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Post by pieter on Mar 5, 2015 14:23:09 GMT -7
The feeling is mutual, the smile of Floor van Til and her tragic story created tears in my eyes in the editorial room of my TV station when I read the newspaper this morning. I remembered the litle girls and boys of the hospital I worked in. Some didn't survive and died, others were cure and lived on thank god. But those kids that died didn't died in vain, because I witnessed the love, warmth and care of their parents, brothers and sisters, their grandparents, class mates and the lovely nurses and doctors of the hospitals.
Their courage, their energy, their wisdom, and their beautiful spirits will remain with those who knew them. They were and are very special kids. Close to death they knew to cherish every moment of their life and enjoy the company of their family and the other kids of the youth wing of the hospital. I have tears in my eyes again when I think back about these angels and remember their wonderful presence and vulnerability and strength. I hope that scientists will find a cure for this terrible and mean disease.
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Mar 6, 2015 5:33:50 GMT -7
A customer walked into his pizza shop and changed Philadelphia with $1 and a single Post-it note
Philadelphia is the poorest large city in the United States. And it's the city with the worst deep poverty rate in the country, with roughly 185,000 people (including 60,000 kids) living on incomes below half of the federal poverty line. With that, homelessness is on the rise, and the city doesn't have enough resources to be there for everyone. Heavy, right? Well, I don't mean to bum you out. Actually, I want to shine a big, bright light on some people who are giving Philadelphia's homeless a daily taste of hope and kindness. At one Philly pizza parlor, customers can "pay it forward" by pre-purchasing $1 slices of pizza for people in need. Owner Mason Wartman, who left his Wall Street desk job to open Rosa's Fresh Pizza, says pay-it-forward pizza started with one customer, one dollar, and one Post-it note. Mason Wartman stands at the helm of Rosa's Fresh Pizza. The customer was inspired by an Italian coffee house practice called caffè sospeso (suspended coffee), by which customers can pre-purchase cups of coffee for less fortunate customers. Wartman wrote the purchase on a Post-it and slapped it on the wall behind the register to be redeemed by the next homeless patron to enter the store. As word spread, more and more customers participated.And Rosa's wall blossomed with colorful notes signifying acts of kindness — and a guaranteed slice for everyone who walked in, regardless of their ability to pay. Since that first pay-it-forward slice, Rosa's has provided nearly 10,000 pizza slices to needy Philadelphians. Pre-purchased slices now represent a whopping 10% of Rosa's business. And it's having a remarkable impact on the community, showing not only that acts of kindness can be contagious, but also how a small gesture of support can have a ripple effect of positivity. In the video, Wartman tells the story of a homeless regular who disappeared for a while only to return having found a new job and wanting to pay it forward as others had done for him. And in an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Wartman notes that some have even said the program has helped to keep them out of trouble with the law:
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Post by pieter on Mar 6, 2015 10:26:48 GMT -7
Fantastic John!
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Post by pieter on Mar 6, 2015 10:57:46 GMT -7
Adam Levine Meets Boy w/ Down Syndrome Backstage, Gets Down on FloorMaroon 5’s lead singer Adam Levine showed his humanity last week after he made a dream come true for a little boy with Downs syndrome. Not only that, the celebrity laid down on the floor next to him after the boy curled up, seemingly overwhelmed to meet his idol. 10-year-old Christopher Warner knows all the lyrics to his favorite Maroon 5 songs. His Adam Levine artwork and enthusiastic singing was recorded in a video by his special education teachers. With mom’s okay, they posted the video on YouTube to let the pop star know about his “#1 fan. It went viral with 1.7 million views, and attracted the attention of local media, in particular, radio station Hot 99.5. Chris’s teachers reached out to The Kane Show hosts who pulled some strings with the record company and arranged for Chris and his mom to meet the band at a concert near Washington, DC. After the VIP seats for the performance, they went backstage to meet with the radio folks and the bank. It became all too much for the boy, who suddenly curled up behind his mom on the floor before any photos could be taken with his heroes. But Levine knew exactly how to handle the situation. Rather than coaxing Chris to do something he didn’t want to, the band all laid down on the floor around him for the group photo (below). SHARE the Story and Multiply the Good!
