Dare to Be Kind: How Extraordinary Compassion Can Transform Our World
by Lizzie Velasquez.
Hachette Books, 2017, 208 pages (available on Amazon.in for Rs 819.00).
Lizzie Velasquez is twenty-eight years old. As a child and as a teenager, she suffered much bullying, including being called the “ugliest woman in the world.” Because of a congenital illness, she could not gain any weight, and was hence extremely thin. She suffered from anxiety and depression.
When she was seventeen, she saw an online video of “The World’s Ugliest Woman” with thousands of hits. To her shock, she found that it referred to her! She decided to do something positive about it. With her parents’ constant help, she prepared and gave a TED talk to speak up for victims of bullying and encourage kindness. This talk and her book have made her well known and much admired. Her YouTube channel has some half a million hits.
This YouTube star says that life has been a struggle, but we need to build resilience. She wrote the book to tell people that everyone, not just ourselves, needs compassion. : “I consider it not just my work but also my purpose to speak out and reach as many people as I can with my message that we must be kind to each other, no matter what. We are all the same.”
Velasquez stresses the importance of home upbringing and the key role played by parents. We need to learn kindness at home. She has tips for parents, including monitoring their social media use and helping them if they are bullied.
The book has received star reviews. An Italian reviewer wrote: “The book leaves you breathless. She is the most beautiful person you can come across.”
Another reviewer gushed: “Oh my gosh! I feel blessed to be on the same planet with Lizzie. What an incredible human and amazing story!” (Bonnie Clark).
Booklist calls this book “a wonderful and fast read, full of vitality that captures the luminous spirit of kindness that Velasquez so beautifully embodies.”
Isn’t it great when, far from being embittered from bullying and health problems, a person decides to spread the message of kindness?
How to be an Everyday Philanthropist: 330 Ways to Make a Difference.
by Nicole Bouchard Boles
Workman Publishing, 2009.
The book begins with this quotation from Benjamin Franklin, “The noblest question in the world is: What good may I do in it?”
The author, a wife and mother, starts by saying that she has not done anything extraordinary, like giving away huge sums in donations, or finding a cure for cancer. She is not a millionaire. But she believes that everyone of us can make a difference in the lives of at least some people. “Through simple steps I take each day—actions that cost nothing more than a bit of my time—I am joining with thousands of other people who are trying to make a difference and give what we can to those who need it most.”
The book is filled with examples of ordinary people who reached out and helped—and made a difference.
Here are some reviews:
“With this book, anyone can learn to bring positive change to their community.” (Mary J. Blige)
“This is the perfect guide for those who want to do the right thing, but can’t figure our how.” (Julie Salamon)
The chapter headings give us an idea of the kind of “philanthropy” Boles has in mind. The first chapter, for instance, is: Use Your body. It gives us instances of what we can do with our body to help others. Besides obvious examples like helping to keep surroundings clean, it presents the case of a nursing mother who read about African children whose mothers were HIV-positive, and hence unable to drink mother’s milk. The woman in question found ways of donating her milk. Many others did the same, when they learnt that there were ways of making the milk reach needy children in their own country or elsewhere.
Other chapter headings give us clues to the rest of the topics. Chapters 1 to 10 show how we can use our body, family, computer, talents, belongings, trash, time, community, decisions and awareness to help others. The final chapter is about sharing (a little bit of) our resources.
Without waiting to be very rich or influential, we can all be philanthropists, can’t we? In fact, some of the most generous givers are people who deprive themselves to help others. If we wait until all our needs and wants are met before we help others, we will never really help. We can all learn much from the everyday philanthropists who are not millionaires, but who find many, many ways of helping those in greater need.
Joe Mannath SDB
To subscribe to the magazine, click Subscribe
