Talent for Humanity: Stories of Creativity, Compassion, and Courage: To Inspire You on Your Journey

By Patrick Gaffney and Thierry Sanchez

Can we actually change the world—by changing ourselves?
Our world today is in a state of deep uncertainty and turmoil.
Often we feel hopeless, powerless, frustrated and afraid.
Is there really anything we can do? Can one person make a difference? Can we actually change the world—by changing ourselves?
The seven men and women in this book have done just that.
Reza (photojournalist), Sherry and Bob Jason (attorneys), Aliza Hava (singer/songwriter), Deeyah Khan (film director/music producer), Yarrow Kraner (builder of innovative communities, director/photographer), and Daniele Finzi Pasca (theater director and clown) tell us in their own words how they overcame hardship and sometimes the most grueling and brutal of ordeals to take a stand against poverty, apathy, closed-mindedness, oppression and prejudice.
Our story-tellers are ordinary people, who led exceptional lives.
What their stories show is that any human being who is inspired and motivated can do incredible and creative things to help transform the lives of others.
Let them take you on a journey of compassion and creativity, from revolutionary Iran to Skid Row in Los Angeles, from a Native American reservation in Montana to Norway and Great Britain, from Palestine and Israel to the slums of Calcutta and the Sochi Olympics.
The message of their stories? That each and every one of us can make a difference, and give someone hope, courage, love and vision.
Could your story be next?
As you dive into their stories and allow them to take you on exceptional journeys, do realize that this book stands incomplete without your own contribution. Indeed, a few pages at the end are left blank. The final story, if you accept, can be yours… How would you put into words your wishes for the world and your aspirations to do something to bring change? Now imagine a million new friends just waiting to hear from you!

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 30, 2015
• ISBN: 9781483551906

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

We all know this so well. It happens every day, whenever we look someone in the face and there is that electric meeting of the eyes. A bolt of recognition spins out and bounds across, and in a split second a whole universe of possibilities opens up. Remember me, those eyes seem to whisper, remember I am yearning to find meaning, just like you; aching to be happy, just like you; struggling to fend off trouble and suffering, just like you.

There are seven billion, in fact, just like us, and perhaps ten billion by the end of the century. We are surrounded by others all the time, and one of the inescapable truths of our human reality is that although we are each unique, we are all ultimately the same, with the same secret fears and aspirations, the same tendency to make mistakes, the same need for connection and friendship, and the same capacity to find out what on earth our life is all about.

Another truth, one that becomes more obvious every day, is that we are all intimately and intricately interconnected. We depend on others for absolutely everything we use, consume, or enjoy, and even our very attitudes of mind, our words, and our actions constantly weave us into relating with others. Whether it’s our mother, brothers, sisters, children, or the person who delivers the mail or fills the shelves at the supermarket, the list of people we depend on for our survival is actually endless. We live in a teeming sea of tiny acts of cooperation and kindness, where it’s impossible to untangle our well-being from that of others.

And yet we live in a world that is deeply fractured, where it’s harder and harder to show each other affection, and where the underlying belief is the idea of the separateness of us and them. So it’s a world fraught with injustice, inequality, oppression, cruelty, and misery, as well as everyday pain and panic and anxiety. Even those of us who do not live in the shadow of warfare and conflict, or the pain of illness, will suffer from depression or loneliness or will struggle to find connection and meaning.

All of us dream of a kinder world, a more equal world, a more inclusive and imaginative world where our common vision somehow matches the vast and mysterious beauty of being human. How often do we stop to consider a simple question like, What does it mean to be alive as a human being? And in this very brief time we have here on earth, have we calculated what we are going to do with this life of ours? We might wonder how we are going to choose to behave and act in our community and contribute to an endangered world, or ask ourselves what we understand by the word responsibility. We may tell ourselves we desperately want to do something to help. Will we just settle for business as usual, though, merely following the unconscious, automatic, ravenous bidding of my needs and my feelings? What part are we going to play?

