An act of charity

Is life but a dream? Is the glory of a springtime, the smile of stranger, the transient joy of a lazy afternoon all just the interaction of chemicals in an instant of our lives, is it nothing more?

Faith tells us that we are more than the sum of our programming, that we have been created with a purpose and been gifted with talents that can propel us beyond that state of lazy mediocrity that many of us seemed doomed to embrace. For the past two weeks, I have written stories about remarkable individuals, two who have performed murderous acts of evil, one in the name of twisted patriotism, and the other in the name of twisted Christianity. I have also balanced this with a story of remarkable faith and forgiveness, the tale of man who had every right to take the easy path and demand revenge against the evils committed against him, but instead, inspired by a true and fundamental belief in the teachings of Islam, chose forgiveness, and thereby lifted us all.

I know that for many people in Bangladesh the coming month will remind them of the fact that their lives were given to them to fulfil a higher purpose. I think that, as flawed human beings, as long as we hope to fulfil some higher purpose, then God will forgive us if our theology is flawed. God is merciful, and will understand if we sincerely seek to do good and happen to fall short.

During August, I will abstain from writing about negative things, and instead focus on stories about remarkable people living everyday lives. What these people have in common will be that through their lives, they have manifested good in some form.

And I will start with the story of a nine-year-old girl from Seattle, Washington.

You may never have heard of Rachel Beckwith, but for an eight year-old-girl about to turn nine, she made a major selfless decision. With her birthday approaching in June, she decided to forego a wish for any birthday presents of her own, and instead concentrate in celebrating her birth by saving the lives of others.

These are her own words, from her website:

"On June 12th 2011, I'm turning 9. I found out that millions of people don't live to see their 5th birthday. And why? Because they didn't have access to clean, safe water so I'm celebrating my birthday like never before. I'm asking from everyone I know to donate to my campaign instead of gifts for my birthday. Every penny of the money raised will go directly to fund freshwater projects in developing nations. Even better, every dollar is "proved" when the projects are complete, and photos and GPS coordinates are posted using Google Earth. My goal is to raise $300 by my birthday, June 12, 2011. Please consider helping me. Thank you so much!! (http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign?campaign_id=16396 )"

Faith is an amplifier. It can exalt or diminish our humanity, based upon how we chose to express our faith.

In my own life, I have attempted to teach my children that we must strive to do what we believe God expects us to do — use our special gifts, hard work and creative thinking to lift the condition of the world. One should not merely to feel contentment in pursuit of material gain, or to become an unthinkingly observant follower of a particular faith.

Religion, in its most constructive form, is a springboard, a means by which we can accomplish a great deal of good, but we must make our own individual leaps of faith, go beyond simple cultural practices and rituals. We can take on projects that are bigger than we think we can handle if we believe God will help us. We must have enough faith to understand that the least of us is capable of lifting the human condition. When Rachel Beckwith began her birthday project, it was just such a leap of faith.

One woman who donated $20 to Rachel's cause dedicated her donation "to all the little ones that make us want to be better."

This nine year old Christian girl, a fundamentalist, asked herself a question that every Christian child is instructed to ask, but that any Muslim could ask as well. "What would Jesus have done? How would he have celebrated his ninth birthday?"

And I also find myself asking, "Can one act of unselfish faith counterbalance the evil that is sometimes visited upon the world in the guise of religion? Rachel's birthday goal to save 20 children… Does it counteract the murder of 76 people in the name of the same Christ last week?"

Rachel's goal was to save the lives of 15 children from developing countries by providing them with clean drinking water. Bangladesh may receive a portion of Rachel's birthday present because the charitable organisation her web page supports, Charity: Water sponsors several projects in Bangladesh (http://www.charitywater.org/).

What motivated Rachel? Why the cause of clean water? I don't know if Rachel consciously intended to rise above the level of mediocrity and to allow her life to make an impact on the world. Her home is in Seattle, a place that has one of the world's few temperate rain forests. Perhaps in an area that can see 208 days of rain in a year, it was so inconceivable to her that people could be without fresh water that she just had to help.

