I discovered this fascinating case study of the power of hope today. In case you haven't heard of him already, let me introduce you to Jonathon Prince. Jonathon has already run across America twice - that's right! about 5000 miles in total, apparently - once to raise money for those affected by Hurricane Katrina, and then again on the hurricane's anniversary. He raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for his chosen cause. He now calls himself an 'athlivist' - an athlete-activist hybrid, using his sporting abilities to effect positive change in the world. And he's just launched his third cross-country effort! This time, he's running from community to community, hoping to help out in some way in each one, whilst also raising money for 6 charities. It's all pretty inspiring, I must say - which is exactly Jonathon's intention. His main aim, he says, is "to inspire others to make whatever change may be desperately needed to give their own lives more meaning. It’s that ‘Hope Factor’ that can move mountains!" I'm sure all RTBH readers would agree with that...
You can link to Jonathon's 'hope or die' website from the post title above, where you'll find his bio, news reports and other information about his quest. You can also donate to any of the charities involved, or follow his blog / tweets.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Hope - and change - start with you
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1 comment:
Wonderful - that's truly inspiring!
It's great to see sports being used to encourage good things, like this, rather than bad, such as those sought by the hosts of the 1936 'Nazi' Olympics.... which makes me wonder whether, with cases like this, there's a natural connection between the means of inspiration (incredible physical feats in this case) and what people are being inspired to do. There could be people doing amazing things elsewhere in the world, deliberately inspiring their audience to do more questionable things (although I can only think of fictional examples!)
We need some way to make more inspiring things inspire good - or at least encourage people to only be inspired by the best sources of inspiration. Perhaps that's where this great blog comes in!
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