Announcement of a New Adventure

For nearly the past six months, we have been examining the varied aspects of the intriguing subject of “Goodness”:

                                                    Mankind Was My Business
                                              A Working Definition of Goodness
                                             Are We Ready for some Goodness?
                                                        Not a New Concept
                                                      Goodness is a Choice
                                                     The Awesome Invitation
                                           Goodness Produces Agents of Change
                                            I Want to be a Changemaker for Good
                                           The Longing for Goodness is Universal
                                                 Goodness Promotes Civility
                                                   Goodness is Contagious
                                                    Goodness Pays Double
                                    Goodness is Authentic – But can be Counterfeited
                                         Opportunities for Goodness are Everywhere
                                                    Goodness and Governance
                                   Goodness is the Correction Mechanism for Civilization
                                                 Expect Counteraction to Goodness
                                               The Results of Goodness are Forever
                                              Goodness Demands Nothing in Return
                                  Goodness is Usually Sparked by Insight and Awareness
                                      Goodness Doesn’t Cost Anything – Just Everything

 
Our attention has been drawn to the fact that goodness can dramatically change the behavior and the history of our world. During our study together, it was not unusual to get responses from our readers regarding either the varied aspects of goodness or the different examples of people around the world who had experienced the life-changing effects of goodness in their lives.

Example: “I feel strangely drawn to this idea of goodness. How can I make it more of a consistent part of me?”

Example: “I would like to know more about how this “goodness” happens. Where does it come from? You’ve mentioned the ‘author of goodness’, what does that mean?”

Example: “I’ve brought up this subject of goodness with my friends. The idea makes sense, but I have a difficult time trying to explain it. Can you help me understand it better, in simple language, so I can explain it better?”

I fully appreciated those, and other comments and responses. In fact, some of my close friends and family began a respectful inquisition that sounded a bit like this: “You have written 24 books in your lifetime that have been published, with copies of each sitting in the Library of Congress.  When you wrote the two books on Economics, that have been used in Colleges and Universities as textbooks, you put a “stewardship” and moral slant to the economic principles. Your writings on “goodness” are filled with philosophical and spiritual insights. Your 6,000 pages of Journals covering your travels in over 150 countries around the world for Project C.U.R.E. are packed full of subtle philosophy and theology.

Then came the big question – “You are now eighty years old – When are you going to write a simple book stating ‘This is What I Believe’? It needs to be a book that all your friends, family, and readers can understand, without first needing to become seminary graduates.

As I thought about the “inquisition”, the words of C. S. Lewis jumped back into my brain: “If you can not turn your faith into the vernacular either you do not understand it or you do not believe it.”

Ouch! 

Then came another question: “Dr. Jackson, in the section on Goodness is not a New Concept, you say, ‘Stop being so stinking selfish and greedy and start focusing on the attitudes and actions of goodness. Start saturating your life with excellence’. Well, I’m finding that I can’t do that on my own – I need help.”

Double Ouch!

So, . . . here is what we are going to do. In the weeks ahead, you are going to be able to sit in and watch the formation of a manuscript in real life. Every week, I will try to put together in the vernacular, the concepts and beliefs of our Faith. I have come to believe that we receive knowledge and wisdom on the installment basis. Life presents us with millions of dots, sometime referred to as alternatives, or experiences, or facts, or data, or reality. We have a magnificent opportunity of applying our accumulated knowledge and wisdom to figuring out how to connect those various dots with perceptible and sensible lines. We begin to gain understanding, and more knowledge, and more wisdom.

As we begin this new adventure, I would request that we take on the posture of being on experiential tip-toe. I want us to be eager to learn all there is to know about everything that is possible. I want us to live our lives to the fullest and discover all that God has in mind for us to learn. Let’s cultivate the desire to be life-long learners, wide open to all the knowledge and wisdom God makes available.

I have no idea where all this adventure will take us, but in that tip-toe posture, we can take courage in the knowledge that we will be learning and discovering now, so that tomorrow we can rejoice in who we have become and in what we have experienced and learned.

