InSpiritry

 

In India, where the streets are full of homeless children, a compassionate woman created a 24-hour toll free hotline to connect street children with food, shelter, medical care, safety and access to people who care. Who staffs the phone lines? Other children who have been saved from a life on the streets! 

In South Africa, hundreds of thousands of people every year lie alone in their squallid homes dying of AIDS. Now, thanks to a wonderful nurse, some patients are being given home hospice care. Who would provide that kind of care? Young people once unemployed and hopeless, now trained to ease the pain and suffering of others!

 In the U.S., thousands of low income high school students never make it to college because there is no one to show them how to apply or how to find funding. One man took action. His four-day College Summits  offer help with college applications, essays, scholarship applications and financial aid forms. Of those who attend, 80% get into college!

In his new book,  How to Change the World – Social Entrepreneurs and the Power of New Ideas, noted author David Bornstein, whose first book shared the story of the Grameen Bank and microfinance, offers a look at the inspirational individuals like these who have used their innovative ideas to change the world rather than accept the status quo. Bornstein describes them as “social entrepreneurs”, a term increasingly used interchangabley with “social enterprise” to describe those who combine creative innovation, corporate strategies and social awareness to address persistent problems. (more…)

A 79-year-old-mother of five and grandmother of twelve with a lifetime of experience in early childhood education volunteers as a grandmother for troubled children at her local elementary school.

An 84-year-old Marine who began writing award-winning poetry in her 50s now mentors young poets via email submissions

A 70-year-old retired professor serves as a supervisor for probationers on Saturdays building wheelchair ramps for needy local residents

These amazing anecdotes are not inspirational fiction–they are about friends of mine, one of whom is my mother! In fact, they and so many others are more than friends, they are my elders. (more…)

A Noose!?!

After years of being locked away as a relic of American heartlessness, the reality of a rope knotted into a noose is back! First, during the Jena Six case and now at another American high school where its barbarous symbolism is being used for intimidation. It is nothing short of heart-breaking for me. (more…)

There is so much happening in the world!

To know how to respond requires our attention, our discernment and our Greater Good thinking. The problem is that most of us count on one or two sources for our information.  As a result, we Americans develop our ideas about things based on a western, mostly Anglo version of the world without realizing there are other points of view.

Consider how Iceland might view our resistance to environmental wisdom or how South Africa looks at China’s burgeoning economy or what Palestians think of the war in Iraq.

InSpiritry calls us to see ourselves as part of a global family. If you are ready to do that, here are some outlets you might visit. America’s freedom of information is an amazing gift, but we must listen for other voices if we want to understand the world.

A word of warning — this can be a study in open-minded contemplation! (more…)

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InSpiritry PODCASTS – Twenty Minutes to Rekindle Your Spirit!

Theme: Community

The word, Community, suggests with-Unity. Are you living in full Community with God, with your inner Self, with Humanity as a whole and with Nature? Join Anne McCrady for this as she takes a look at how we can best make a difference in the world by first living in Unity.

Listen as Anne shares how we need Unity on many levels and how we can use our sense of Community for the Greater Good as we live each day. In this compelling program, Anne inspires listeners to make Unity a personal intention and Community a daily practice. She reminds listeners that when we use our passions within the wider network of God, Self, Humanity and Nature, the outcome can be a better world, a stronger society, a more healthy planet, a more loving family and that greatest of blessings: a peaceful heart.

Quotes from: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Buddha, Psalms, Jimmy Carter, The Quran, Eleanor Roosevelt and others

An Inspirational Story about: Betty Elder, Local Activist for Children of Low Income Families

Books Recommendations for: Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community; Me to We: Finding Meaning in a Material World; How Are We to Live? Ethics in an Age of Self-Interest; Peace Be Upon You: The Story of Muslim, Christian and Jewish Coexistence; A Greener Faith: Religious Environmentalism and Our Planet’s Future

Poems: Heaven and Early Morning, Thinking of Jerusalem by Anne McCrady

Read the complete text for this Twenty-four Minute Podcast! (more…)