An Invisible Butterfly?

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

The Humanity Project is proud of our programs and other contributions to improve the world we live in. One of our unique offerings is a set of fables, eleven sophisticated but simple and brief stories for adults. Each  one deals with living life more fully by focusing not on “me” but rather on “us.” The latest fable was just posted and we wanted to share part of it with you here, hoping you will go to the link on this website to read the rest. It is called “The Tale of the Invisible Butterfly”:

How does it happen that a butterfly becomes invisible? Invisibility attends beauty more often than you may think, my friend, a cloak that often hides the unique beauties, the profound beauties of this world. True beauty noticed by no one. Yes, it happens around us every day – and not only to butterflies.

So you may find some small interest in this small story of one smallish yellow butterfly who outgrew her yellow smallishness. And as she turned beautiful, uniquely and profoundly beautiful, she instantly became invisible. (Read the rest of this story for yourself by clicking on the menu link above that says … “Fables.”)

Listening to the Change

Visit our I Care website too: www.thehumanityproject.com/icare

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

Things are slowly changing in the United States — and I suspect in some other countries too. Changing attitudes about the way we drive. Yes, it’s true that far too many drivers pay little attention to handling a car when they’re on the highways. They check email, text friends, talk to business associates and whatever else. Eating a hamburger? Why not? Cranking up the tunes to deafening volumes? What’s the problem, right? Except that, slowly slowly slowly, those attitudes are evolving. More and more folks recognize the profound dangers of distracted driving.

At the Humanity Project, we are dong our part to help. Specifically, our unique I Care: Just Let Me Drive program for teen drivers is reaching more and more of the young people who need it. And their parents too. We now have another way that you can quickly and easily learn more about I Care. Our latest podcast offers selections from our I Care program, with a few brief readings from the teen-created I Care book. You’ll also hear the complete rap song that our teen artists wrote and performed, a cool tune they turned into an animated video on our I Care website. And we chat during the podcast with Jose Soto of State Farm, the public-spirited company that’s the major sponsor of I Care.

To listen to the new podcast, just click here.We call the show, “Driver Safety Lessons Teens Remember.” And this is exactly what I Care: Just Let Me Drive is all about. We avoid scare tactics and instead offer driver safety lessons that are fun and funny. And memorable, all of it made by teens for their peers. We believe I Care can prevent accidents, injuries and deaths. You can help us do that by spreading the free I Care program to the teens in your life — and you may want to start by listening to the new podcast to hear what it’s all about.  Thanks so much. We appreciate anything you can do to let teens and families know about I Care.

My Thoughts on Bullying (A Student's View)

(Editor’s Note: This blog was written especially for the Humanity Project, offering a student perspective on bullying — with solid advice that is useful for both adults and youthful readers.)

BY ESTHER CALIXTE, Barry University

Growing up I personally experienced bullying. When I was in grade school I was constantly bullied by other kids because of my weight. I always told the teacher but she never believed me. The teacher always told me,  “You’re big enough to defend yourself.” I was bullied verbally and sometimes physically. The kids would push me and laugh at me, and when I fell, they would tease me even more. I never told anyone else because I was too embarrassed. I always asked myself, “How can someone my size be bullied?” I was afraid all the time and I didn`t know who to go to. One day I finally told my mother and she went to the school and reported the kids and the teacher that never reported it. Speaking up helped my situation. If I had told my mother earlier, the bullying would’ve stopped. Everyone has the right to live their lives however they want to. So, here are some tips I offer for others:

