The Enchanting Challenge Blog

I am currently tearing through the pages of Thomas Friedman’s Hot, Flat, and Crowded.  Though it is terrifying to read of all the destruction that has allready wreaked havoc on our planet, it is also incredible to read of the international collaborative efforts being done to remedy such destruction.  Page-by-page Friedman chronicles who is doing what, what has been done, what needs to be done, and how it can all be done.  He speaks of Al Gore and his role in bringing climate change to the forefront of the media’s attention; he speaks of famous chemists who have mapped out plans to viably recycle so much of what we consume; he elaborates on how Danish entrepreneurs helped the economy and the environment by making a profitable business out of making and marketing windmills; and on and on.  The book also speaks of the need and ability for all of us to get involved in this necessary and collective effort.  And it is inspiring.

Reading this book is waking up my mind and my spirit, getting my brainstorming juices flowing in the direction of how I can contribute, and getting my spirit determined to contribute.  I remember when I was attending Marquette University, a Jesuit university with a heavy focus on social justice, and there was the famous Frederich Buechner quote pasted all over the dorm hallways, reminding us of what direction to take our lives after college: ¨[Your vocation] is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.¨  Reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded is reminding me that there is that place for everyone, there is that vocation for everyone (and a service trip is the perfect starting place to discovering that vocation J ). 

Last year I read Bill Clinton’s book, Giving, a read that triggered this same flow of passion and inspiration.  Giving focuses on the small-scale, medium-scale, and large-scale ways in which we can all give back to our communitites.  He tells moving stories of people giving all that they can give, like the proverbial story of the poor man donating his last coin to the temple, giving more in personal worth than the millionaire who gives a large monetary sum but a small fraction of his wealth.  Giving is such a great reminder of how the service we do helps to spread an attitude of altruism around the world, making us all equal contributors to a greater world, even if what we can give is less in terms of monetary value than someone else.

Reading books like Giving and Hot, Flat, and Crowded are inspirational reads that put you in touch with the quest for your personal vocation, your personally unique place where, again, ¨your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.¨  Such a vocation does not appear overnight; it takes a wandering journey of self-exploration and exploration of the world around you.  And that journey may be best begun with a service trip.

 *To buy Hot, Flat, and Crowded on Amazon.com, visit http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Flat-Crowded-Revolution-America/dp/0374166854/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232202408&sr=1-1

*To buy Giving on Amazon.com, visit http://www.amazon.com/Giving-How-Each-Change-World/dp/0307266745/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232203196&sr=1-1