The six stories in this book trace the lives and actions of a group of people who have found answers to these questions and made an incredible contribution to their fellow human beings. In one way or another, they have all taken a stand and fought against poverty, apathy, closed-mindedness, oppression, and prejudice. Their stories range from revolutionary Iran to Skid Row in Los Angeles, from a Native American reservation in Montana to Norway and Great Britain, from Palestine and Israel to the slums of Calcutta and the Sochi Olympics. They embrace the entire planet.

What is it that brings this particular group of women and men together? Some years ago, Thierry Sanchez, an enterprising Frenchman with wide experience in the world of art, music, and concert production, was prompted by his experiences and meetings with remarkable people to found a charity called Talent for Humanity. Along with many of his friends—artists, businesspeople, and everyday citizens—he envisioned an organization that would celebrate the work of some of the women and men in different parts of the world who are giving of themselves to help and support others. These are individuals who may be unknown outside of their own communities but who quite simply change the world every day. The task of Talent for Humanity is to shine a light on people who have harnessed their passion, their gifts, and their creativity to a desire to serve others. Out of this came the idea of the Human Spirit Award. The individuals chosen for this award would not be handed a statue or a plaque, but their stories and their mission in life would be recounted in a book, the one you are holding right now. The seven individuals featured in these pages are the first to be offered this award as a tribute to their passion, their unswerving determination, and their vision as they strive to improve the destiny and lives of others. And the aim of this book is to plant the seeds of their inspiration in the hearts of anyone who comes across it.

Each of our storytellers here was invited to compose a Letter to Humanity, which follows immediately after their story. In their letters, they crystallize what they would like to say, from their hearts, to all of us in the world. At the end of this book you will find an invitation where you too can write your own letter and express your deepest or most urgent feelings to people everywhere. In that way, we may all gradually become part of an openhearted community of people who are passionate about transforming the world, each in our own different way.

One deep source of inspiration for Thierry and his colleagues has been the work of Dominique Lapierre, the author of many books, including the heartrending City of Joy. Here is someone who has used his flair as a journalist and writer to help thousands through the charitable foundations and humanitarian projects he has launched. His message is, in his own words, that we can all make this world a better, a juster world by extending a fraternal hand to the poor, the destitute, the homeless, the unwanted, the unloved. And as we wonder how we, of all people, could change the world, so this book is offered to help give us that extra ounce of courage, to push open the door and start our own journey, whatever that might be.

Let us briefly introduce the individuals featured in this book. We begin with Reza, who collided with his own mission in life during the chaotic days and nights of the Iranian Revolution. He tells his story with all the lingering grace and magic of Persian culture. Living now in exile in France, he has become a legendary photojournalist and a prolific campaigner for children and people in need, whose work in Afghanistan and other countries around the world, offering trainings for example in media and communication, has earned him many honors and awards, including France’s Légion d’Honneur. For years he has focused on regions devastated by war and conflict, in the knowledge that his photos could awaken understanding and therefore provoke change. Reza founded the NGO Aina, and he continues to mount exhibitions and offer workshops all over the planet.

On the far side of the world in Los Angeles, Sherry and Bob Jason, husband and wife attorneys who work as public defenders, were so horrified by the plight of at-risk inner city children in impoverished and underserved neighborhoods plagued by drugs, gangs, and crime that they created City Hearts, an innovative and revolutionary program that trains young people in the arts, allowing them to discover their own potential, find a vision of a brighter future, and so become caring and creative participants in the community. Bob and Sherry staked everything they had on City Hearts, with remarkable results. In the past thirty years, they have trained and transformed the lives of 35,000 children and young people with this extraordinary program.