1. Speak up!!!!! Don`t be afraid to defend someone that you see being bullied. Speak your mind — shout if you have to, run and go get help. Go ahead, any little thing helps. Helping a victim from being bullied is saving a life.  We are all responsible for everyone in this world. We must get together as a whole to stop this madness.
2. Look out for the warning signs of bullying: Unexplained injuries, lost or destroyed personal items, changes in eating habits, and avoidance of school or other social situations can all be signs of bullying. Pay close attention to your friends and family because victims tend to hide warning signs due to the fact that the bully probably threatened that telling anyone will make it worse for the person being bullied.
3. Never ignore the situation. If you see it, report it. You can help, believe it or not. Whenever a student feels threatened in any way, take it seriously, and assure the student that you are here for them and will help. When you don`t take the situation seriously the problem gets bigger.
4. Parents, teachers, mentors, and leaders can also help stop bullying throughout the world by educating their children, students and mentees about bullying. People have the right to know what they are supposed to do when they’re being bullied. Create pep rallies in schools for anti-bullying. Creating activities can inform the victims and the bullies that something can and will be done about bullying.
5. Artists and actors have taken bullying to another level in the United States. Lady Gaga once said: “I’ve been actually really very pleased to see how much awareness was raised around bullying, and how deeply it affects everyone. You know, you don’t have to be the loser kid in high school to be bullied. Bullying and being picked on comes in so many different forms”.

Bullying has become a serious matter throughout the U.S and we need people like you to speak up, stand up and help stop bullying. You never know what a little word can do in someone’s life.

A Faithful Friend to Kids

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

(Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from the December 2013 Humanity Project email newsletter, Humanity News. You can sign up to receive the free newsletter once each month by clicking on the “Go” button in the right-hand column of this home page under “Sign up for our Email Newsletter.” We ask only for your email address.)

It’s always wonderful when you feel you can count on a friend. For the Humanity Project, one of our loyal longtime friends is Children’s Services Council of Broward County.Last month, they sponsored the Humanity Project’s Anti-bullying Through The Arts program for the sixth consecutive year.

Our thanks, as always, to CEO Cindy Arenberg Seltzer as well as Chief Communication Officer Sandra Bernard-Bastien and their great staff of professionals. Their support, and their friendship, mean a lot to THP — and to the children of our community. We have worked alongside CSC on a variety of projects for many years now. We also have conducted trainings for CSC, showing other nonprofits how they can attract young people to afterschool programs. They help many valuable organizations to help others in South Florida, where the Humanity Project is based.

As they explain on their website, “The Children’s Services Council is an organization created to plan, coordinate and fund services for and on behalf of the children of Broward County. The Council is an independent taxing authority which was established by a public referendum passed on September 5, 2000 … The CSC’s focus is Broward’s children. We are a special government created by the voters of Broward County in September, 2000 to provide leadership, coordination and funding for services for and on behalf of children.” For more information about Children’s Services Council of Broward County, visit their website by clicking here.Thank you, CSC!

Anti-Bullying, by Memory

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

Our blog today is going to be brief. Mostly because I hope you’ll go to the YouTube link and check this out for yourself.

I’d rather have you do that than read lots of text.

And here’s what you’ll see: The Humanity Project’s clever original hand sign to help stop bullying. It’s part of our highly acclaimed Anti-bullying Through The Arts program, which we teach to kids in grades K – 5. So yes, this is for elementary school children. We came up with the idea in 2010 as a memory aid to reinforce our main message: “Bullying hurts everyone in this school … and it takes everyone to stop it!”

Our program has helped 15,000 kids

You’ll see that this Humanity Project hand sign is fun and memorable for young kids — they often walk out of the room repeating the gesture after our program, in fact. We hope you will pass along this video link to families and teachers who may be able to teach the anti-bullying hand sign to their kids. And we hope you will remember to let them know it came from us … the Humanity Project! Thanks!

100 Podcasts and Counting!

Matt Corey engineers a Humanity Project Podcast

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

It’s true! Our latest podcast is Number 100 for the Humanity Project Podcast. We began doing these in March 2006, when we still had to explain to most people what a podcast was. We don’t have to do that now, of course.

For our 100th edition, I chatted with our producer/engineer, Matt Corey, who owns Zebra Studios in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It’s where we record our shows and also some of the original music we use during the podcasts. (ALL music you hear in these podcasts is original, composed and performed by the Humanity Project … including our charming theme music that opens and closes each program.)

