UBUNTU

TRUE STORY: Ubuntu Someone once said: What goes around comes around. Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like no one is watching. Sing like nobody’s listening. Live like it’s Heaven on earth. I found this and the following article when I was cleaning out a closet (finally) today and want to share it with you. I have always felt that the Universe, Allah, God or whoever is running this messy world has an important plan for all of us, if we would just be our highest selves and get out of our own way. It is about a man not a woman. But we are all part of humanity, all on the same path to improvement as human beings. We all need to be reminded of our worth. With that in mind, I give you this story:

TRUE STORY: UBUNTU I call this story UBUNTU because Ubuntu is a southern Africa word meaning “I am who I am because of who we are together.” His name was Fleming and he was a poor Scottish farmer. One day, while trying to make a living for his family, He heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. He dropped his tools and ran to the bog. There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy, screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the boy from what could have been a slow and terrifying death. The next day, a fancy carriage pulled up to the Scotsman’s sparse surroundings. An elegantly dressed nobleman stepped out and introduced himself as the father of the boy Father Fleming had saved. “I want to repay you,” said the nobleman. “You saved my son’s life.” “No, I can’t accept payment for what I did,” the Scottish farmer replied waving off the offer. At that moment, the farmer’s own son came to the door of the family hovel. “Is that your son?” the nobleman asked. “Yes,” the farmer replied proudly. “I’ll make you a deal. Let me provide him with the level of education my own son will enjoy. If the lad is anything like his father, he’ll no doubt grow to be a man we both will be proud of.” And that he did. Father Fleming’s son attended the very best school and in time, graduated from St. Mary’s Hospital Medical School in London, and went on to become known throughout the world as the noted Sir Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin. Years afterward, the same nobleman’s son who was saved from the bog was stricken with pneumonia. What saved his life this time? Penicillin! The name of the nobleman? Lord Randolph Churchill.

The name of his son? Sir Winston Churchill, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Nobel Prize winner. If we all try to be our highest selves, to work and fight for human rights, I believe the universe will take care of us.

To me, contributing to human rights can be as little as looking someone in the eye, saying “hello” and smiling. I believe that changes people. If we all do it, we can bring world peace. What we can do can be big, but it can be as simple and small as a smile. Everyone has their problems and is hurting, even people you think have it great. I call giving people eye contact, a smile and a greeting “joy winks.” I have this on my wall:

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“Where are your wounds?” God asked.

“I have no wounds,” the person said.

“What? Was there nothing worth fighting for?” God said.

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Thank you for reading this. Ubuntu, Wendy Stebbins P.S. In April 2006 my 4 grown children totally erased me from their lives and will not let me see my grandchildren. They all were my whole world. I was dead. I wanted to lie down until I died. But I thought the only way I can cope with this is to do something outside of myself, bigger than me, to forget myself. I went to then undeveloped (now developing country Zambia Africa to work with street orphans, then started my own non-profit organization to help street orphans and vulnerable children. I looked for the ones not damaged from malnutrition and brought them to the 5 Star hotel every day for 8 hours. 4 times a year. 30 days each time. I decided if they are to become something, they have to SEE a vision of what is possible. How can you move forward if all you see is dirt, starving people, no stimulation or greatness. I taught them how to act, shower, be “somebody”, manners, sitting at a table, reading, debating, dress well, brush their teeth All the things great people do. The saying in Zambi is “If you want to hide something from Zambians put it in a book.” I started a library with good books at St. Mary’s Private Girls School where there is a weekly book club and monthly reading competition with medals. How can you aspire to something you do not even know exists. Today I have my first graduate from University of Zambia, others in University, some in secondary school, 2 are in medical school, and others are taxi drivers or SOMETHING that puts them above the poverty level, which I consider the goal. None of this would have happened if I had not lost everything. Everything happens for a reason.

“You can knock me down but you cannot keep me down” is my motto.