Beloved friends,

Thank you for visiting my holiday offering. As you know, I hope only for the best of health and the greatest depth of happiness for you. May the time that you have before you be the richest and most wonderful you will ever know and may this wish renew itself in each moment.

The other day, a friend of mine sent me the following statistic:

"The richest 2% of the world's population owns more than half of the world's household wealth." - United Nations

Please read more from this short article here.

There has been so much this past year which has turned my attention to the difficult situations facing so many around the world. More and more I am finding that suffering is interconnected and so am finding myself inspired to respond in some meaningful way.

From global warming to world poverty and disease epidemics, from finance to education, and more there are so many wonderful initiatives that can help to bring us further towards the end of suffering. Still, there are so many in the world...

"Half the world, nearly 3 billion people, live on less than $2 a day." - United Nations

... who barely have the luxury of considering the suffering of so many others, given that it is all they can do to just barely feed their families, or worse... not.

If 2% of us hold half of the wealth, it seems to me that is where we should focus a substantial portion of our efforts to leverage the necessary global changes.

In your honor, and in observation of the holiday spirit of giving, I have made a donation to an organization developing programs that will help those of us in the two percent to learn about, support, learn from and engage in processes for healing the sad states of the world.

The program to which I am referring develops and networks and eventually may even certify initiatives that support individuals, families, or groups to come into our communities of need and bring not only their resources but also their persons to engage in the direct exchange of human friendship, support, and service. This new industry is termed "Volentourism" and will, I think, go a long way towards knitting the bonds of our increasingly global society.

In closing, please let me say thank you for all that you are in my life, for all you have given me and continue to give. Let me also reiterate how much I truly love you (this much —> really really a lot <—) and finally, let me encourage you to consider those less fortunate when our next holiday giving season comes around.... Imagine if all of the money our Western society spent on the holidays were directed to solving issues such as poverty... just imagine.

Your loving friend,

-

P.S. Hi Sis!