the power of half.

"...what's fascinating is, you know that old saying? -- 'if you give a man a fish he will eat for a day, you teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime?' ....well, The Hunger Project's perspective is...the man already knows how to fish. The man doesn't have the resources to be able to fish. The man could probably teach you how to fish...and by the way, if you really want success, the man almost always has to be a woman."
(excerpt from an interview with author Kevin Salwen)

love love love love love this.


I just finished reading The Power of Half, by Kevin Salwen & Hannah Salwen, and was pleasantly surprised by this little book. It is the story of a family that downsizes their lifestyle to give to others. It is fun to see how the family reacts to these shifts, and through the process, how they grow closer to one another. There is also a little dialogue on addressing the needs of the developing world as a westerner, which, of course, I love. This book reminded me a little of Serve God Save the Planet (Matthew Sleeth, MD) -- another worthy read -- but The Power of Half has a humanitarian focus instead of an environmental focus.

Another thing that is lovely about this book is that it is chock full of amazing quotes by other people that inspired the family. Here are a few of my favorites:

"We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about." - Charles Kingsley

"If you think you are too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito." - Anita Roddick

"To be nobody but yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle human beings can fight." - e. e. cummings

and, my personal favorite:

"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 with not only 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 realities 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