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Mar 8, 2015 7:33:16 GMT -7
Our #dancingman meeting last night was a great success and lasted well into the early morning hours (and continues today). We started this so that we could dance with one man, who had been shamed from dancing in public. Many of us know what it is like to not be comfortable in our own skin- and the photograph resonated with all of us. When we saw the worlds response throughout the night - it became clear this was bigger than us, bigger than him, and the start of a beautiful wave of solidarity against bullying, against body-shaming, and an inspiration to #Dancefree in our own bodies. We are trying to keep up with all of the love coming in from around the globe but believe me every message and kind word will be read and we really do appreciate them all! The outpouring of support for #dancingman has moved our group beyond words. We found our man and the next step is bringing him to LA for the dance party of a lifetime! Again, thank you for all of your support our minds are blown and we are so happy to make a difference for #dancingman and anyone else out there who has experienced this type of pain or ridicule. Now...LET'S DANCE! *Any proceeds not used for the #dancingman dance party will be donated to an anti-bullying campaign. www.gofundme.com/neverstopdancing
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Post by pieter on Mar 8, 2015 12:05:10 GMT -7
Dear John,
This is great news. I bullied once as a child a girlfriend of my sister who was a little bit fat, and called her 'miss piggy'. This was such a sweet and kind hearted girl, that I became ashamed of myself. I later apologized to her, because she was a very kind and good girl. She accepted my apology and was glad that I took the effort to inform her.
I was bullied myself as a child in school, and that made my primary school time very unpleasant. I hated school, hated kids (being a kid myself) and distrusted adults, who didn;t protect me. I should have known better back then, targeting that poor girl. They say that kids who are bullied sometimes become bullies themselves.
Unfortunately I had to become aggressive and violent to a certain degree to stop the bullying. I beat one bully hard so that he stopped and the others stopped too. I wished back then that I had attacked the bulliers earlier. But what do you know from life as a kid. It makes me angry, sad and depressed sometimes to see that some people are bullied all their lives. Children are bullied at school, adults are bullied at their work and even elderly people are bullied in nursing homes. I heard about the latter in a Dutch nursing home.
I am glad that this 'large man' received this positive response and hope he dares to dance again. Because dancing gives joy in life.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by pieter on Mar 11, 2015 11:27:26 GMT -7
This is a very positive initiative in Arnhem, in his circus Renée Hildesheim teaches the subject of circus to little children (4/5 years old), teenagers and adult people. Circus brings joy in the lives of these children, teenagers and aduilts and the people who watch them. He is not only working in the Netherlands, but he also works with Arabs and jews in Israel. He works with mixed groups of Arabs and Israeli jews. You could say he is a sort of peace worker too. THis afternoon I flimed his circus and this evening I will film him and his circus students again!
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Post by karl on Mar 11, 2015 12:10:10 GMT -7
Pieter
What a wonderful presentation! Simply loved it.. Mr. Hildersheim is doing a very marvelous thing with his work with these young people. For he knows by virtue of his actions, these young people will in such short time, become adults and to carry on all that he has taught them.
What has he taught {teaching}them? Well quite obvious, he is teaching the love of life, laughter, to know and understand one another no matter their origens or religion.
Mr. Hildersheim by virtue of his working and teaching these young people how to understand and work with others as human beings. But best of all, Mr. Hildersheim is giving, yes giving, for he is giving to these young people a piece of his heart in only in exchange they keep this as sacred and give the same to others as he has exampled.
Thank you for presenting such a precious presentation.
Karl
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Post by pieter on Mar 11, 2015 13:58:30 GMT -7
Dear Karl,
Despite the fact that Renée Hildesheim worked and collaborated with both groups he said to me that there are differences between both groups. Arabs have to struggle harder in Israel he said. It is a jewish state after all, not an Arab state. He compared the Arabs in Israel with Turkish and Moroccan people in the Netherlands and Germany. To be succesful in life they have to learn Dutch and German perfectly, and so a lot of Dutch and German Turks, Kurds and Moroccans learn the language of the Netherlands and Germany and become Dutch people and Germans linguistically and partly culturallly. Not religiously, but they do become Dutch and German in the secular cultural and political sense, and also financial-economical, in the work they do, in their profession or professionalism.
