LIVE UNITED Y’All!

By Howard Mason

Although no longer affiliated with Metro United Way, the regular participants of the Social Change Book Club have decided to keep it going. This is the fourth incarnation of the book club since its initial meeting in July, 2006.

The Social Change Book Club is still open to everyone who is interested in understanding, participating, leading, or supporting social change. Each month we select a book and get together to discuss. Selections rotate among three themes: social changes, how we work with others to make change happen, and the inner qualities needed to bring change into the world.

People just show up if they are interested–no RSVP, commitment, etc. It is great when people have read the book, but that is not a requirement to come and discuss.

We got this going because there is a lot to learn about how to make social change happen and people who are interested in changing the world need opportunities to share stories and experience community with others who care.

We meet the third Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m.  Our home is Heine Bros. Coffee, 119 Chenoweth Lane, St Matthews. We are grateful for the invitation and hospitality.

Maya Angelou’s Letters to My Daughter, our February 15 book, is her first original collection of writing to be published in ten years–anecdotal vignettes drawn from a compelling life. She writes, “I gave birth to one child, a son, but I have thousands of daughters. You are Black and White, Jewish and Muslim, Asian, Spanish speaking, Native Americans and Aleut. You are fat and thin and pretty and plain, gay and straight, educated and unlettered, and I am speaking to you all. Here is my offering to you.”

Power and Love: A Theory and Practice of Social Change by Adam Kahane is our March 15 book. Kahane suggests that power, our desire to achieve our own purposes, and love, our desire to heal the whole, are complementary drives. Both are required to effect sustainable social innovation and change.

If you would like to receive news of the Social Change Book Club, send an email to socialchangebookclub@gmail.com

General, Volunteering Book Club, Community, gathering, learning, Social Change

Recently I was looking at some scrapbooking supplies and I ran across a package of stickers with various words on them. When I read them, I was struck by the wisdom in them and I couldn’t help but think how surprising it is where we sometimes find the reminders we need to put our lives back into perspective. Who would have thought stickers in a craft store would have had an impact on me that day?

I took a few minutes to take those words and put them into sentences that meant something to me. I would like to share them with you. Here are my scrapbooking words of wisdom.

Always remember to …

• Be thankful for what you have.
• Learn as much as you can.
• Listen to what the world has to say.
• Wonder what could be.
• Love what you do.
• Believe change is possible.
• Share what you have.
• Wish for more to share.
• Dream bigger.
• Imagine the impossible.
• Trust that you can.
• Hope for a better tomorrow.
• Care about the people you meet.
• Work harder than you think you need to.
• Laugh at yourself.
• Dance when you can’t dance anymore.
• Stand up and be proud.
• Sing when you want to be silent.
• Whisper when you want to shout.
• Pray for strength and serenity.
• Try harder than ever before.
• Play a part in the whole.
• Smile as often as possible.
• Cherish your friends and family.

And always be who you are.

You are someone special.

I challenge you to make a list of your own and share it. I’d love to see it.

Photo credit:  lars hammar

General Community, learning