Thanks, Nova!

As The Humanity Project continues our hard work on the fast-approaching Thousand Youth March for Humanity, we have reason today to celebrate. We welcome an important new sponsor to our efforts: Nova Southeastern University, an influential institution in South Florida. NSU has just joined our growing list of supporters for this big event, which is a march by students to end bullying in their schools. In effect, the students are taking back their own school yards, halls and classrooms from the troublemakers. It's part of The Humanity Project's programs to help make bullying socially unacceptable behavior. We’re proud that NSU wants to work with us.

Nova is based in the Fort Lauderdale area, with a lovely 300-acre campus and more than 26,000 students. It’s the largest independent institution of higher learning in the southeastern United States. The university also boasts a group of experts on the issue of bullying. We gratefully add NSU to a sponsor list that, as of this writing, also includes the Florida Marlins Major League Baseball team, AutoNation, Downtown Development Authority, Children’s Services Council and our old friends at Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon. Thanks to each of you and to Nova. Together, we can help end school bullying – and help prevent the psychological and physical damage to kids that often results from this abuse. The Thousand Youth March for Humanity can serve as our rallying point for change.

Thousand Youth March for Humanity

I hope you’ll listen to our new podcast, which is titled exactly the same as this blog: “Thousand Youth March for Humanity.” It will explain more than I can in this brief space about the unprecedented event The Humanity Project is organizing and leading this fall. On Sunday, November 16, we’ll head up a march of more than 1,000 school kids, grades K – 12, to stop school bullying. Think about that. When is the last time you’ve heard of students from five-years-old to 18-years-old coming together for anything? Then ask yourself when you’ve heard of kids from vastly different economic and ethnic backgrounds supporting the same cause. Then think about this: Have you ever heard of a massive number of students marching to take back their own schools from the bullies? I suspect the answer to all those questions is that, no you haven’t heard about this before. That’s why the Thousand Youth March for Humanity is unique. Our sponsors right now include the Florida Marlins, AutoNation, Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon, Downtown Development Authority and Children’s Services Council. But we need more sponsors and donors – lots more. An event this huge doesn’t come cheap. We hope the whole community will come together to say that bullying must be seen as socially unacceptable from now on, like drunk driving. Bullying is dangerous. Bullying damages and sometimes destroys young lives. This march can be the beginning of a new attitude about school abuse and violence. Because bullying isn’t just kids being kids. It’s kids harming kids. This march is our chance to join together and deliver one simple, powerful message about bullying: “Enough!”

Our Anti-bullying Work

At our first meeting with the nation’s sixth largest school district, The Humanity Project had one clear message: “We believe that bullying must become socially unacceptable, just like such things as drunk driving or smoking in crowds.” That remains our goal in all our anti-bullying efforts. We believe strongly that students, parents and teachers must begin to view bullying differently. It’s no longer kids just being kids. Bullying is socially destructive behavior.

We’re proud of the Thousand Youth March for Humanity that we conceived and will now organize and lead, a major public anti-bullying event that's unprecedented in Florida and perhaps in the United States. More than 1,000 students, from grades K – 12, will march through the streets on Sunday, November 16, 2008 to take back their own schools from the bullies. We think that the message delivered by these youths will be as clear as our original comment to the Broward County school district: “Bullying must become socially unacceptable.” News coverage is likely to help us deliver that message far beyond the borders of Broward County in South Florida.

The Humanity Project also created our own innovative anti-bullying program that we’ll take into those same South Florida schools beginning later this year – and we’re very proud of this as well. Our entertaining, thought-provoking half-hour presentation will be seen by elementary school students. Again, the message is very clear: “Bullying hurts everyone in school, not just kids who are bullied. So everyone must view bullying as socially unacceptable behavior.” It’s all part of The Humanity Project’s mission to show the many real, practical connections that link human beings – and the ways that we can lead our lives for the betterment of both humanity and ourselves at the same time. Helping yourself, helping humanity. That’s The Humanity Project.

