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"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."
Robert F. Kennedy

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Good morning from a rainy Vancouver. TED is here, the rain eases off this afternoon and the flowers are blooming! It’s all good!

Watching TED updates on Twitter this week, it is very interesting that the winner of this year’s TED prize is Chairman Gooch and their work in identifying anonymous corporations. http://www.ted.com/participate/ted-prize This is really important work, and means that slowly but surely corporations the world over may find themselves not only enjoying the perks of ‘personhood’ but the responsibilities as well. And I was thinking when the announcement was made last night; what about us as anonymous persons?

Now I don’t mean that we are trying to get away with crimes like the anonymous corporations, but simply that so many of us go through our days and work lives anonymously, ‘you keep on paying me, and I’ll keep lifting” as the old “Doug and the Slugs” song goes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZTwXl6yuVE And this is especially true in our relationships in our communities. There is an ancient idea that the health of a city or nation is to be found in how it treats its most vulnerable. How you and how the organization you work for and with treats the folks in your community says a lot about who you and the organization are. I was reminded of this this week where over the past two days I’ve watched three people on three different occasions give bags of food from local restaurants to folks begging on the streets of Vancouver. The exchanges a brief, but warming to witness and to participate in.  And the week before last a friend and I were having lunch in a local restaurant and a group of nurses came in for lunch. They were attending a conference at a hotel across the street and were wearing jackets and shirts with the BC Nurses union logo. As we finished lunch my friend and I went over to thank the nurses for all they do in our communities. We shared a laugh or two had a nice chat and went back to our seats. As the bill came, one of the nurses came over and picked up our bill. She said, “please pay this forward” and went off to the till to buy our lunch. It was an amazing moment of connection between people who did not know each other, but were far from anonymous with each other.

May you find an opportunity to know and be known in your community this week
 
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Alisdair