Renée told me that the Israeli Arabs and partly also Palestinians learn Hebrew, live Hebrew speaking lives and thus become Israeli's, they are Israeli's, Arab Israeli's, but Israeli's nontheless. Form friends (jewish and non-Jewish) I know that Israel is very cultural, social, religious and political Israeli jewish. No doubt the Israeli Arabs will be influenced byu that, because they have Israeli neighbours, Israeli colleages and etc. Unfortunately mister Hildersheim said the Israeli society is very segregated. He told the story of an Arab village next to an Jewish village. The populations of both communities live segregated lives and don't interact. In the past I heard stories of Jewish Israeli's of kibbutzim) (collective agricultural communities) and Moshavim (cooperative agricultural communities) having good contact with Arab neighbours, despite the Arab-Israeli wars and the eviction of Palestinians from their land in 1948.
Renée Hildesheim told me that he knew about the Israeli-Arab peaces villages or communities with a mixed Jewish-Arab population in which jewish and Arab kids go to mixed schools with Jewish and Arab teachers who teach them Hebrew and Arab, in Hebrew and Arab classes. Unfortunately these are a tiny minority within the Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian/Arab-Israeli populations. Mister Hildesheim's work is very important. I aggree with you Karl. It was fun to film the kids and adults today in his Circus school. This is a very nice, optimistic, positive guy, who knows how to interact, communicate with, guide and coach children, teenagers and adults.
He is also involved in peoples neighbourhood theatre, here in the role of a woman
This theatre peace shows real peoples dialect women who play a peoples theatre act in the former red light district. Hildesheim plays an old prostitute who returns to her neighbourhood and talks about her past in the hood, about her clients and the 'life' in the red light district.
His diversity and the roles he play gives him life experiance. He can be very joyful and humoristic, but also very serious and technical in the sense of circus techniques and the responsibility for the safety of his students and his audience.
Cute class of little kids
Behind the stage
Cheers, Pieter
P.S.- Renée Hildesheim is an idealist and an optimist. He was and is pessimistic about the larger stages of the Ukrainian-Ruissian and the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, but he believes that in our personal lives, in our 'small lives', in our own environment of family, friends, colleages and neighbours we can change things. His philosophy is "Start with yourself, start in your own environment, to make a positive change." We can't change our politicians, the world leaders, the economic reality, but we can make a difference in our own environment.
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Mar 19, 2015 9:38:55 GMT -7
Greg Holden - Hold On Tight (Official Music Video)
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Mar 21, 2015 8:59:18 GMT -7
Surprise Pizza Delivery to the Homeless
Hey guys. I just wanted to stop in and say THANK YOU for liking and sharing the love. Nearly 700,000 views! This video is not about me (or the dumb car). Its about doing something for others. My message to you is to find YOUR OWN WAY to do something kind for someone else for no reason. You can share it on video... or not. That part does not matter. What matters is the love. Thanks everyone. -Jared
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Mar 31, 2015 4:26:43 GMT -7
Bottlenose Dolphin Rescue
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Post by karl on Mar 31, 2015 6:56:18 GMT -7
J.J.
This encounter between the dolphin and diver was a precious event. For the diver as a fellow air breather, was able to do for the dolphin what it was unable to do with just fins, for the diver with hands/fingers of dexterity was able to remove the tangled fishing line from the dolphin.
One creature helping another creature, a most wonderful event..
Karl
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Apr 13, 2015 5:54:33 GMT -7
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on May 1, 2015 8:36:52 GMT -7
She Was Sleeping In The Dirt Near His Home. What He Built For Her Choked Me Up.
A 60-year-old homeless woman named Smokie has been sleeping outside in the dirt a few doors down from a man named Elvis Summers.
Most mornings, she stops by Elvis’s Los Angeles apartment and asks if he has any recyclables for her. Through these conversation, they struck up a friendship.
One morning, Elvis saw a news article about a man in Oakland who has been making tiny houses out of discarded material. He was inspired to put off paying a few bills so he could buy the lumber and hardware to make Smokie a brand new shelter. It took him five days to build, and now, for the first time in ten years, Smokie has a place to hang the sign, ‘Home Sweet Home.’
Local police think it’s a great idea, and have agreed to let Smokie live in her home, as long as it’s moved every 72 hours. This is a great example of community helping those in need!
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