So there were a few things shared this past week in one of my health classes on how generosity and hope are good for your health. I thought they were really inspiring. I also thought they were nice for the holiday season.
Thought number one...the story of John D. Rockefeller. As most of you know Rockefeller was quite ambitious, he worked himself so hard that he made his first million by the time he was 33years. By 43 he owned the worlds' largest business and by 53 he was the world's first billionaire. What you may not know is that by this time his pursuits had made him many enemies, because of those he crushed on his way to the top. Pennsylvania's oil fields hanged him in effigy and he had bodyguards to protect his life. Also at this time, with his lifestyle and stress he developed alopecia (you lose your hair), had horrible digestion so he could only eat milk and crackers without getting sick and had insomnia. At age 53 the doctors gave him 1 year to live. At this point Rockefeller decided to change how he lived his life, and they say its what saved his own life. He decided to use his money to benefit others. He started hospitals, universities, missions and the Rockefeller foundation. His contributions helped the discovery of penicillin, cures for TB, malaria, and hookworm (which was plaguing the south at the time). It was when Rockefeller started his charitable work that he began to be able to eat normally, he slept through the night and felt re-energized. He defied the odds by living to and giving til the age of 98.
Thought number two...This is a quote from a study done on those who helped Jews in Nazi-Germany. The study was done to identify the common traits that these "rescuers" had, in other words they wanted to know what makes a person altruistic. " They were and are "ordinary" people. They were farmers and teachers, entrepreneurs and factory workers, rich and poor, parents and single people, Protestants and Catholics. Most had done nothing extraordinary before the war nor have they done much that is extraordinary since. Most were marke
d neither by exceptional leadership qualities nor by unconventional behavior. They were not heroes cast in larger than life molds. What most distinguished them were their connections with others in relationship of commitment and care. It is out of such relationships that they became aware of what was occurring around them and mustered their human and material sources to relieve the pain. Their involvements with Jews grew out of the ways in which they ordinarily related to other people...They remind us that such courage is not the providence of the independent and the intellectually superior thinkers but that it is available to all through the virtues of connectedness, commitment, and the quality of relationships developed in ordinary interactions."
Thought number one...the story of John D. Rockefeller. As most of you know Rockefeller was quite ambitious, he worked himself so hard that he made his first million by the time he was 33years. By 43 he owned the worlds' largest business and by 53 he was the world's first billionaire. What you may not know is that by this time his pursuits had made him many enemies, because of those he crushed on his way to the top. Pennsylvania's oil fields hanged him in effigy and he had bodyguards to protect his life. Also at this time, with his lifestyle and stress he developed alopecia (you lose your hair), had horrible digestion so he could only eat milk and crackers without getting sick and had insomnia. At age 53 the doctors gave him 1 year to live. At this point Rockefeller decided to change how he lived his life, and they say its what saved his own life. He decided to use his money to benefit others. He started hospitals, universities, missions and the Rockefeller foundation. His contributions helped the discovery of penicillin, cures for TB, malaria, and hookworm (which was plaguing the south at the time). It was when Rockefeller started his charitable work that he began to be able to eat normally, he slept through the night and felt re-energized. He defied the odds by living to and giving til the age of 98.
Thought number two...This is a quote from a study done on those who helped Jews in Nazi-Germany. The study was done to identify the common traits that these "rescuers" had, in other words they wanted to know what makes a person altruistic. " They were and are "ordinary" people. They were farmers and teachers, entrepreneurs and factory workers, rich and poor, parents and single people, Protestants and Catholics. Most had done nothing extraordinary before the war nor have they done much that is extraordinary since. Most were marke
d neither by exceptional leadership qualities nor by unconventional behavior. They were not heroes cast in larger than life molds. What most distinguished them were their connections with others in relationship of commitment and care. It is out of such relationships that they became aware of what was occurring around them and mustered their human and material sources to relieve the pain. Their involvements with Jews grew out of the ways in which they ordinarily related to other people...They remind us that such courage is not the providence of the independent and the intellectually superior thinkers but that it is available to all through the virtues of connectedness, commitment, and the quality of relationships developed in ordinary interactions."
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