The Power of Half.

So I read about this book, the Power of Half, once again in People magazine. I suppose People magazine is starting to prove faithful and true in their book reviews, because this one was soo good! Really good for parents who want to get their children involved in service projects while bringing the whole family together.

The inside flap of the book reads..."It all started when 14 year old Hannah Salwen had a eureka moment. Seeing a homeless man in her neighborhood at the same instant she spotted a man driving a glistening Mercedes, she said, "Dad, if that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal."...until that day, the Salwen's had been caught up like so many of us in the classic American dream - providing a good life for their children, accumulating more and more stuff, doing their part to help others but not quite feeling they had any real impact. So when Hannah was stopped in her tracks by this glaring disparity, her parents knew they had to act on her urge to do something. As a family, they made the extraordinary decision to sell their Atlanta mansion, buy a house half its size, and give half of the sale price to a worthy charity. At first it seemed outlandish: "what are you crazy?" Then it became a challenge: "We are TOTALLY doing this." Their plan eventually took them across the globe and well out of their comfort zone. In the end they learned that they had the power to change a little corner of the world. And they found themselves changing too.

Inside flap continues...As Kevin Salwen says, "No one else is nuts enough to sell their house," but what his family discovered along the way will inspire countless others, no matter their means or resources. It isn't the amount you give; it's how your giving changes your life - and others'. Warm, funny and deeply moving, the Power of Half is the story of how one family grew closer as they discovered that half could be so much more."...end of inside flap..but don't you kind of wish it would continue? Don’t you kind of want to know more? SO READ THE BOOK THEN!

Truly though...there were soo many moments where I wished that this book belonged to me rather than the library and let's be honest, I will probably go out and buy this book because I enjoyed it THAT much! They give you so many brilliant ideas, stories, and quotes that I couldn't help but underline some things while bookmarking some other things so that I could come back to them. So I wanted to share a few of my favorite thoughts, questions, conversations, ideas and quotes to inspire you to read more...

So the first one…

What did our family stand for? What did we want to be - not do or have, but be? What did we want our family legend to be? What type of legacy did we want to leave? (I love these questions because they are questions I too have thought about for my own family…what type of legacy do I personally want to leave behind and what do I want my family to stand for?)

Why were we here? (meaning why did they go to Ghana) and What does it mean to get directly involved? What were we to do halfway around the globe? How could we help? Simple questions really, but the answers were far more complex than we had ever thought…we thought we would be at the center of the action, the costars of the play, but then we read and learned that mission and service trips often have a negative long-term impact on the very people they are trying to serve. Unless service trips empower local people in some important way, they do little but help to foster dependence. In some way it’s human nature fighting against itself. Few of us can resist a gift, even when it keeps us from enhancing our fundamental abilities.

What are we going to be doing in Ghana anyway? How can we best help? The reply they received was…Just support their work. Show the villagers that you’ve come all the way from the U.S. to stand behind them. Let them show off their accomplishments

There is a voluntary simplicity that is not a sacrifice but a choice of freedom.

The education you have earned and received gives you unique status and unique responsibilities…that is your privilege and your burden. If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless/ if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better. – J.K. Rowling

The dream was always running ahead of me. To catch up, to live for a moment in unison with it, that was the miracle. – Anais Nin

The purpose of life is...above all to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have it make some difference that we lived at all. - Leo Rosten

Every man must decide whether he will walk in the creative light of altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness. This is the judgment. Life's persistent and most urgent question is "What are you doing for others?" - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

If someone listens, or stretches out a hand or whispers a word of encouragement, or attempts to understand a lonely person, extraordinary things begin to happen. - Loretta Firzaris

Then there are parts in the book where the daughter, Hannah, writes her own little bits full of ideas and activities…so I of course wanted to share a few of my favorites!

Hannah's Take

What can you give away? - No matter how little you have, it's worth parting with half of something in order to make a difference. You definitely don't need to be the Gates family to create a project of your own. In fact, who says money is the only thing to give away? Sometimes giving up time is better than giving away money or clothes. If you cut in half the hours a week that you watch TV, surf the Web, or play online games and spend that time at a food bank or a soup kitchen, that time can really help improve someone's life. Think about something that you do often in your free time. Chances are you would still be happy doing that thing a little bit less. The point of this is not so much personal sacrifice as it is realizing how much you have available: time, talent, and treasure.

ACTIVITY - activity to realize family members strengths. Stack three different colors of index cards into piles, with each color representing time, talent or treasure. Each person takes one card of each color for each other member of your family. Each person writes time, treasure and talent cards for each other family member. Then you read them aloud to one another. Examples...Time - after school, Sundays after church, Talent - you're awesome with kids!, Treasure - you have tons of clothes in your closet that don’t fit, let's sort them and then take them to the Goodwill! THEN once you have completed the activity, choose at least one from each of the cards you collected in the different categories, and act on them!

Hannah's Take

Helping small kids start Volunteering

The seeds of giving and caring start to grow at a young age. Find activities that have quick results. A good site for parents of younger children is www.learningtogive.org…if you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.

ACTIVITY – pull the family together for a neighborhood park cleanup some Saturday! OR do a grocery store run and buy food for a soup kitchen or food bank OR visit the animals at the Humane Society.