A Monk Who Lost His Way

"All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing"

This weekend, I was taking the R7 train from the airport into center city. For me, it was a normal train ride, got on at E with the intention of getting off at University City. We left the airport per usual on our way to center city when I heard some commotion from one of the ticket takers. It was behind me so at first I paid little attention. I heard the man say, "this guy was supposed to get off at 'A', let him get off at the next stop". I immediately felt bad, sensing it a foreigner who had been given bad directions but still had no sense of guilt for him. As we approached the stop, Essex (one of the worst neighborhoods in south philly), I head the attendant yell again, "get off here" in a forceful tone. The man walked passed me. He was a Buddhist monk, no less than 60 years old. I doubt he spoke English as he was very slow to react to the ticket takers "instructions". The monk was slow to get off and the attendant yelled at him again, "Get off!". The monk got off the train - where there is no easy way to get the northbound train back to the station - and the train pulled away. I watched as the monk stood by the tracks. He was all alone, no one else in sight. It was one of the greatest injustices to humanity I have ever personally witnessed. The cruelness of philadelphians, the lack of action by any person on a packed train to help, and the poor monk left on the side of the train tracks in south philly.

I cried as the train pulled away. Immediately, I texted moto of my wrongdoing. There was little I could do at that point but wonder what happened to that poor man who has probably never hurt a soul in his life as darkness approached in south philly. I vowed to myself that moment, that no matter what, whether my actions would be taken as right or as wrong that never again would I fail to act. Never again will evil triumph as good men do nothing.

Chris and Jean

Two of my best friends, Chris Valentine and Jean Baptista, died tragically the night of August 27, 2011 as they tried to walk home from a party during Hurricane Irene.

I write this in this blog because I was supposed to be there with them that night. My flight to philly for ted's bachelor party was delayed by 5 hours and I just decided to scrap the trip due to the impending hurricane as I was worried about getting home. If I had been on that plane, I would have definitely been with them Saturday night.

Is it just hogwash, nothing more than a coincidence that I didnt get on that flight. Probably. But now I do have another chance. A chance Chris and Jean don't have to make a difference.

I picked up someone's glasses off the street today just to put them off to the side of the road so they didnt get run over. Inconsequential probably but mentally it was a step in the right direction for me. I must be selfless at all times, here on this earth to serve others.

Six Months

It has been another six months since my last post. In recent weeks I have done a much better job connecting with people. I haven't been saving on a grand scale but hopefully it will be the little things that get me to where I want to go.

Six Months.

It has been a full six months since my last entry and I don't think that I have honestly helped one additional person in that six month time period. I've caused a lot of agony and burned a bunch of bridges. It is time to get back up on the horse and seek out people who need my help.

Two

Me and my friends were walking home from the bar two weeks ago when we saw two girls dive in head first off of a bridge that spans the channel. One girl popped up immediately, the other one didn't come up at all. Hearing the death screams of the first girl me and my friend immediately hopped into action. We stripped of our clothes and jumped in after the girl. After fishing around the bottom searching for her presumably lifeless body, I began to follow the current downstream. After I swept down stream, I pulled myself onto a dock to look for the missing girl. Luckily, the girl must have heard my calls as I noticed some splashing 30 yards away from me. I was able to talk her into shore and pulled her up onto the dock. Of course, a fistful of cop cars, ambulances, and fire trucks showed up at that point and took her to the hospital. To this day she doesn't remember any of it. Would she have survived if I wasn't there? Most likely, but I'm glad I was there to help her anyway. 

One

The first way I figured I could help make a difference was to call that number on tv. A commercial came on for ChildFund and the pictures of the kids just melted my heart so I did "pick up the phone and call now". I have been sponsoring Anthony for almost a year now. He is a 5 year old Guatemalan boy growing up in poverty but my monthly donation will hopefully buy him at least one smile a month. It may not be much, but it was somewhere to start. 

One Million People

This is my blog. I started this blog to outline my life's journey, which is to help out one million people before I die. To some this goal may seem far fetched, to others it may seem like a short coming but to me its my life work. 

I came up with the goal to help one million people when I was 22 years old. A recent graduate of college, I was looking for meaning and a purpose to life. After a summer spent secluded with not much more than words of wisdom from the Dahlia Lama, I knew that my purpose was to use my abilities to help others. 

I am no one special. I came from an upper-middle class background. I was afforded all the luxuries a kid could ask for growing up and now I feel that I must pay that forward and bless other people with the opportunities that I was given. 

My long term goal is to help as many people as possible through education. I believe that through a proper education, all of the worlds problems can be solved. Eventually I hope to open my own boarding school that will offer free tuition and board to students from impoverished countries that have the desire to learn and make a difference in their home communities. Hopefully though this program, my graduates will be able to pass it forward and educate millions of their own people. 

So the purpose of this blog is a journal to document the people who's lives I feel I may have made a major difference in. I'm sure some stories will be much more motivating than others and some simple acts of kindness will outweigh large efforts but when all is said and done, this will be my life story to help one million people.