Compassion Caught on a Late-Night Train
One act of kindness that befell British writer Bernard Hare in 1982 changed him profoundly. Then a student living just north of London, he spins the story of himself during a young, troubled, and disrupted time in life. "... my mother was in hospital and not expected to survive the night. "Get home, son," my dad said. I got to the railway station to find I'd missed the last train. A train was goin... posted on Jan 15 2011, 15,002 reads

Man Mails $5 to Strangers to Spread Good Will
Daniel Simonton has been sending $5 bills to strangers in the mail. And in return, he wants nothing. The idea came while he was walking down Broadway Avenue in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood. He "distinctly noticed how a lot of people seemed really cranky." "I started to wonder when the last time it was someone did anything nice for these people," Simonton said. And so the experiment began...... posted on Jan 13 2011, 3,734 reads

Mass Killer Atones For His Sins
Shyam Narayan Sharma is a bedraggled man noticeable for his garland of old shoes and for wearing sandals and clothes made out of torn jute bags. He has served time in jail after turning himself in for capital crimes. While in jail, Sharma had a personal transformation and "made 600 inmates literate." Upon his release on bail, Dayasagar sold his double-story home to set up a tin shed private sch... posted on Jan 10 2011, 2,900 reads

A Missed Flight & A Connection Found
On a plane bound for O'Hare International Airport, Elsie Clark felt weak, scared and utterly alone -- until she spotted a pair of shiny leather shoes across the aisle. What happened to the 79-year-old Canadian over the next 12 hours-- being embraced by a good Samaritan, escorted through O'Hare in a wheelchair and welcomed to a swanky high-rise for dinner overlooking Lake Michigan-- saved her from ... posted on Jan 04 2011, 8,233 reads

Beyond the Known Territory
Sean McNiff, who's an art therapist, says in his book, Art and Medicine, "The commercial art world is allied with a particular set of economic values, and we make an error when we perceive this context to be the exclusive, or the highest, realm of art." That speaks to something I found it very difficult not to feel hampered by. The market side of art, art as a commodity, kind of rules the experien... posted on Dec 24 2010, 1,964 reads

A Class of Their Own
Over the last weeks I've been to two separate memorial services for teachers - in one case also a headmistress - from my years in secondary school. Margaret Gray was a splendid woman who died aged 97, alert and engaged to the end. Fueled by a quiet but powerful personal faith, she worked tirelessly for girls' education, rising to be the headmistress of the voluntarily-aided state grammar which I a... posted on Dec 19 2010, 4,255 reads

Smiles for the Morning Commute
"If people think I'm crazy, I don't care." Arms spread wide, feet tapping and hips swaying, Erica "Happy Lady" McElrath of St. Louis greets daily commuters on the street corner while rocking to the beat of her headphones. McElrath, who lost her full-time job in January, now spends her days doing what she loves: dancing in the street. "I don't want money. I come out here to make people smile." Her ... posted on Dec 17 2010, 10,042 reads

A Blessing from A Homeless Man
On the way back from work every evening, a homeless man would often be at the exit of the freeway. His eyes were brown and had a sparkle, like an inside light beaming out of his eyes. He always waved at every car, he was always happy and smiling and sometimes almost dancing. A feeling of joy would come over me every time I saw him, as I came off the ramp. He had that effect. Then one day, I w... posted on Dec 10 2010, 6,995 reads

Couple Gives Away Lottery Winnings
What would you do if you won 11.3 million dollars? If you're Allen and Violet Large, you give it away. The couple discovered they had won the jackpot last July, while Violet was undergoing chemotherapy therapy for cancer. "That money we won was nothing," Allen explains with tears in his eyes. "We have each other." Since July, they've given almost all of it away, first taking care of a family in ne... posted on Dec 04 2010, 3,922 reads

James George: On Waking Up to Life
International diplomat, author and visionary environmentalist James George was just about to get married at the age of 86. At an age when most people are on the way out, James George is fully engaged in the urgent task of waking people up. "You see, Consciousness is permeating human beings to the degree that it can, but we're not receptive. We're not allowing that penetration. Our fixed ideas, our... posted on Nov 29 2010, 2,734 reads