Matt Corey is also Vice President of the Humanity Project Board of Directors and CEO of Insight for the Blind, which records Talking Books for the Library of Congress. He’s a highly talented, delightful guy — and a good friend. I think you may enjoy our conversation and the fun ukulele music we performed during the show. Each podcast is sponsored by State Farm, one of the Humanity Project’s major sponsors. We appreciate their support, as always. If you have not listened to any of these programs, we feel sure you’ll find them entertaining and informative, with commentary and interviews and even some Humanity Project news mixed in.

Check them out by clicking here: Listen to the Humanity Project Podcast. And if you like what you hear, please pass along the link to your friends and family. Now, it’s on to the next 100 podcasts!

Bridging Humanity with Love

Tina Cornely teaches a young Nepal monk to turn trash into art-for-sale

POSTED BY: TINA CORNELY

(Editor’s Note: This guest blog was written for the Humanity Project by Tina Cornely, founder and CEO of the nonprofit group Bridging Humanity. Read more about Ms. Cornely in her bio at the end of this blog.)

A friend recently asked me to expand on why I founded Bridging Humanity. Initially I was not too keen about the idea of starting yet another nonprofit. There were already enough of them out there and I wondered to myself, do we really need another one? Rosa de la Cruz, a friend and supporter, strongly urged me to reconsider my position on the matter. There were other strong community leaders suggesting I take the plunge. Charity work was nothing new to me. I was the past Chair of the Friends of the Orphans local chapter and had already spent a lifetime of vacations volunteering at orphanages around the world.

Once the decision was made, the doing became effortless. Bridging Humanity is essentially what the name implies and in effect is the embodiment of Karuna. One of the principles of Karuna is to help the weak become strong. But, how do you accomplish this? This question would change the course of my career path as I struggled and endeavored to better understand the challenges faced by the poor here in the U.S. and abroad. This new course led me to many exciting discoveries as I started to realize and understand, it really is not that hard. If you have the Will, the Universe will help you find the Way. To really make a meaningful difference, a holistic and all encompassing approach is the answer.

Essentially I teach the poor how to grow their own food and prepare nutritious balanced meals. Cooking food is challenging in developing countries so I teach the poor how to make eco friendly briquettes or bamboo charcoal. Additionally bamboo is a prolific plant and can deter deforestation. Contaminated water is the number one killer of children world wide and this simply should not be! Purifying water is as easy as sealing contaminated water in a clear plastic bottle and leaving it in the sun for 4 hours. Conversely millions of women die each year from child birth because family planning medicine is a luxury the poor can’t afford. This should not be when the solution is as simple as a fertility necklace! A calendar based necklace that helps women manage their menstrual cycle so they know when they can get pregnant. Trash is a valuable resource that is available in abundance in developing countries. Repurposing trash into useful items is a way for the poor to earn a living. These are just a few examples of ways one can help the poor become more self sufficient. If you want to help the poor then I urge you to read Bridging Humanity’s “Nine Steps to Eradicate Poverty.” Please join us in this important endeavor. Your expertise, time, connections and donations are of great value. Click here to visit our website and let us know how you would like to get more involved to help make a difference in the lives of orphaned children and the less fortunate. Our next trip is just around the corner. Each year we visit Haiti at Christmas so the homeless children who live in the tent city of the Cite de Soleil are not forgotten. We could really use your help rounding up toy donations and school supplies.

About the Author: Tina Cornely was born in St. Mary’s, Georgia, and educated in Honduras, Switzerland and the United States. She is an enthusiastic humanitarian, environmental activist and eco artist. She specialized her business career in the fields of technology, education & museum administration. She is the former Director of Technology of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the former Operations Director of the Miami Art Museum in Miami and a 16 year veteran teacher from the University of Miami, Florida. Ms. Cornely for more than three decades has made her home in Miami, where her creativity and passion for the less fortunate continues to grow and expand. She has been on the board of trustees of the Haitian Cultural Arts Alliance for 6 years and is the past Chair of the Friends of the Orphans Southeastern Region. She currently is the Founder & CEO of Bridging Humanity, a nonprofit dedicated to teaching the less fortunate how to become self sufficient.

