I had a dream. A genie appeared and offered me one wish. “I want happiness,” I begged. The genie answered: “Happiness? You can’t give someone happiness. Happiness is different for everyone. No, I can’t give you happiness, but I can give you what will make you happy. What will make you happy” the genie asked.
I looked at my life and found that the most ecstatic moments of happiness were when I was helping people. My happiness came from serving others. So, I said, “Genie, let my life be one of serving people.” And so it has come to pass. I was given the privilege to be a doctor and care for indigenous peoples worldwide in war and in peace; to hold the hands of hopeless people in warring Rwanda and Angola; to build hope for those in the Gujarat earthquake and love those who lost everything and everyone in the Indonesian tsunami. I taught AIDS prevention to missionaries in the highlands of Papua New Guinea, started a humanitarian project caring for people with AIDS in India, set up an orphanage and school in Nepal and helped a lot of people in Zambia to break the cycle of poverty.
One day while walking down a desolate dirt path in the diamond rich region of Angola, I stopped a ragged barefoot boy and asked an important question: “Little boy, can you tell me why God made rich people and poor people?” He answered my question without reflection or hesitation: “Sir, he made the rich people to take care of the poor people and he made the poor people to take care of the rich people.”
I have a dream. I have a dream that the people of plenty embrace their power and collectively work to empower the people of poverty. I have a dream that the people of poverty embrace their power and collectively work to empower the people of plenty. We are one people, one family. And when I eat I want to be reassured that everyone goes to the table and partakes in the same bountiful feast I so comfortably enjoy. Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Abraham Lincoln had a dream of the oneness of all people. They moved mountains by their determination and convictions.
And then there is you, equally powerful, equally determined and equally convicted. Who are you? What are you doing? Where are you going? And when will you get there?
Life has taught me that the simplest acts of love bring profound ripples of goodness throughout the world. Whether you sew buttons on children’s shirts, fix someone’s teeth to give them back their radiant smile, or pass out roses to strangers on a street, every time we love hearts are touched and we change our world.
I hope this website inspires you to smile more, love a lot and do what you’ve come to do! Love is your most powerful weapon of mass construction. Use it. Taste its sweetness. It’s delicious.