Читать книгу HumanKind - Brad Aronson - Страница 6

INTRODUCTION

A FEW YEARS AGO, I attended the high school graduation of one of my mentees. All the students at Girard College (yes, that’s actually the name of the high school) are there because of some sort of adversity in their lives. The vast majority of them are also from areas of Philadelphia where it’s assumed that they won’t go to college. In their neighborhoods, one in three kids drops out of high school and only a small fraction of those who do graduate continue their education.

At Girard, on the other hand, 100 percent of that year’s graduates were accepted by colleges. These students beat the odds and went on to attend some of the best institutions in the country, including the University of Pennsylvania, Wesleyan and Howard.

At the graduation ceremony, parents who hadn’t graduated high school were crying and cheering for their children who were. Children who were giving future generations a new standard to aspire to. I also met Girard alumni who have a lasting bond with their high school. The man sitting next to me was a seventysomething Columbia professor who had traveled from New York for the occasion, and he proudly belted out the school song along with the new graduates. He told me he’s forever connected to Girard because of the impact the school had on his life.

Commencement speaker Marc Morial, president of the National Urban League, spoke passionately about the wonderful accomplishments of the students, and he talked about the world they’ll inherit. He talked about the negativity that’s so pervasive in the media. He questioned why a shooting in the neighborhood was more likely to be covered in the news than the annual success of this institution. By the time he was done, the same question was resounding in my head, and I was hoping against hope to see a story about Girard’s graduation in the news the next day.

But it wasn’t to be. None of the news outlets said a word about it. Instead, I was informed of an arrest for shoplifting, an armed robbery and a car crash. Why did students who were beating the odds slip under the radar but a car crash and an arrest didn’t? I’m not sure, but writing this book is my effort to share more of the stories that matter.

When my wife was sick with leukemia, we spent a lot of time at the hospital, and a patient advocate suggested we create projects to give us purpose and focus during such an emotionally draining experience. So I began writing about the friends, family members and complete strangers who rescued us from that dark time, often with the smallest gestures, and I found that I didn’t want to stop. I knew that like Girard College, the world was full of other people’s inspiring stories that didn’t make the news, so I sought them out. I scoured the Internet, I talked to people at countless nonprofits and I asked everyone I knew for their stories. And I found what I was looking for.

I found the story of the third-grade teacher who changed a boy’s life with a simple lesson in shoe-tying. The story about the band of seamstress grandmothers who descend on Philadelphia every week to patch clothes—and, in the process, mend hearts—for homeless people. The story of the woman whose decision to make an extra meal to feed someone in need led to a movement that’s provided more than sixteen million meals. And so many more about people whose love for others has made a difference in the world.

The heroes in HumanKind don’t command an army of helpers or have an abundance of free time. They’re everyday people who focus on what they can do to make a difference. Their acts of kindness change lives and even save them. These everyday heroes don’t just hope the world will get better—they make it better.

Each chapter’s conclusion and the Hall of Fame at the end of the book highlight easy ways you can have a meaningful impact. You’ll discover where a $195 donation can cure someone’s blindness and where $500 can pay for a treatment that enables a disabled child to walk. You’ll find a dozen ideas, many of which surprised me, that people going through difficult times suggest as the best ways to help them. You’ll discover thirteen nonprofits that will forward your letters of encouragement to hospitalized kids, foster youths, recently diagnosed cancer patients, deployed troops and others who will cherish your support. You’ll see how buying someone a meal or sharing a few words of encouragement at the right time really can change a life.

I hope HumanKind leaves you feeling grateful for the blessings in your own life. I hope the people you read about also leave you feeling inspired and plant the seeds for more inspiring stories. Stories about the difference you decide to make in the world.