Peace Award Winner

Dr. Laura Finley, Humanity Project Board of Directors VP

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

(Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from the November 2013 Humanity Project email newsletter, Humanity News. You can receive the free newsletter once each month, by signing up from our home page under “Sign up for our Email Newsletter.” We ask only for your email address.)

Humanity Project Board member, Dr. Laura Finley, was honored in October as a force for peace in the world. Dr. Finley was given the Public Peace Intellectual Award by PeaceVoice, which is part of the Oregon Peace Institute in Portland.

The award recognized her work to spread a message of peace through mainstream media. This included 20 op-ed articles last year that were published around the United States and in some foreign countries. Laura is a vice president of the Humanity Project Board of Directors and assistant professor of sociology and criminology at Barry University. She also is the author or co-author of ten books as well as numerous journal articles and book chapters.

Dr. Finley is actively involved in local, state, and national efforts to promote peace, justice and human rights. She serves on the boards of No More Tears, a non-profit that provides individualized assistance to victims of domestic violence, as well as on the boards of UN Women East Florida Chapter, Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, and the Peace and Justice Studies Association. She co-chairs the South Florida Diversity Alliance and is co-organizer of the College Brides Walk, an effort designed to raise awareness about dating and domestic violence. In 2008, Dr. Finley started the Center for Living and Teaching Peace, which provides training and education related to the promotion of peace in all its forms. We congratulate our colleague and we’re very proud of her fine efforts.

Spreading the Safety Message

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

One of the Humanity Project’s great friends is a talented singer and songwriter and author as well as a peace activist. Her name is Haikaa Yamamoto. Haikaa is a longtime member of this organization and a collaborator with the Humanity Project on our website’s PeacePage, which you can view from our Home Page.

I’m telling you this because last week Haikaa wrote a blog about our innovative teen driver safety program, I Care: Just Let Me Drive. We wanted to share the link to that blog, which is posted on the website, Bicultural Mama: Celebrating the Best of Both Worlds. Here’s the link to Haikaa’s blog: http://www.biculturalmama.com/2013/10/i-care-just-let-me-drive-campaign.html.

We’re grateful to our new friends at Bicultural Mama for posting this short piece about I Care — and we hope it may help their readers to share information about our free driver safety program with teens who need it. As Haikaa writes in her blog: “Designed by teens for teens, the I Care program includes a website, a book and videos all available for free for teenage drivers. Everything about I Care is aimed at getting friends to take care of their friends which I think is wonderful. As a mother of two young adults, I remember how powerless I felt during those teenage years when everything I said to my kids was ‘stupid and duh’ and the absolute truth was always something their peers said. That’s how it goes. Teenagers trust other teenagers and I Care derives its strength precisely from that bond.”

Thank you, Haikaa — we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. To see what I Care is all about, just visit the website at www.thehumanityproject.com/icare. I also hope you may want to find out more about Haikaa, perhaps listening to some of her uplifting and insightful songs. The easy way to do that is through her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/HaikaaMusic. We appreciate Haikaa’s efforts to let more folks know about the Humanity Project — and as always, we find inspiration in her consistently positive work.

National Teen Driver Safety Week

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

Yes, there is such a thing: National Teen Driver Safety Week. And it’s not just some invention of a special interest group. This week was designated by Congress in 2007 as a time to raise awareness about a sad reality: More teens die from car accidents in the United States than from any other cause. National Teen Driver Safety Week also encourages us to do something to change this. 

For our part, the Humanity Project sure is trying  to help — with assistance from our great friends at State Farm, the nation’s largest auto insurance provider. Through State Farm funding, we created our truly innovative I Care: Just Let Me Drive program. By teens, for teens. It uses the all-important close friendships of teenagers to get inside their heads with a memorable message: “Your best friends want you to drive safely … so you’ll come back in one piece and remain their friend for a long time.”

The image you see above is the book cover, designed by University of Miami marketing students. We also have a website at http://thehumanityproject.com/icare …  and like all Humanity Project programs, I Care is totally free. At the same time, State Farm is helping schools around the United States to get involved with teen driver safety through the big Celebrate My Drive campaign.This week, many high schools are working to collect votes so they can win as much as $100,000 from State Farm.