Next Week: (I’m Working on It)

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"GOODNESS" Part 20: Goodness Doesn't Cost Anything-Just Everything

When you think about it. . .just allowing a change of your mindset and the alteration of your behavior shouldn’t really cost you all that much; the pursuit and involvement in goodness is just an interior redesigning after all . . . isn’t it?

But the pursuit and involvement in goodness must not just be a spur-of-the-moment whim as you push your market basket through the super market of good causes and catchy programs offered by our culture’s non-profits.

The need is for lots of folks, who realize just how extravagantly blessed they are, to be willing to resist just “thinking in” and to begin “thinking out” to the opportunities to help those in need who may be very close to them, or half way around the world. Being involved in goodness like that can exact a very high cost.

The pursuit of goodness just may require you to let go of things you now possess in order to lay hold of brand new, exciting and rewarding possessions that will last forever. My dear friend, Dr. Vinh Ngoc Le, from Vietnam, experienced such a life of unusual sacrifice and reward.

My relationships with Dr. Vinh Ngoc Le began when he walked into my office at Project C.U.R.E. in Colorado in 1998, and asked if I would partner with him in his Nehemiah Project. I had already been traveling to Vietnam since early1996. But Dr. Vinh Ngoc Le had a compelling dream to take medical help back to his people in Vietnam. He told me, through his heavy accent, that in 1982 he had escaped North Vietnam in a small boat and had not been able to return until just one year before our meeting. Little did I know that it would take literally hundreds of hours of traveling with the man to patch together all the pieces of his epic story.

It was a privilege for me to travel with Vinh Ngoc Le on his second trip back to Vietnam since he had escaped. His description of the need in Vietnam was dramatically demonstrated while we were together in Da Nang. That was where we were stranded in our hotel during the tragic flood in Da Nang. That was the incident where we finally left our hotel and traveled most of the way to the inundated Da Nang Hospital by a homemade boat with a one-cylinder gas engine. We passed people perched on top of the house roofs and animals floating out toward the open sea squatting on random chunks of broken buildings, and Dr. Le kept impressing on me the fact that his people desperately needed help from Project C.U.R.E.

Vinh Ngoc Le’s mother had been a Christian. She had been converted by the man who would later become her father-in-law, Khanh Van Le. “Like a tree in a dry land for a long time, my grandfather felt something fresh and soothing that quenched the thirst of his anguished soul,” explained Vinh. It didn’t take long for his spiritual motivation and devotion to give direction to his life. He destroyed all his idols and burned the Buddhist altar. He gave up alcoholic beverages, smoking, gambling and drugs and before long, was preaching the gospel to others in his area. Khanh Van Le’s wife, children and relatives abandoned him and only his son, Nam Le converted to Christianity.

One day, a young woman named Loi Thi Tran listened to Khanh Van Le’s talk and also became a Christian believer. Later, Nam Le married Loi Thi Tran and together they had eight children. Vinh Ngoc Le was one of those eight children.

Politically and economically, things worsened dramatically in Vietnam as Vinh Ngoc Le grew up. His father joined the French army in order to help fight off the insurgence of the unbelievably cruel Japanese. Nam Le and the entire family became very active in an evangelical church in Saigon. Vinh Ngoc Le learned to play the piano and the organ. He also spent time translating gospel songs which had been written in English into Vietnamese. His talents even led him to compose over 200 original religious songs in Vietnamese.

Ving Ngoc Le’s family was too poor to send him to the university. But Vinh took a pre-medical exam and scored so well that he was given a scholarship to attend medical school where he graduated in 1966. Upon graduation he was immediately inducted into the Vietnamese army where he was required to tend to war-related traumas in the Da Nang area.

In 1973 the U.S. withdrew its forces and retreated back to America leaving virtual hell to break loose within Vietnam. The Communist Viet Cong soldiers captured city after city forcing refugees to flee to places like Da Nang. Just before the Viet Cong entered Da Nang in March of 1975, Vinh Ngoc Le hurriedly sent his wife and four daughters further south into Saigon. During the intensity of the takeover Vinh decided it was time for him to leave as well and escape Da Nang with his two small children to a safer place.

Dr. Vinh Ngoc Le secretly made a deal with a man who owned a boat. For a high price the owner promised that he would help them escape in the dark of night and take them to Hong Kong. When they arrived to board the small boat, they found about 70 other people who had paid to escape in the little boat. But the overcrowded condition was not the worst part of the ill-fated voyage. About one mile out into the sea the engine just stopped running. “Many other refugee boats passed by us,” explained Vinh, “but nobody paid any attention to us even though we begged many to help us.”

During the night a giant storm swept along the coastline sending huge waves crashing down onto the small, overcrowded boat. Vinh tried to calm the other passengers by reciting Psalm 128:17-18, “We shall not die, but live and tell the works of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined us severely, but has not given us over to death.”

No one was in the mood to believe him because they already knew they were sitting ducks in a circus shooting gallery. They were still close enough to the shore to be spotted by the Viet Cong once the sun came up. So, even if they survived the terrible storm, they would be taken back and killed or imprisoned for trying to escape.

The severe storm lasted not just overnight, but for three days. When the winds stopped, the clouds lifted and the sun came out Dr. Le realized it was Easter Sunday morning. He gave thanks that they were still alive but they were still hopelessly adrift at sea.

A fishing boat spotted them and returned to the harbor to inform the Viet Cong of their failed attempt to escape. The 70 people on board the small boat were absolutely helpless as the military ship raced out toward them. The soldiers on board the military ship were fully armed and were proudly flying the Communist flag. They were on their way to punish those who had tried to escape during the night and the 70 people had nowhere to go. They were helplessly trapped.

Fear and stark terror nearly paralyzed the would-be escapees as the communist military ship sped through the calm water toward them. Their fate was sealed. “As it was approaching,” recalled Vinh as he described the scene to me, “a soldier of the former army, who was standing right behind me with his back leaning on mine, pulled out the pin of a hand grenade to commit suicide.” Not thinking of anyone else but himself he knew what would happen to him if the military got hold of him trying to escape. “There was a tremendous explosion on the little boat. I saw here a hand, there a leg, over there intestines . . . oh, what a terrible scene!” recalled Vinh.

You would have thought that to be the worst thing which could possibly happen. But there was more tragedy to take place in the next few minutes. The military people on the approaching ship heard the loud explosion and presumed that someone on the escapee’s boat had a weapon and was shooting at them. They opened fire on the small boat with their automatic weapons and continued to shoot as they circled the craft. When they stopped shooting there were only 20 of the 70 escapees still alive. Most had gotten buried under the bodies of the 50 dead people whose bodies had shielded them. Dr. Vinh Ngoc Le and his two young children pulled themselves out of the carnage. All three were miraculously still alive!

Vinh’s two children were placed with friends and Dr. Le was “invited” to attend a camp which would “help educate” him about his new government. Vinh knew he was not going to some seminar for a week. At the camp he was joined by at least a thousand former military officers of the captured South Vietnamese army. They were imprisoned.

Vinh was introduced to the “camp” director who turned out to be a nephew of a pastor friend of Vinh’s who had already escaped to America. The director asked Dr. Vinh if he could help procure some medications for a wide breakout of dysentery and malaria they were experiencing. Vinh told the director that if he could travel back to his clinic, he could retrieve some of his hidden medication and bring it back to the camp. He was allowed to be escorted back to his clinic in Da Nang.

In Da Nang he discovered that his wife and four other children had returned from their safety in Saigon to be with him in Da Nang. They couldn’t be together but by using the medicine retrieval as an excuse, Vinh was able to secure several “visits” to his clinic and thereby was able to spend some hours with his family.

One night at the prison camp Vinh was walking across a dark field and fell into a hole. He tried to get out but realized his foot was broken. He had to be carried to the prison infirmary where they placed a cast on his foot and leg. His accident happened just as the Viet Cong were getting ever closer to the prison camp with their bombing raids. The camp had to be moved further inland and every prisoner had to march to the new location.

Strangely, the camp director and a high communist official came to Dr. Le and told him he was to remain on his bed until everyone else had left the camp. Then he was to return to Da Nang to help with the medical problems there. “Brother Jackson,” Vinh told me in amazement, “I believe God allowed me to break my leg so I couldn’t go on to the next prison camp where many of my friends later died of starvation and disease.”

Earlier, Vinh had paid a lot of money for his clinic in Da Nang. After he had prayed about what he should do he decided on a strategy. He took the offensive and went straight to the military officials who had taken over Da Nang and gave them his clinic. They had already taken over everything anyway, but it was a shrewd gesture on Vinh’s part to “give” them his clinic. The communists were very pleased with his “attitude” and assigned him to a responsible job at the Da Nang Hospital. He was even given permission to see some of his former patients at his old clinic. “I accepted the appointment on two conditions: first, I would be allowed to attend church; and second, I would not have to perform any abortions.”

Dr. Vinh Ngoc Le worked quietly at the hospital and ministered clandestinely at the church until 1981 when one of his patients asked to speak to him privately. The patient was organizing another escape boat. The charge to get on the boat would be $1,500 for each person. Vinh wanted desperately to get his four oldest children and their adopted boy out of Vietnam and eventually to America, but $7,500 in U.S. money was beyond reach. He was finally able to scrape together $4,500. Eventually, another individual loaned him another $2,500.

The risk of getting caught was even higher than it was for the previous attempt. If discovered, the children would probably be killed and it would mean death or imprisonment for Vinh and his wife if anything went wrong. The day came for the children to leave. Vinh and his wife realized they might never see their precious children alive again. But their desperate desire to get them out of Vietnam and to the opportunities in America gave them the needed courage. They hugged them goodbye and watched them disappear through the morning mist. Their five children were now totally in God’s custody.

There was no communication regarding the fate of the children for over a month. Finally, Vinh and Lori Thi received a message that their children were safe in Hong Kong in a refugee camp. By January 23, 1982, they received additional information that the children had successfully arrived in a place called Colorado where hundreds of other Vietnam refugees were being taken to live.

The wrath of the Communist Party once again came down on the head of Dr. Vinh Ngoc Le. Angry over the escape of the children, the military told him the only way to save his life was to sign incriminating statements against his evangelical Christian friends. “I told the men that I would not sign any such documents because true Christians were people of only peace and love and all they ever wanted to do was to help other people.”

While the pressure was being put on Vinh, his earlier strategy to give away his clinic started to pay great dividends. He had been treating wives and children of some very high officials. When they heard that there were threats to possibly take away their doctor, they strongly protested. The pressure was most effective and soon Dr. Le was allowed to return to his practice and to his work at the Da Nang Hospital.

Six months after receiving word that the children were safe in America, Vinh began working on another escape plan. He asked to be sent to Saigon to help in the casualty scene there. He knew in Saigon he would not be watched as closely as he was in Da Nang. One day, using phony medical travel papers, he flew all the way north to Hanoi. The plans were for his wife to follow soon thereafter and join him. There was to be another boat leaving for Hong Kong from Hanoi.

However, the Viet Cong intercepted a telegram from Vinh to his wife and she was immediately placed under house arrest and troops were sent to retrieve Dr. Le from Hanoi. Vinh had run out of options and the rope was tightening around his neck. If his wife even tried to leave her house to return to their home in Da Nang she would be imprisoned and tried for treason. She sent word to Vinh in Hanoi begging him to go on without her and find their children in America. She encouraged him that God would somehow get the family all back together somewhere in the future. Vinh stayed hidden in a secret room in Hanoi as the military searched for him. There was no turning back.

On July 10, 1982, with the vivid scenes of the previously failed and bloody escape attempt replaying in his torn mind, Vinh was secretly taken away from his hiding spot to another waiting boat. “I was deeply sad,” Vinh recalled, “my wife and other two children could not join me. How great was my anguish then but I could not give up the trip and turn back home anymore.”

The boat was even worse than the previous escape vessel. It was much smaller and 39 adults and children were crammed into the soggy, leaky Chinese junk. “Tung”, Vinh’s friend who had helped hide him in Hanoi and successfully slip him onto the old boat, realized at the last minute that the Viet Cong troops were wise to his arranging Vinh’s escape. Tung had no place to run or hide. So, at the last minute he also boarded the crowded boat without even being able to get word to his family that he too, was escaping. As the old boat creaked and groaned and the water poured in, many of the people talked about turning back as opposed to certain death.

Late at night the boat was about a mile off shore when the dilapidated boat struck a submerged rock, water gushed in and the terrified people began to cry and pray to their gods. Convinced they were all going to drown, Tung jumped overboard in an effort to swim to shore. Suddenly he began to laugh. Soon all the escapees were laughing. Tung was standing up and the water was only up to his chest. They had landed on a very shallow beachhead of China. Everyone then jumped out and helped push the damaged boat closer to the shoreline.

The Chinese residents near the beach could not believe the Vietnamese had tried to escape in such an unseaworthy old boat! Later that night, a storm arose and the wind and merciless waves totally smashed the boat to small pieces. “I knew we would all have died if we had not been driven upon that submerged rock,” Vinh confided to me. All the escapees were taken immediately to a fish processing factory and given temporary jobs in the Chinese town. The factory manager found the refugees warm clothes and places to stay. When Vinh asked why he was so kind to them, the Chinese man confided to Dr. Le that he was a Christian but could not practice Christianity openly. Vinh was thrilled and told the Chinese man that he too was a Christian. “There are 300 Christian families in this town who are secretly Christians,” said the factory manager.

As Vinh continued to tell his story he would just shake his balding head and repeat, “God had it planned and he took care of us in every detail.”

The stranded refugees stayed and worked for almost three weeks. One day two other small vessels stopped at the village to buy needed supplies. The ships were not full, so the local Chinese police convinced the two boats to allow the refugees to sail with them on to Hong Kong. Twelve days later, on August 14, 1982, the boats arrived in Hong Kong where the weary travelers were directed to a refugee camp where they met up with thousands more Vietnam refugees.

As soon as Vinh and Tung arrived at the camp, they prepared a Thanksgiving celebration for the other refugees. They filled all their waking hours setting up an evangelical mission in the refugee camp and not only ministered to the people, but also began to teach them the English language. When they arrived at the Hong Kong camp there were only eight Christians there. When they left the camp, there were over 200 and an established church.

From Hong Kong, Vinh made his way to the Philippines where he was finally cleared to enter the USA and seek out his children in Colorado. In Colorado he saw 10,000 Vietnamese refugees. “They were like sheep without a shepherd,” he told me. “I took my Colorado medical exams and could have begun a medical practice, but God called me to do something different. He gave me a threefold vision and promised to help me accomplish a very large task. First, I was to work through all the red tape to get my wife and other two children to Colorado. Second, I was to establish Vietnam language churches in Colorado to serve the Vietnam refugees, and third, one day I would return to Vietnam to take medical aid and expertise to my homeland and people.”

In 1989 Loi Thi and Dr. Vinh Ngoc Le’s two other children were allowed to join Vinh in Colorado. In the meantime, Vinh went back to school to better prepare for his new life of ministry. Eventually, he earned a Master’s Degree and later another doctorate and all six of his children were able to attend university in America. Vinh was able to establish more than seven churches to minister to Vietnam refugees in Colorado.

In the ensuing years, Vinh Ngoc Le and I traveled together on seven different trips to Vietnam. We covered nearly every square inch of the country, performing needs assessments on as many as 20 different hospitals during a given trip. Ving Ngoc Le would go ahead of me and choose the hospitals, medical universities, and clinics. He would then set up all the appointments with the medical personnel, Ministry of Health officials, and shipping connections. Then, together we would walk every hallway, meet every department head, and determine what we would need to put into the huge ocean-going cargo containers from the Project C.U.R.E. warehouses in USA to be delivered to the needy medical facilities in Vietnam.

One of the thrills of our traveling so many places together, occurred on Tuesday, June 27, 2000. Anna Marie was traveling with us as we returned to the Thanh Khe Hospital in Da Nang. The Communists had placed Vinh Ngoc Le in charge of the Than Khe hospital in 1982. It was from that position Ving Ngoc Le successfully escaped to Hanoi, and then on to Hong Kong. Things were a bit tense as we approached the hospital. Many of the same doctors and nurses were there at the time he made his escape. Would they consider that he had been fortunate and quite lucky to have escaped successfully, or would they hate him as a turncoat traitor and resent him for having abandoned the cause? It only took a split second, as they all began talking at once in Vietnamese. There were tears, hugs, jumping around, and a whole lot of emotion you don’t usually see displayed by Asians. No, the good doctor had not abandoned them at all. He had gone away, and finally returned with help that otherwise they could have never expected in their entire lifetime. What a joyful reunion! Anna Marie and I just stood there crying like babies!

