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Currents and Futures

[Click here to donate to the Ladakh Campaign]Greetings;

Years ago, when Sarvodaya was mounting massive “shramadana” (volunteer shared labor) campaigns, thousands of people would turn out to build roads, canals, etc. Feeding this group  became another major volunteer campaign, involving hundreds of pounds of rice, transporting massive cooking pots, fuel wood, boiling rice and veggies over open fires…

A Sarvodaya worker told me that, during one of the shramadana campaigns, while they were cooking lunch for several thousand people, the cooks were approached by an elderly woman, who contributed a double-handful of rice and a little bit of seasoning.

The worker said, “From a practical standpoint, the woman’s contribution was completely insignificant. More rice stuck to the bottoms of our pots than she contributed that day. But, from the point of view of compassion and sharing, her donation was the MOST SIGNIFICANT. It was significant because she gave what she had, for the sake of the community.”

So, in the spirit of the handful of rice, I would encourage you to sign up, and to GIVE SOMETHING to the Ladakh campaign. Join the flow (or, more accurately, help create the flow!).

Take your reluctance and your apologies and your self-consciousness and toss them in the garbage (NOT the recycling!), and join in the swim as you are able!  It may be only “a handful of rice”, but it may be the most significant handful of the Ladakh Campaign.

Peace,

Sharif

[NOTE:  You are always free to re-post these articles.  Please let me know that you’ve done so!]

[NOTE:  While I welcome your comments, I do not post comments from “Anonymous”, or from bogus email addresses.  That is not the kind of society we should support.  The next society will be based on love and community, not snarkiness and anonymity.]

[On the other hand: there may be valid reasons why you don’t want your name used.  (For example: job-related issues.  It’s happened before.)  Send me an email and let’s discuss it.]

 

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