In researching this article, I read the manifesto of the church Rachel attends on their website:

"We want to embody the church Jesus had in mind and he never saw church as a place to go, but as a people… not a religious institution, but a movement of love and hope. We think this whole faith thing is at its best when it motivates selfless service, sacrifice, and love… caring about the things God cares about. As a family of faith, we are committed to dispense hope to our local communities and beyond… standing up for those who live on their knees by both bringing good news and being good news. We were all created to live for something larger than ourselves and God invites everyone, everywhere into this way of living.

This is my disclaimer: Though my family has attended Christian Church, I cannot acknowledge the thought of a Trinity, or of the idea of Christ as "God from God", nor can I teach such dogma to my children. Dogma often gets in the way of the true intention of religion, which is, exactly as Rachel's church says, is to dispense hope. In fact, only when dogma outweighs the mission of love and hope does religion become destructive. I think that for Rachel, as she approached her ninth birthday, she had already been taught that the peace of mind afforded to her as an agent of love and hope was more important than a new doll or the latest game system.

On July 20, 2011, the downhill traffic on a busy Seattle highway came to a sudden standstill. As the traffic began backing up, one large 18-wheeler came over the crest of a hill at a normal rate of speed. He failed to see that just over the hill, a mass of vehicles had stopped. As soon as he saw the backup, he hit his brakes and jacknifed his truck, attempting to prevent a crash. Unfortunately, he plowed into the back of a logging truck, breaking the steering axle of the heavy vehicle and sending it, out of control, into the body of the traffic jam. The two trucks plowed through 15 cars before coming to a standstill. The impact was so horrific that debris was scattered over a half a kilometre and logs were scattered on the shoulder of the road. Some cars were overturned, and the rear passenger seat of one vehicle had been so badly crushed that the individual inside severed her spinal column.

That passenger was Rachel Beckwith.

On July 25, Rachel died of her injuries. Her parents donated her organs to help save the lives of others. Meanwhile, this selfless little girl's dream of saving 15 children has blossomed into a movement. With 22 days left in her campaign to save 15 children, her website has already raised enough money to impact the lives of 40,000 children. Her brief, beautiful little life has already done more for the good of humanity than I have done in my 48 years on earth.

As I write this column, my three-year old granddaughter plays the piano and sings. I think of parents and grandparents throughout the world who are so much less fortunate than I am, who by accident of birth, come into the world in places where fresh drinking water is a luxury. I will never have to face the diseases that cause so many beloved children to succumb. Rachel's parents mourn, but because of their daughter's actions, she will have prevented 40,000 families from mourning the loss of their children.

Those realists among us think we are powerless to change the world can learn a lesson from an unselfish little girl who wanted to make a small difference on her birthday. I have read that the reward for a charitable act done during the season of Ramadan is 700 times greater than at any other time. I think it is likely that as the story of this girl spreads, her act of charity, originally intended to raise $300 will raise 7000 times as much, and by the end of the campaign on August 22, her actions will have helped save the lives of 105,000 children.

Faith teaches that we are more than the simple sum of our programming, and that from the moment we exist, our being has a plan and a purpose. All we have to do is act as if we can make a small difference, even when our faith fails us. In the words of actor James Dean (of all people), you must "dream as if you'll live forever, live like you'll die today."

The lesson I have learned from this wonderful child is that when our instincts and teachings, be they divinely inspired, or the simple firing of neurons, compel us to do good, we should act without delay. None of us know how long we have left to make a positive impact on our world, and none of us can fathom how important we are to God's plans. So we better assume that we're indispensable, and act accordingly, following Rachel's example. At age nine, she already knew that the point of religion is to be good and to do good…
…and to leave the rest to God.

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Frank Domenico Cipriani writes a weekly column in the Riverside Signal called "You Think What You Think And I'll Think What I Know." He is also the founder and CEO of The Gatherer Institute — a not-for-profit public charity dedicated to promoting respect for the environment and empowering individuals to become self-taught and self-sufficient. His most recent book, "Learning Little Hawk's Way of Storytelling", is scheduled to be released by Findhorn Press in May of 2011.