Captain Craggen And Giving Back

Today I shipped several boxes of Here You Are to the UK to go to Captain Craggen's School in Nepal. After serving in Iraq, he decided he wanted to give back and make a difference, so he started Shamrock School. The school has 41 children between 10 and 14, who are placed into this school because of high IQ and other test scores. Nepal has been ravaged by Civil War for the last decade and these children are given a unique chance to rise from the ashes by this wonderful Captain and his friends.

Here You Are will be used as a first English book, and I am hoping the children and I will start a conversation about art, writing, publishing, and even about their experiences as they take Here You Are to other children in their community to help with difficult times with a little Here You Are magic.

As far as "giving back" goes - it first struck me as amazing that a soldier would feel that way. I guess it is because to him the military is his profession, the way he feeds his family and the way he grows as a human being facing the challenges of his work. To me, though, these jobs, where one puts one's life on the line for other people, are already making a gigantic difference. It must be hard to feel like one is making a contribution when one has to go to a country and raise hell before that country can put itself back together again in a better version of itself - but a contribution it is.

The British Army and its allies did this for Germany. At my son's wedding two years ago a former US fighter pilot who had bombed Cologne during World War II, sat next to my mother who had been a little girl then. Every time, and mostly in the middle of the night, when his airplane and the whining of his bombs set off the warning sirens in Cologne, she had to rush into hiding down into the bomb shelter in her basement trembling for her life. Cologne was bombed to the ground. He hated his assignment, but he knew who he was fighting.

65 years later, my mother hugged him and thanked him with all her heart, for what he had done for Germany and the world. You should have seen the serene happiness on both of their faces. No use to all the ones who perished - true - but my mother's uncles and grandfathers who died during that war, would have rejoiced in this little dinner scene.

Penguin Books

"Osho is one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the second half of the 20th century and many thousands of people -- of all ages, from all countries and all spiritual backgrounds -- have been inspired by the simplicity and directness of his teachings." Penguin Books

Osho was my master! What does that mean? It means that with his help, even though I only knew his teachings through books and video tapes - over twenty
years ago - I made it to the other side - the way a ferry man takes you across the river. Once on the other shore there is no more need for the master, just infinite gratitude. He was the gate through which I stepped because my love and trust of his silence, serenity, sincerity and peace was greater than my fear of death and annihilation.

To reach this silence we need to disappear and it feels like death. It is not for the faint-hearted. He was one of the most controversial figures of the 20th century, seen as an enlightened master or terrorist depending on who you ask. To me he was pure silence, peace, love, and eternal serenity.

Coming across the above quote by Penguin Books I decided to look them up on Google. Low and behold they are the publisher of Eckhart Tolle's book The New Earth. On my Amazon listing page it says that people who buy Here You Are, also buy The New Earth, so I was happy to see all these connections. During one of Oprah's Monday Evening Webcast Events with spiritual teacher Tolle, a woman from Ireland called in to ask whether there was a book like Eckhart's for children - to teach children to be in the present. The question went unanswered.

It cannot be answered because it is a wrong question. It is like asking: "Is there a book that can teach children how to be children?" Children already live in the present, and it is the adults who need to join them there - even it that means playing a video game with them. You may remember Jesus advising the apostles to become like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, after the apostles tried to send them away, considering them a disturbance.

Here You Are confirms to children who they are, and they "feel seen" after reading the book, often convinced the book was written for them personally. It slowly but surely pulls the adult who may be reading the book to their child, into the present moment with them for a magical moment of being together - here, now. Even though it does not take long to read Here You Are, Here You Are creates a moment of eternity for its readers, young and old.

Osho said: "What is an Absence in a very young child, becomes a Presence in a sage." - which is one of my favorite quotes. To come full circle like that - into the present - requires love, trust, devotion, humility, infinite patience, courage, and the willingness to face death and suffering. "March of the Penguins" comes to mind - the by now famous movie about those brave little souls on the south pole who have fascinated all of us with these qualities. What a nice name for a publishing company, publishing spiritual and other fun books. Here's their blog.

Wave And Smile

This morning on my way home from school a group of middle school boys from out of town, were walking towards the ferry terminal for their spring field trip to Angel Island which sits in San Francisco Bay. It was obvious that they were excited, and a bit awed by our wealthy little town here on the Bay, where Porsches and Ferraries zip by every few minutes. One boy - shy, but ready to be bold - waved at me as I drove by, to see whether he could make friends in this magical place. Waving back I was hoping that my hair would look shiny, and my sunglasses big enough to make me look like a movie star, so it would make his day. No glory in waving at an old Mom who just dropped off her child number five at elementary school. Sure enough, he broke out in a triumphant smile and walked on, a foot taller with an extra bounce in his step, suddenly the alpha male of the group - and made my day. The light of his spirit stood out from the little crowd he was moving in.

Sometimes making yourself or someone else happy, is that easy.