On April 13th at 3pm (repeats thursday April 17th at 1pm) Barbara Elliott will talk about compassion on Living Smart. I decided to do a show with her because I loved her book "Street Saints." It focused on people around the country who are doing "compassion" work. (I call it that) and often don't get the credit or the funds they need to continue their work. The strange circumstance is that I had featured two of the people in her book in other Living Smart shows without knowing there was a book written about them. These two people, John Sage and Marilyn Gambrell had not even told me they had been featured in a book, that's how selfless and extraordinary these two street saints are. Here are the two shows.
Marilyn Gambrell works with kids whose parents are incarcerated.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=555909220741570562
and John Sage created Bridges to life which reunites victim families with criminal inmates so they can learn from each other's pain and despair.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5669884262139741535
Barbara Elliott, a journalist, and author had made a decision to cover those who work in the trenches because she wanted to help them continue their work . She herself is a street saint. A few years ago she founded the working connection which helps people in transition from homelessness, drug addiction, prison and layoffs and people down in their luck who made the wrong decisions.
Americans are some of the most compassionate people on the planet but how do we make the right decisions on who and how to give? Elliott gives advise on this and reminds us we can make a difference, a great difference in other people's lives. She herself walks the talk. Once a week she mentors a child and knows full well, that child will benefit from her wisdom, her presence and her unconditional love. Compassion does not have to be someone else's job. It can be our job every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment