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HELPING
Why and How We Help Each Other,
in Our Own Words
For my next book I am gathering
transformative tales from the
trenches, of altruism in America.
HELPING is loosely based on Studs
Terkel’s timeless, mega best-selling
oral history, "Working," in which he
asked a vast cross section of
Americans about "what they do all day
and how they feel about what they
do."
In HELPING, I am asking a wide cross-
section of volunteers, givers,
philanthropists, and "helpers" of all
stripes about why and how they help,
and how they feel about what they do.
It's a portrait of personal altruism in
America.
This book has never been done, at
least not like this. Now, more than
ever, it’s not only time, but timely.
Our motivations to help are diverse:
It’s about a search for meaning,
connection, validation. It’s tradition.
It’s about counteracting, or at least
balancing, violence, unfairness,
injustice, accident of birth (or
impending death), politics and war. It’s
about doing what governments can’t
or won’t. It’s about recognition and
legacy, about goose bumps,
selflessness. It’s about tradition and
the Golden Rule. It’s the power of
positive doing and feeling good by
doing good. It's about the results:
positive and negative.
If you'd like to be part of the research
for this book, I’d like to speak with you
about how you help or helped. (Or
even how you didn’t help when you
might have.) The stories can have
positive outcomes, or otherwise. I'm
after what's real about the
transformative effects of helping ...
whatever they are.
Everything counts, at any time in your
life – as long as it wasn’t for a
paycheck (with some exceptions). The
good works can be major or minor,
monumental or momentary. It doesn’t
matter whether you walked into a
battered women’s shelter and
volunteered, gave away part of the
family fortune or just a few dollars to a
woman on a freeway off-ramp, joined
an environmental or political campaign,
entered the Peace Corps, raised funds
to battle AIDS, stop genocide, feed the
starving. It counts if you marched for
peace or to get a traffic light at your
local intersection, cleaned up trash,
chipped in at your kids' school,
followed a family tradition of
community service, or just walked a
senior citizen across the street.
Although the helper and those he or
she helps share a story, often
intimately, my focus is primarily (but
not exclusively) on how helping affects
the helper. I want to know how you
feel about the help you gave or
continue to give. Tell me about the
tipping point at which you made the
leap from intention to action, and from
thought to deed. Did helping change
your life, or not? How did helping help
you? Let's talk about the practical and
the philosophical -- whatever
illuminates the topic.
HELPING is non-judgmental. I just
want your thoughts and story in your
own words.
Why and How We Help Each Other,
in Our Own Words
For my next book I am gathering
transformative tales from the
trenches, of altruism in America.
HELPING is loosely based on Studs
Terkel’s timeless, mega best-selling
oral history, "Working," in which he
asked a vast cross section of
Americans about "what they do all day
and how they feel about what they
do."
In HELPING, I am asking a wide cross-
section of volunteers, givers,
philanthropists, and "helpers" of all
stripes about why and how they help,
and how they feel about what they do.
It's a portrait of personal altruism in
America.
This book has never been done, at
least not like this. Now, more than
ever, it’s not only time, but timely.
Our motivations to help are diverse:
It’s about a search for meaning,
connection, validation. It’s tradition.
It’s about counteracting, or at least
balancing, violence, unfairness,
injustice, accident of birth (or
impending death), politics and war. It’s
about doing what governments can’t
or won’t. It’s about recognition and
legacy, about goose bumps,
selflessness. It’s about tradition and
the Golden Rule. It’s the power of
positive doing and feeling good by
doing good. It's about the results:
positive and negative.
If you'd like to be part of the research
for this book, I’d like to speak with you
about how you help or helped. (Or
even how you didn’t help when you
might have.) The stories can have
positive outcomes, or otherwise. I'm
after what's real about the
transformative effects of helping ...
whatever they are.
Everything counts, at any time in your
life – as long as it wasn’t for a
paycheck (with some exceptions). The
good works can be major or minor,
monumental or momentary. It doesn’t
matter whether you walked into a
battered women’s shelter and
volunteered, gave away part of the
family fortune or just a few dollars to a
woman on a freeway off-ramp, joined
an environmental or political campaign,
entered the Peace Corps, raised funds
to battle AIDS, stop genocide, feed the
starving. It counts if you marched for
peace or to get a traffic light at your
local intersection, cleaned up trash,
chipped in at your kids' school,
followed a family tradition of
community service, or just walked a
senior citizen across the street.
Although the helper and those he or
she helps share a story, often
intimately, my focus is primarily (but
not exclusively) on how helping affects
the helper. I want to know how you
feel about the help you gave or
continue to give. Tell me about the
tipping point at which you made the
leap from intention to action, and from
thought to deed. Did helping change
your life, or not? How did helping help
you? Let's talk about the practical and
the philosophical -- whatever
illuminates the topic.
HELPING is non-judgmental. I just
want your thoughts and story in your
own words.
| If you are a "helper" and think you might want to be interviewed for this book, please CLICK HERE and give me a brief idea of your story -- and how to contact you. I’m happy to answer any questions. Also, if you know someone who might also be perfect for this book, please tell me. I look forward to hearing from you |
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