Me Too

Every time I turn on the news or see my Facebook news feed, there’s another one—another man accused of sexual misconduct.   They just keep coming, the names of men I respected, whose careers I’ve admired.   And I wonder—is it true?  If it is, if all of these men did what they’re accused of, then it’s awful and heartbreaking and makes me question my own judgment.  If it isn’t true, if there’s even one of these stories that’s false and could ruin a person’s family and career, then that’s awful and heartbreaking, too.  Too.  There’s that word again—too.  As in #metoo:  the words that have emboldened so many survivors of sexual abuse to tell their stories.  And, in doing so, started a movement—a whole movement based on a simple hashtag and a need to be heard.  I’m sad that there are so many who had these stories.   And I’m sad that a movement like this is even necessary.

And yet . . . I do see something positive in it—a small ray of hope.  Look what can happen when a group of people share their stories and decide to take action!  Perpetrators are finally getting punished, and victims, in coming forward and sharing their stories, are becoming victors.  There’s tremendous power in such a collective effort—in a community that’s brave enough to share their vulnerabilities and say me too.  When I think about that, my whole heart aches for a new movement.  Another kind of me too.  Something that is only positive.

I have an idea for a movement like that.  A place to begin.  In order to tell you about it, I have to tell you a story about my parents.  And in telling you that story, I’m going to shine a spotlight on them—which will be especially uncomfortable for my dad, who values his privacy.  Mom and Dad won’t tell you this story because they’re genuinely humble people who don’t like having their private lives made public.  Because I respect that, I asked them if I could tell this story.  And because they both could see hope in a movement of like-minded people deciding to act, they gave me their permission to tell it.

The story starts in the 1970s, when Dad met a man named Jim Heckel.  They were both starting out in their careers at Hewlett-Packard.  Over the years, their paths crossed again and again—at HP, then Agilent, and at church and in the community.  When Jim retired, he joined his wife Beth in a non-profit they founded called Think Humanity.  When Dad retired, he and my brother Adam started a family business.  Both Dad and Jim had strong visions for their futures—Jim for Think Humanity and Dad for the business.  Part of Dad’s vision was to use the business not just to change the lives of our family, but to do God’s work in a way that would have a local and worldwide impact.  At a leadership summit a few years ago, Dad’s path crossed with Jim’s once more.  At the summit, Dad and Mom saw a number of vignettes of people helping others through business and education.  One of these was by Jim and Beth—and though Mom and Dad had known about Think Humanity before then, it was at this summit that Mom and Dad truly caught the vision of it.  That vision, according to thinkhumanity.org, is “To help save lives and provide hope for refugees and underdeveloped communities in Africa by improving provisions for healthcare, clean water, education and socio-economic development.”  In Think Humanity, Mom and Dad found what they’d been praying for—a way to use the family business to do God’s work.

Dad and Mom first involved the business with Think Humanity in 2016.  Our company Christmas gift was to Think Humanity—we donated mosquito nets.  When Mom showed me the information on the mosquito nets, I was shocked.  Every thirty seconds, a child in sub-Saharan Africa dies from malaria.  So in the time it took you to read the last paragraph or two, a child died from malaria.  By the time you finish reading this, a few more children will have died.  Every day, three thousand people die from malaria.  Three thousand.  This is especially tragic because malaria is a preventable, treatable disease—all of those people don’t have to die.  Mosquito nets treated with insecticide can reduce cases of malaria by as much as ninety-six percent.  One net, which is effective for five years, can be used to protect four people from mosquitos.  And one net costs only five dollars.  Yet because the people live in such poverty, they can’t afford the nets.

Like I said, I was shocked at those statistics.  And, in the moment, I was moved and inspired to help.  But the moment passed, and I’m sorry to say I didn’t think of it much after that.  Then, this past Christmas, Mom decided that our traditional family gift exchange was becoming impossible because there are so many of us.  So she and Dad gave our family a different kind of gift—through Think Humanity, they donated that Christmas gift money for a well that would be dug in a Ugandan village.  Why a well?  A well that provides clean water and is centrally located to a village eliminates the time-consuming walk that women and children must make every day to get water from polluted swamps, then haul it back to their families in containers weighing forty pounds or more.  Also, drinking clean water from a well instead of polluted water prevents diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and parasites.

I’m ashamed to say that, once again, when Mom told us all about the well our family was donating the money for, I thought it was wonderful, but I didn’t pay much attention to it—until two weeks after the donation.  Mom sent all of us an email with pictures from Jim and Beth.  The pictures showed the progress of the well while the people in the village looked on in eager excitement.  As I looked at the pictures, I realized that they weren’t stock photos from some missionary website.  These pictures were of the actual people whose lives would be changed and maybe saved because of the well that we had donated the money for.  A couple weeks after that email with the photos, Mom shared more pictures and a video with us.  In the pictures and video, the people in the village are crowded around the now completed well, holding their water containers in anticipation of their first clean water.  I watched the video, enthralled as water began to trickle, then flow out of the well.  And in that moment, I finally caught the vision that Mom and Dad had.  In a mere six weeks, our family donation had been completely utilized.  Dad said it best: “It’s amazing how quickly you can turn money into water.”  Money into life-saving, life-giving water—in just six weeks.

I’ve caught the vision now.  And I want to share it with you.  You might wonder what’s unique about this.  After all, there are so many different places to donate money.  To us, it’s different because we know and trust Jim and Beth, the people who take the donations and use them for mosquito nets, education, and clean water—not on a salary for themselves.  For me personally, it’s different because I got to see the process, from the first shovel of dirt being dug to the first drips of water.  Seeing that and then seeing the actual people who will be using that well every day made the whole process of donating come alive for me.  Sitting here right now, I know that in Uganda, there are people who are using water from that well.

I want you to catch the vision.  Look at the pictures (above) of the people in that village.  Watch the video below and experience, with those people, the miracle of clean drinking water in a convenient location.  Think about the lives lost to malaria today alone.  Do you want to make a difference?  Do you want to save lives?  Me, too.  How do you do it?  Go to thinkhumanity.org and donate.  You can specify on the donation form exactly where you want your donation to be used.  One well costs three thousand dollars.  You can share that cost with your extended family or with other families you know; you can partner with a business or church and combine your donation money.   Or you can donate money for mosquito nets—they’re just as important and cost only five dollars each.  Once you’ve donated, tell people.  I know it’s uncomfortable to talk about money and the ways we donate it, but it’s necessary in order to get people to actually see and understand how a simple donation really does save lives.  So please—talk about it.  Spread the vision.  I think that when you tell your family, your friends, and your employer what you’re doing to save lives, they’ll say, “Me, too.  I want to do this, too.”  And that’s the kind of me too movement we could all get excited about.

For more information, go to thinkhumanity.org.  If you have additional questions, Mom has offered her assistance.  As she is personally connected to Jim and Beth, she can answer any questions you might have.  If you need her contact information, please let me know.