Birthdays

A year has passed. By now each of you on my friends list (except the very most recent) should have been honored on your birthday with a donation to a good cause. Since birthdays come around once a year, it is time to reassess what began as an experiment and has since become a weekly/daily spiritual practice.

And it was an experiment at first. (Experiment in Giving) My goal was to raise awareness of issues that have captured my interest, and see how others would respond. My friends (and often their friends) responded with graciousness, gratitude, and heightened interest. What I did not count on is the affect it would have on me. I found myself becoming more generous in all areas of my life, not just financial, but with my time and energy, and even with my smiles. Dare I say it, I am happier.

So giving in this way (beyond my family's 'regular' donations to our church and other charities) has become a transformative practice. But now that it has been a year and each friend has been honored once, should I continue or should I do something different?

Both seem right. I want to go on, and yet it seems like a good time to make a change. It has occurred to me that perhaps I should become more focused in the coming year. I still have high regard for the causes to which I have been giving for the past year (listed under "Facebook Birthday Experiment" on my webpage, donnal.net), and I intend to continue supporting them in some manner. But even though these organizations have a sound reputation for involving local communities, I never know exactly where my donations are going. This is not a criticism; it is just a feeling that I am not as closely involved as I would like to be. Could I do something more specific?

It turns out that I have friends with close ties in Haiti, Burma, Ethiopia, and possibly dozens of other locations around the world. I thought about continuing my Birthday Experiment by giving to one of these more 'local' causes, someplace where each donation would be more tangible.

And then, quite recently, I was made aware of a location on our planet so remote that maps are hard to come by, a region with fewer than 0.000003% of the earth's population (200 out of 7 billion), a society among the poorest in the world, fighting bravely against some of the world's most powerful economic interests not to mention a corrupt government. These are a people living in harmony with their environment, and what they require most as a community to continue their stewardship and improve their lives is a high school.

Will building a school save the world? Of course not, and I understand this. But it is not MY job to save the world. I can only respond to what I am called, and this project seems to be my calling at present. This project may HELP save the world.

So at least for the coming few months, I will make a $5 donation on YOUR birthday in YOUR name toward the building of this school. What I plan to do a bit differently this year is make it easier for others among your friends to match this gift if they wish, and you may do so yourself, but only as you (or they) feel led.

More to come.