They also might host a concert by pop star Kelly Clarkson. You’ll find more info about Celebrate My Drive at this link: http://www.celebratemydrive.com. National Teen Driver Safety Week can serve as a beginning for teens as well as for families and friends of teenagers, an opportunity to talk about the responsibilities of driving. Our newest drivers are the most vulnerable to highway accidents, injuries and deaths. The Humanity Project and State Farm are two of the many organizations working to make sure those young motorists get a clear message about driving that may save their lives.

What IS the Humanity Project?

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

OK, good question. We still hear it a lot: “What is the Humanity Project?” Because we’re quite different from many other nonprofits. Most nonprofit organizations have a single main goal: To feed the homeless, for example, or help disaster victims.

Not THP. Basically, our mission involves putting a profound idea to practical social use. We try to transform a deep psychological insight about human beings into programs that work in the real everyday world. So what is that deep insight, that profound idea? It is this: Every single human being thrives or withers based on a constantly evolving self-image. If that sounds vague, it isn’t. Here’s what I mean. All people feel a powerful fundamental need to believe that we have value as individuals, that our own life is worth something to society.

As the great philosopher and psychologist William James expressed the thought — “The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.” Among many other thinkers over the centuries, Freud recognized this and called it the desire to be great. That basic concept forms the foundation for everything the Humanity Project does. Then we compare society’s needs with our organization’s pool of talent. That is, we review the experience, skills and knowledge of those folks working for the Humanity Project, exploring areas where we can most effectively create innovative programs based on the need for individual value. If you look more deeply at any of our programs, that’s what you will find.

Our acclaimed Anti-bullying Through The Arts program turns bystander schoolkids into a force that exerts positive peer pressure on bullies — because even bullies want to feel appreciated in some way or other. They may try to seem tough or cool or funny or whatever, seeking approval from other kids. Our program teaches bystanders how to constructively show bullies their behavior is unacceptable.

With our I Care: Just Let Me Drive program, we rely on the strong teen need for friendship and acceptance, tapping into this through a special teen-created book and website that help young drivers concentrate more effectively on the road.

And on our website, www.thp4kids.com, older students who have dealt with bullying, sexual identity issues, social isolation and other common youth problems made engaging videos, music, blogs, poetry, games and more. The site offers a unique online friend to tweens and teens who need positive advice and a greater sense of individual value, as you can see for yourself by visiting some of its main features. In addition to these programs, the Humanity Project also has an original philosophy for daily life, something called “shared value.” Like our group, it is empirically based, practical and effective. You’ll read about shared value if you open the “About” menu tab above. We’re very proud of the work we’re doing … and we know it’s only the beginning. We hope you may want to learn much more about the Humanity Project and join our growing team of sponsors, partners, members, volunteers and friends.

Paper Connections for Kids

POSTED BY: BOB KNOTTS

(Editor’s Note: This post is adapted from the October 2013 Humanity Project email newsletter, Humanity News. You can sign up to receive the free newsletter once each month by clicking on the “Go” button in the right-hand column of this home page under “Sign up for our Email Newsletter.” We ask only for your email address.)

Even in our Internet world, important communication still is done the old-fashioned way. On paper. It puts something more permanent into a person’s hands, giving them the chance to pass it along to others. That’s exactly what the Humanity Project is doing with our two newest programs.

The bookmark pictured here is now part of our campaign to spread the word among tweens and teens about www.thp4kids.com — our all-original, teen-created online resource for socially isolated youth, including many in the LGBT community. (There’s a cool photo and other stuff on the back of these bookmarks too!) Then there’s our I Care: Just Let Me Drive books that are the centerpiece of the Humanity Project’s teen driver safety program. We just printed 1,100 copies as a good start to get them into South Florida high schools. We hope for additional funding so we can spread these programs far beyond Florida. We know thp4kids can give badly needed emotional support to thousands of lonely, confused youngsters … and that I Care will save young lives. These paper bookmarks and books are spreading the word among those kids who can benefit most.