-transmitted disease is rarely acknowledged.
BUT AMID these serious challenges, the people exhibit unbelievable warmth. Are they happier than we in the West? I can't say. I have never believed in the supposedly ennobling effect of poverty, and I will not glamorize a life with so little. But what is undeniable is that they seemed far more satisfied, grateful and content than us. We in the West who are fortunate to be able to translate so much of our potential into something professionally and personally fulfilling are more often than not plagued by insatiable material hunger, rarely finding the inner peace which they seemed to possess.
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Most memorable were the children, who were wondrous in every way. Gorgeous, extremely polite and exceptionally well-behaved. They exhibited none of wildness that is becoming common among Western kids. Hundreds of them sat in perfect rows on the floor, grateful to have a hot meal. They too sang and danced for us, and we danced with them.
The most moving part of the day was when we distributed the corn seed. The chief called out the names and as the families came forward, they were glowing. Many of them kissed the bags as they collected them. A few bags broke open and their recipients searched for, and found, every last seed as if it were a diamond.
It should be mandatory to take Western kids to Africa for at least one humanitarian mission. It would help wean them from the corrosive materialism that is suffocating us all, and it would lead them to appreciate their blessings and share more with others.
One woman volunteer particularly impressed him.
...she is not a household name and she will never be as famous as Britney Spears. But to me she was a small reminder that the suffocating selfishness of Western material culture can indeed be transcended.
Robert Lappin, 87, donated $5 million to restore the retirement savings of about 60 employees of various family enterprises that had been wiped out when the Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff collapsed.
“I am absolutely thrilled,’’ said Amy Powell, a former publicist for the foundation and one of the employees whose savings were restored. “I really knew in my heart, all my heart, that Mr. Lappin would do all he could do for his employees.’’
Lappin had invested so heavily with Madoff that it cost him much of his personal fortune. The foundation lost $8 million when Madoff’s assets were frozen last December, and for a time was forced to shut its doors. Lappin said that now, after Madoff and the payment to employees, his personal net worth is less than $5 million, about a tenth of what it was before the scandal broke.
Yet giving his own money to the employees was simply the right thing to do, he said. “At least from the feedback, they feel very grateful and happy, which makes me feel very happy,’’ said Lappin. “So far no kisses, but I have had some hugs.’’
Family and friends said Lappin feels an imperative to give. Over the years, that led him to sponsor 17 education, interfaith outreach, and family development programs under the umbrella of his namesake foundation. He has given more than $30 million to Jewish causes on the North Shore. After the Madoff scandal, he raised $450,000 to restore the foundation’s Youth To Israel travel program. It sent 82 Jewish teens on pilgrimages to Israel just last Sunday.
“He’s among moral giants,’’ said Rabbi Yossi Lipsker of Swampscott, director and founder of Chabad-Lubavitch of the North Shore, which runs Hebrew schools and other programs. Lappin, who helped the rabbi fund his center, “embodies the highest ideals of our traditions,’’ said Lipsker. “He’s a lover of his people. He’s a lover of the land of Israel.’’
A heart-warming story from Blackfive, Spring Training and the Wounded Warriors.
As they filed up the stairs out of the stadium, in a single file line, spontaneously the crowd again all stood up and gave the Marines a standing ovation until the very last one reached the top of the stairs. Had to take 3-4 minutes. It was loud. It was crazy. The players on the field were even clapping. It was truly a proud moment for me. When the Marines got to the top of the stairs, several were crying. It was very, very emotional. Emotional for them, for me, for the crowd.
My hat is off to Barry Zito of the San Francisco Giants who paid for the airfare and hotels for 17 wounded Marines,
When teen-agers, high-schoolers as well as college students, can show us how savvy and constructive they can be as they engage in practical and useful community service at home and around the world, we have more cause to be hopeful about the future.
What can we do but applaud the Staying Alive campaign organized by a 16 year-old Allyson Brown to raise money to buy mosquito nets at $10 each to protect an African family from malaria.
The aim of Stayin’ Alive, which is run by a group called Malaria No More, is to buy enough bed nets to protect two million children. Allyson, who remains very involved in the program, will have saved more lives as a student than many doctors save in a lifetime.
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A lot of people say that teenagers aren’t thinking about the greater good,” Allyson added, just a hint of protest in her voice. “But when you give teens a chance to help, and they know their contributions will make a difference, then they help a lot.”
Saving the world in Study Hall
The habit of giving starts early.
One person can make a big difference in any community. Look at what Jane Tinsley did in Cornwall
Mum-of-three Jane launched her TV-style makeover in a bid to stop vandals attacking the dilapidated building near her home.
Now the bus stop in Fowey, Cornwall, provides a distinctly African feel for people waiting to use public transport and take shelter from the rain.
Jane said: "It was scruffy and horrible and the seat was broken and it is one of the first things people see when they arrive here.
"All the bits of furniture and paintings have been donated by lots of different people who all wanted to see the bus stop improved.
"We had plastic chairs at first but now they have been replaced by better quality wooden ones that people no longer needed in their homes."
Fed up with vandals, she made over her bus stop
A study confirms what we already know: it's better to give than receive.