Clearer Mission, Clearer Focus

It’s nearly Labor Day as I write this, with September almost here. As we move toward the autumn, I want to share The Humanity Project’s newest improvement. We have revised and more tightly focused our mission statement. This is part of our continuing effort to more clearly explain what The Humanity Project really is offering. Our vision and “How We Do This” statements also have been re-written. Here is the latest statement of our goals – offered in the hope that many more people will want to help us reach them. Thanks! And Happy Labor Day!
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Mission:

To teach individuals how to take practical action for the betterment of both humanity and themselves.

Vision:

To create world-wide acceptance of a practical philosophy showing that individual effort can serve the highest interests of the individual and humanity simultaneously, with programs and writings available to all children and adults.

How We Do This:

We are not religious, not New Age. Our cutting-edge programs, writings and other teaching tools encourage individual thinking and are empirically based. We teach children and adults to see themselves in a larger context, recognizing many more of the meaningful connections among human beings and then acting for the highest interests of all. This work includes an innovative, school-approved anti-bullying program for grades K – 5 and the Thousand Youth March for Humanity, conceived and organized by The Humanity Project, which will bring together more than 1,000 K – 12 students to help abolish bullying in South Florida schools. This website provides interviews, practical information and original modern fables in our podcasts and blogs. In essence, The Humanity Project teaches engaging lessons about the importance of focusing not on “me” or “them” but on “us.” Helping yourself, helping humanity at the same time. That’s The Humanity Project.
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Finding the “Us’ in Everday Life

I am sitting in sweaty gym clothes as I write this, just back from the gym. I know, I know. Not the prettiest image, for which I’m sorry. But I want to explain just how fresh the idea for this blog is. I thought of it 15 minutes ago at Gold’s Gym in Hollywood, Florida. I was working out on a stationary bike when I said to myself, “Ok, how would I apply The Humanity Project philosophy to this situation? Right now?” That philosophy essentially says that we live more meaningful lives as individuals by focusing our attention on contributing not to “me” or even to “them” … but to “us.” So the question was, “How could I contribute to us – both myself and others at the same time – while just working out at the gym?” Here’s what I came up with:

• I could smile. That really does make me feel better but it also improves the general attitude in the gym for others. It helps “us.”
  
• I could exercise harder. By being in better shape, I make myself stronger and healthier, which of course is good for “me.” But how can I view this as also truly being good for “us”? These were my some of my thoughts about that question:
  
  1) If I’m in shape, I’m better able to help others, including friends, in everyday life. I remember the time before I overcame my back problems. I had to have my then-spouse lift suitcases out of the car when we traveled. I couldn’t pick up things to assist friends when they moved or needed help shifting furniture around their houses. Or whatever. This is the kind of thing many of us are called on to do often, even if it just means hoisting a couple gallons of milk for an elderly lady at the grocery store or helping to clean our own home.

2) I’m stronger in case someone really needs my assistance in an emergency. This isn’t everyday stuff – but it’s not far-fetched either. Where I live in South Florida, bystanders routinely are called on to aid drivers whose cars have veered into one of our many canals. Any of us may be involved in, or be near, an auto crash or a fire or some other event where strength and confidence in our physical abilities is needed. Ask the people who survived 9/11 about that. God forbid any of this actually happens to us, of course. But it literally is true that we may be needed and that we’re a stronger, better prepared citizen if we are in good shape.

3) Exercise improves my attitude, self-confidence and health. This has many ripple effects for the good: It makes me a more balanced human being emotionally. It helps me cope with difficult people and situations more effectively. It frees more of my best at work, in social situations and everywhere else. I am less likely to suffer some physical ailment. Etc., etc. And all of those things benefit others in lots of direct and indirect ways.

• But working out with “us” in mind has a deeper, more far-reaching benefit too. It can help me to feel connected to my fellow human beings, lifting me out of a life lived in isolation, only for “me.” Try it yourself and you’ll see what I mean. By thinking and acting for “us,” rather than “me” or even “them,” I add a much greater purpose to everything I do, even something as ordinary as going to the gym. And that purpose gives my life a richer meaning.

