See entire September 17, 2010 newsletter
I really hope I can make the point of this newsletter work and connect all the green synapses. Green “whirling dervish” brain working overtime on this one.
The beginning: I was the emcee at a breakfast today for an organization called Business Clubs of America. It’s a high powered networking group comprised of business owners and top management. Networking great, guest speakers usually outstanding. Today’s speaker? Outstanding Plus.
The middle: The speaker was Jay Dobyns, author of No Angel, My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels. Harrowing just doesn’t cut it. Jay’s presentation about his experience was over-the-top, spoken from the heart, scary, humorous, dramatic, compelling, inspiring and honest. And even better than that but I am having one of those rare “at a loss for words” moments.
The green angel connection: While Jay was speaking (and HONESTLY not knowing the title of his book), I kept thinking that angels come in all forms and that they fly because they take themselves lightly – like Jay. He described some things that I will never see, that I never want to see and that I can barely stand to think about at times. He went on to talk about his transition back into mainstream, about being in a really dark place and about living with little hope for humanity because of all the things he had witnessed. And then he found hope…
Jay went to Africa and his restored hope came in the form of an organization called Heartbeat for Africa. He didn’t tell us much about the organization and it wasn’t a solicitation. It was about clean water – or the lack thereof. Jay described the color and horrible smell of the water in one village perfectly. He showed a short video featuring the little kids he met who didn’t have clean water to drink. He talked about how far the village had to go to get clean water. And he told us how shocked even he was about the reality of what he witnessed in an entirely different way than his Hells Angels experience. His hope for humanity started to come back because of Heartbeat for Africa and more specifically because of water – the only thing that a human being cannot live without. Jay = green Angel connection for Mrs. Green…
The green message: Water is our most precious resource. Please don’t waste it or take it for granted. Please appreciate it and know that 1.5 BILLION people (most of them children) will go to bed on the night you read this without access to clean water. And then give thanks – for clean water and for living in a country where it is still readily available (emphasis on still.) The clock is ticking and the last time I checked, there is still only ONE planet.