Money can buy happiness but only if you spend it on others say researchers.
most people seemed unaware of this hidden key to happiness, the researchers said.
From Science magazine, The Secret to Happiness? Giving.
Dunn says the results "confirmed our hypothesis more strongly than we dared to dream." The effects of altruistic spending are probably akin to those of exercise, she notes, which can have immediate and long-term effects. Giving once might make a person happy for a day, but "if it becomes a way of living, then it could make a lasting difference," she says
When the world seems its most discouraging, I search out stories of ordinary people whose lives can inspire me.
Greg Mortenson is such a man. A former US Army medic, he's made it his mission to build girls' schools in an area known as Baltistan, "Little Tibet" in the far north of Pakistan.
Here rural schools are rare, girls' schools even rarer, as the education of girls is condemned by religious extremists as un-Islamic. The Jafarabad school, along with 63 others in equally poor areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, exists thanks to the efforts of a brave foreigner the locals call 'Dr Greg', who has been described as 'a real-life Indiana Jones' and spoken of as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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His key allies include clerics, warlords, military officers, foreign mountaineers and several former members of the Taliban - one of whom is now a teacher at one of his schools in Kashmir - and an army of ordinary villagers desperate for their children to receive an education. 'What I'm good at is putting together a team, finding the right people,' he says. He has no pretentions to any other ability except willpower. 'I'm just an average guy. I had to work really hard in school. Learning never came easy to me, but I've got those Midwestern ethics that force you to persevere.'
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A trauma nurse and former mountain climber, he was climbing Mt Everest when a buddy came down with altitude sickness and Greg stayed with him, probably far too long because he became sick himself. On his way back, he became separated from his group and wandered sick into a tiny village where they nursed him to health. Only when he recovered did he realize how generous they had been and how poor they were. He promised to come back and build a school and he did, with no great plan, winging it all the way.
He's set up more than 60 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In May 2005 riots broke out in Baharak, the gateway to Afghanistan's Wakhan province, after Newsweek magazine erroneously reported that a Koran had been flushed down a lavatory at Guantanamo Bay. Every building with any connection to foreigners was burned by furious mobs, including the offices of the UN. But Mortenson's CAI school was left untouched - protected by village elders who saw it as their own.
His book has now sold over 850,000 copies.
You can read more of this most inspiring story at Free to Learn.
It's the best Rube Goldberg contraption I've ever seen.
I wish I could embed it but I can't so click on the link.
Good things come to those who wait.
Especially if they love their Guinness.
via Scribal Terror
Dr. Jonathan Fine is organizing some of his retired colleagues in a new venture called Bedside Advocates to provide one-on-one support and comfort to people in hospitals, an educated ombudsman as it were.
From retired caregivers, a spoonful of compassion.
The volunteers with Bedside Advocates will not practice medicine. Instead, they aim to provide comfort and compassion while helping fragile and elderly patients navigate the increasingly complex medical system by accompanying them to the doctor's office, the hospital, and the nursing home. They hope to help patients get better care by empowering them to ask questions, follow their medication regimes, and get prompt attention to problems.
And most of all, they plan to be there when no one else is, providing relief for tired caregivers and support for patients without families, according to Dr. Jonathan Fine, who is leading the effort.
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Fine, 75, of Cambridge, envisions a cadre of retired doctors, nurses, physician's assistants, and trained lay people who would provide one-on-one support to thousands of patients, seeking to humanize healthcare while reducing medical errors, complications, and hospitalizations. He has already recruited about 20 doctors and secured some start-up funding from the Legislature, and he plans to launch the program in a pilot phase this spring. The organization expects to find needy patients through practicing doctors, senior centers, and people who call asking for help.
Said one man whom Dr. Fine helped deal with a "litany of specialists".
It's like having your own attorney in the court of medicine. A man like Jonathan, the US needs millions like him."
If it works, it could be a national model. It's how I envision solving the health care crisis of boomers getting older - boomers helping each other.
A wonderful new program called Canines for Combat Veterans has been started in Massachusetts using selected prison inmates to train dogs to become assistants to wounded veterans.
Trained to serve others
An inmate, a soldier and a dog share a bond.
I predict that this book is going to cause of lot of arguments among people who just can't believe it, liberals and conservatives.
"Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism" (Arthur C. Brooks)
Author Arthur Brooks, once a registered Democrat now an independent, is a professor at Syracuse University and a behavioral economist.
From Beliefnet: Philanthropy Expert: Conservatives Are More Generous.
The book's basic findings are that conservatives who practice religion, live in traditional nuclear families and reject the notion that the government should engage in income redistribution are the most generous Americans, by any measure.
Conversely, secular liberals who believe fervently in government entitlement programs give far less to charity. They want everyone's tax dollars to support charitable causes and are reluctant to write checks to those causes, even when governments don't provide them with enough money.
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"These are not the sort of conclusions I ever thought I would reach when I started looking at charitable giving in graduate school, 10 years ago," he writes in the introduction. "I have to admit I probably would have hated what I have to say in this book."
Still, he says it forcefully, pointing out that liberals give less than conservatives in every way imaginable, including volunteer hours and donated blood.