Aliza Hava is a peacemaker. A gifted and dedicated singer and songwriter born in America, her lifelong passion for music coincided with a profound spiritual awakening, which guided her toward a vision of organizing concerts for peace. Based in Israel for a number of years, she worked toward creating tolerance, understanding, and peaceful coexistence among the different communities in the Middle East, making use of the healing power of music. She created huge events such as Peace Day LIVE, which involved nine concerts on six continents, and the largest-ever interfaith prayer festival and concert Harmony in the Holy Land, which gathered together Muslims, Christians, and Jews and was streamed to countries all over the world. Aliza currently lives in California.

It was music that also shaped the life of Deeyah, who was born in Norway to Pakistani and Afghan parents and trained in the traditional South Asian style of music and singing. While still young, she became a well-known pop singer, incurring the wrath of the conservative members of her ethnic community who sought to silence her. Fleeing to the United Kingdom and then the United States, she was drawn to helping the marginalized and oppressed and those denied a voice or freedom, and she went on to discover a deep and unflinching commitment to human rights and social activism. In particular Deeyah has drawn attention to the scourge of so-called honor killings, winning the International Emmy Award for Best Current Affairs Film in 2013 for her documentary about honor killings in the UK entitled Banaz: A Love Story. Deeyah continues to create music as a talented producer and composer.

Born in the United States, Yarrow Kraner was destined to become a gardener of genius. His baptism by fire on a Native American reservation in Montana reinforced his innate aptitude for connecting people to a common purpose and initiated him into the power of tolerance and forgiveness. Yarrow’s gift for recognizing the extraordinary in everyday people led him to found Superdudes, an original online community for serving the community all over America. This then evolved into HATCH, a unique mentoring environment where thousands of young people have found their lives transformed through working with experts in a dazzling variety of disciplines and professions, including filmmakers, musicians, photographers, designers, architects, writers, fine artists, and specialists in the entertainment industry.

Finally, Daniele Finzi Pasca is a theater director and clown who grew up in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland and traveled to India to serve the sick and the dying in Mother Teresa’s centers in Calcutta. Returning to Europe, he founded the Theatre of Caress and now has a worldwide reputation as a deeply creative and revolutionary stage director, responsible for the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics and opening of the Paralympics in Sochi in 2014. In his creations, he is possessed by a desire to evoke compassion and humanity in his spectators by teasing out the human condition with all its joy, inspiration, pathos, paradox, and humor. In an exuberant and kaleidoscopic stream of consciousness quite different from the other narratives, Daniele’s story is interspersed with ideas, visions, and techniques that figure in his love affair with his many audiences around the world.

These six stories are all wildly different, some of them poetic, others more down-to-earth, but what they all have in common is the way in which these men and women have uncovered something within themselves that empowered them to help and create opportunities for others, often on a massive and until then unthinkable scale. They all have used the arts, whether film, theater, photography, drama, dance, or music, and allowed their gifts and talents to reach out and infuse others, often young people and children, with values and understanding that are vital for their future and the community.

As they tell their stories in their own words, it will become clear that this book is neither another self-help book nor a set of moral directives about what anyone is supposed to think, believe, or put into action. Far from it. This is a book about passion and creativity, about friendship and kindness, determination and, as we will see, focused and undistracted attention. It is a book about compassion, because everyone in it has been driven by a compelling desire to alleviate suffering, along with its causes. It is a book about courage and resilience as well, as they all in their own ways had to overcome obstacles and hardships and sometimes the most grueling and brutal of ordeals. It is about transformation, too. Some people like to make a distinction between change and transformation. They say that change is an improvement or alteration of what already exists, while transformation, like a butterfly freeing itself from the chrysalis, means a new creation where the only limits are our imagination and

Reviews for Talent for Humanity

[Thierry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"Talent for Humanity, Stories of Creativity, Compassion and courage to Inspire You on Your Journey” is not only beautifully written but it is a very inspiring book which can be read by anyone. The power of transformation is just so amazing. I read an advance reader copy, and I cannot wait the release of the final book!
“Let’s never stop imagining. Let's join a conspiracy of compassionate action, and sign up to a lineage of kindness that we can pass on forever.”