I hope you’re starting to get the idea. Focusing my actions and thoughts on “us” offers me a very good reason to get out of bed every day – to live my life in ways that benefit both me and others at the same time. I stay motivated because it benefits me. I stay connected to others and find meaning in my life because it benefits my fellow human beings too, which becomes an additional powerful motivation for me. In turn, all of this improves society by improving the individuals in it, starting with me. Right now, at the gym. That shift in perspective is among the key goals of The Humanity Project’s program: finding a sense of connection and involvement with every other human being by living for “us.” We believe our unique program can teach anyone how to make and maintain that mental shift, adding purpose and meaning to our everyday lives. Even if we’re just sweating on a stationary bike at Gold’s Gym.

Giving Help, Getting Help

We have some great news for members and friends of The Humanity Project! Our innovative, entertaining anti-bullying program for grades K - 5 has been officially approved for the sixth largest school district in the United States. In Broward County, Florida, young students will learn our message that bullying hurts everyone in school, including kids who just watch. This ties in perfectly with The Humanity Project’s mission to teach children and adults that all people are intimately connected – and that we each can live in a way that helps both others and ourself. Also, The Humanity Project proposed and now will organize and lead a major public event: the Thousand Child March. On November 16, 2008, more than 1,000 schoolchildren from grades K – 12 will march through downtown Fort Lauderdale to support the campaign to abolish bullying. This event is now officially approved by the Broward public school system, which is aggressively doing something about the bullying that is a problem in schools everywhere. You’ll be seeing a lot in the media about The Humanity Project’s march as the date comes closer.

But to do all this, we need concrete help in many forms, especially volunteers and money. The first two champions of children and safe schools have stepped forward to give us their support. The Children’s Services Council of Broward County is a venerable, tax-supported institution in South Florida doing incredible work of all kinds to help kids. A great organization staffed by hard-working, committed people. We have just learned that the Children’s Services Council will donate $1,000 toward our $20,000 + budget for the march. A big thank you to CSC for this generous help! We look forward to a long and mutually fruitful association with that wonderful group!

Also, our longtime podcast sponsor, Yellow Strawberry Global Hair Salon in Fort Lauderdale, is doing more to help us now. Owner Jesse Briggs, along with his terrific daughter, Denise, and great lifelong partner, Flo, are backing The Humanity Project’s anti-bullying efforts. First, Yellow Strawberry has donation boxes around the salon for contributions to our anti-bullying cause. Second, they have posted signs offering a terrific deal to their customers: Donate $1,000 to The Humanity Project’s anti-bullying work and get a $500 Caribbean Dream Relaxer treatment – and of course, a significant tax deduction too. Caribbean Dream Relaxer is the safe, popular new hair straightening treatment created by Yellow Strawberry and available worldwide. So it’s a win-win for Yellow Strawberry customers, who can get a lot by giving a lot. A big thank you to Jesse, Denise, Flo and everyone at Yellow Strawberry! With friends like them and Children’s Services Council of Broward County, our anti-bullying campaign is sure to succeed!

This is the fourth in a series of original modern fables by The Humanity Project. They are short, fun, fictional tales that we hope will help demonstrate key points of The Humanity Project message. Stories have been used to teach moral lessons for centuries, from the ancient Greeks through the Bible and up to today’s self-help gurus. That’s also our goal with these stories. We hope you’ll enjoy “The Tale of the Small Hole.”

The Tale of the Small Hole

Life is tough if you’re nothing but a small hole. For big holes, sure, things aren’t quite so bad, sure, sure. At least bigger is better, as everyone knows. But for each small hole poked into the fabric of this world somewhere, there is almost nothing to do but to live in hollow boredom.

