All day today I keep thinking on how small the world has become, how interconnected we all are and how walls are falling every day making our world smaller as we move into a more global, geulah lifestyle.
Take the word Global. It means:
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The word became a buzz world years back for many and was used in an economic and political sense. The phrase defined a generation. "Think globally, act locally" went on to define a new movement among many to get involved in making a difference on a small local level and by doing so...in an organic sort of way the world would change one act at a time. Do a good deed, play it forward (pass it on) and that person would do a good deed, etc, etc until the goodness of the first deed in the chain reaction would circle the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_globally,_act_locally
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_act_of_kindness
What a beautiful thought, but if you look deeper it shows how we have transformed from the world where we used to live for many generations...since before the Internet was discovered.... to a truly Global World.
If that is not Geulah what is?
There was never a time when a generation thought they had improved upon the generation before them but the lives changed in towns, countries... never on such a global level.
A car goes faster than a horse, but it doesn't go anywhere a horse can't go and there are many places a horse can go that a car cannot go.
One of the best chase scenes I've ever seen is this scene where a man trying to save a horse.. puts his life on the line and takes to the road. A rodeo star tries to save a prize horse that is being shot up with drugs and set it free in a rare "good act" that he needs to do to give the horse a better life. The horse outruns police cars and motorcycles in one of the best scenes in the classic movie Electric Horseman. Obviously as much as a car was a great invention... it didn't change the whole world in the same way say an App on your iPhone allows you to watch in real time your grandchild take his first steps on the other side of the planet.
Enjoy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEKd4MxenBg <---- great scene!!
There are Apps for everything...even giving charity. But, the most amazing thing is that you can use an App on your cell phone and in minutes..offline... on your phone anywhere you can give money to charity and it's in their account a few minutes later.
https://mycharitybox.com/
This is truly Geulah, a changed, transformed world where I can do an "Act of Kindness" and give charity from a cell phone in Miami to a Chabad House in the Philippines by clicking on a link on my computer. You can do it too! Where it says "DONATE" just click and donate. Any amount small or large will help people on the other side of the planet who are helping others every moment of their lives. One click, one mitzvah, one good deed helps people far away do a good deed the same day.
http://www.chabadphilippines.com/p/donate.html
It's amazing. There I was about to go to the hospital to watch my child give birth, I wanted to give charity fast and in seconds I gave towards a pre-school on the other side of the world. I have a special fondness for this charity. The mother of the Shaliach there taught my son in LA 30 years ago in school. We moved to Miami, they moved to Miami and I watched her daughter grow up and travel to the other side of the world and I can give money to the Chabad House there in seconds by simply tapping my cell phone. How far we have come in such little time from the telephone was first created.
They sure have changed a lot since the old days:
Up until a few decades ago we didn't have telephones we carried everywhere, up until a few centuries ago the thought of a telephone was a futuristic idea in someone's head who knew it would be done some day but how they weren't sure. The world has sped up so fast in the last several decades, it changes daily. Last year's cell phone is now obsolete if you want to keep on top of the latest technology. An android phone that is two years old is almost worthless.
Now we can send photos and video in real time to relatives living all across America as a baby is born, as he takes his first steps or sits up. My grandson doesn't like to do "google talk" because he prefers "FaceTime" .... go figure. What a world. Constantly changing and evolving, faster and faster.
When I flew off to California to go on Shlichus years ago I didn't know when I would see my parents again. Airfare was not that expensive, but money was tight and it was not as easy as going online and getting a special on JetBlue or Southwest Air. Today I can fly from North Carolina to Miami on Southwest for $59, a few months back I got a one day special and flew for $39 on JetBlue. Distance no longer divides us the way it did just a few years ago. And, when I can't hit the road I can Facetalk with my grandson who can give me a Dvar Torah from what his Rebbe taught him in Cheder in Crown Heights, New York. He learns in Yiddish in school and he learns English from his iPad in his spare time. How do you explain an iPad to someone who travels through time from the 9th Century or even from the year 1911 to 2011? What next...time travel?
It is truly a new world, we only need to open up our eyes.
The world, the physicality of the world is changing. The dimensions are changing. Reality is changing before our eyes. What we can do and what we can achieve today on a Global level has been transformed and walls are falling before our eyes.
I can give locally, I can give globally. I can be the change in the world that I want to see one act of goodness and kindness at a time. One dime at a time or one hundred dollars at a time.
I can put a penny in my favorite charity box online or on my desk next to the computer.
You too can be the change in the world that you want to see... one act at a time. The first act is to open up your eyes. The second act is to .... ACT... Do an Act of Kindness anywhere you want to anyone you want by tapping a piece of glass...forget clicking a button...we are changing faster than even my mind can keep up.
Geulah definitely equals Global in my mind. Give it a try, open up your eyes and do an Act of Kindness.
Be the Change That You Want To See....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrv3hteHglI