The worst of it was this, though: The Small Hole wasn’t even sure, totally sure, he was even a hole even. He was round. Sort of. He was empty inside. Kind of. But he sat among rows of black lines on a field of white. His best guess was that he came into being as a tiny hole in a sheet of paper. But he wasn’t sure, not totally sure, not sure at all.

The Small Hole had lived all his small vacant life with this terrible uncertainty. Big holes at least had some purpose anyway. They could let big things pass through them anyway, like a tunnel that is a pass-through for cars anyway. At least it was something to do with your day. Even some small holes could be useful sometimes, it seemed, as when a finger scratches an itchy leg through the pocket hole of old jeans. Even small holes had a purpose even, sometimes. Not a grand purpose, mind you. But amid the nothingness of small hole life, even small purposes were welcome.

So sat the Small Hole, day after day. Round and empty, sort of, kind of. Unable even to think of himself as a big nothing even, because he was only a small nothing after all. The Small Hole had no purpose and nothing to give at all.

Or so it seemed.

Until the day he overheard one voice uttering some very interesting words. (Yes, holes can understand whatever people say. Most recognize several languages as well as signing for the deaf.) The Small Hole heard one man’s voice talking, followed by very beautiful sounds. The same voice again, then more sounds of a beauty the Small Hole had never heard before. And then once more, the same man’s voice again, once more yes the same man’s voice, but now very loud, very bellowy now. This is when the man’s words got very interesting, if also very loud.

“You’re late!” the man’s voice bellowed. “You have the most important moment in this whole work – and you’re late! Play on the downbeat, as it is written!”

The Small Hole understood the words, of course, but he could not make sense of their true meaning. What was the bellowing man talking about? Soon enough, the Small Hole would learn.

Because now the voice of the bellowing man continued: “I can’t believe my ears! One note to play and you get it wrong! That cymbal crash is the climax of this great symphony by this great composer and you cannot be late! On the downbeat, Mr. Nada! It’s right here on your page! Let me show you!”

What was the bellowing man saying? The Small Hole glanced quickly around now, excited. Because something was happening now. Yes, now the bellowing man was drawing a circle in pencil now. A circle around … him! Around the Small Hole! The bellowing man was drawing a circle around the Small Hole, which of course meant the bellowing man had been talking about the Small Hole!

And now the Small Hole suddenly understood something he never had understood before. Something that made everything make sense at last. Because the Small Hole was not a hole at all after all, after all. He was a musical note. Sitting in the middle of a sheet of lined music paper, all alone. All alone – because he was so important.

“The most important moment in this whole work,” the bellowing man, who really was the orchestra conductor, had called the Small Hole. “The climax of this great symphony by this great composer,” the bellowing orchestra conductor man had added. Then the bellowing conductor had drawn that circle in pencil around him, around the Small Hole.

Yes, the Small Hole understood now for sure, for sure. He wasn’t a Small Hole. He was a Big Note. He was the Big Note that made the cymbals of the orchestra crash loudly together at just the right time at just the right place in the music for everyone in the audience to enjoy. For sure, the most important musical note in this great symphony by this great composer!

And the Big Note understood one thing more, for sure. He understood that this is how it goes sometimes, for sure, for sure. Because sometimes we are sitting just a little too close to the page to see everything, that’s all. Sometimes it all looks just too big all around us to recognize our real place among it all, that’s all.

Sometimes we have a more important purpose, much more important, than we think. Yes, this is what the Big Note understood at last. Except sometimes we just need someone to draw a circle around us, in pencil, to show us what we were missing all along.

The Humanity Project believes purpose is what we each find for ourselves. It is our perception of our place in the world as an individual. The Humanity Project also believes that every human being can live a fuller, more meaningful life by recognizing that we each have something important to offer. Finding that larger purpose, and making it the focus of our everyday existence – that’s what The Humanity Project is all about. For more on this idea, we suggest you listen to our June 2008 podcast, “Me, Them … and Us.” You can catch this at www.thehumanityproject.com. Just click there on The Humanity Podcast and look for the podcast dated “6.26.08,” then click again to listen. Thanks!