When we were finally alone, Vinh Ngoc Le looked straight into my eyes and said, “Doctor, James Jackson, you are my dear friend, and God brought me to you and you have generously helped me to accomplish the third part of my vision. You have brought millions and millions of dollars-worth of desperately needed medical goods into Vietnam. We have been able, with God’s help, to bring health care to hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people and together thousands and thousands of my former countrymen’s lives will be saved. There is no possible way that we can ever out give God!”

The pursuit of goodness just may require you to let go of things you now possess in order to lay hold of brand new, exciting and rewarding possessions that will last forever.

Next Week: Announcement of a new Adventure

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"GOODNESS" Part 19: Goodness is Usually Sparked by Insight and Awareness

The trigger mechanism that initiates attitudes and acts of goodness usually consists of incidents where the individual is made aware of a special need along with the insight that they can be a part of the solution to the problem. That certainly was true in my case, where I thought I was just minding my own business, doing international economic consulting in Brazil. But God had an entirely different reason for my being there. He wanted to show me all the hurt and tragedy of a broken-down healthcare system in a developing country. He wanted me to visit Dr. Neve’s sparse clinic and slam me with a wave of compassion for the hurting people in front of me and for the mothers and crying babies who had no hope of help. God knew I needed to start Project C.U.R.E. with His help. On the spot, I wholeheartedly responded to that insight and awareness.

Tens of thousands of volunteers and medical-team members have come alongside Project C.U.R.E. in the past thirty-four years, who have, likewise, been sparked by the insight and awareness of the exciting possibilities, and have gladly responded in attitudes and actions of goodness and compassion.

I vividly recall one international situation where a beautiful African couple dramatically responded to that very spark of insight and awareness:

Saturday, August 28, 2004, Anna Marie and I boarded South African Airways’ flight #332 from Cape Town to the sprawling metropolis of Johannesburg. At the airport, we were met by Mr. Phillip DeLange, and his wife, Vivian. Phillip had been an elected official to Parliament representing the Johannesburg/Alberton area. As we drove through an area called Eden Park, the DeLanges began to pour out their story of involvement in the horrific HIV-AIDS catastrophe that was taking place in South Africa. With broken hearts, they had watched the unbelievable nightmare of pain, suffering, torment and inhumane affliction sweep through their country.

Phillip, being a part of the government, realized full well that the African government was totally incapable of helping the disastrous situation at all. He resigned his position in Parliament, and Phillip and Vivian pledged themselves to do something to stem the tide of horror.

It was the United States Embassy in Johannesburg that had guided Phillip to Project C.U.R.E, telling him that if anyone in the world could help him, Project C.U.R.E. located in Colorado, USA, would be the organization. So, Phillip DeLange got in touch with us and filled out all the appropriate paperwork. They were totally overwhelmed with the complex situation in Africa, but they studied diligently to see where their efforts could be most effective.

As we rode in their car with them, Phillip and Vivian tried to explain the complicated nightmare that was happening in Alberton and Johannesburg. Millions were dying from complications of the HIV/AIDS epidemic – but there was more.

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic grew and economic situations worsened in townships and even countries surrounding South Africa, large groups of refugees and unemployed Africans, Indians, and other ethnic groups, came pouring into the Johannesburg/Alberton area looking for shelter, work and food. Insurgents even started dismantling existing buildings to get doors, windows, and roof materials for their own shanties. Nothing could be done about the uncontrolled takeover. Should a landowner object, the insurgents would simply kill the owner and take over even more of the property and stay as squatters. Three major shanty towns had grown up, each consisting of over a half million residents.

Many of the shanties were only one room dwellings with only dirt for a floor and provisions for a fire on the floor inside or just outside the structure. Beds and interior furniture were made of whatever the occupants could find in other areas and carry to their homes. In a few areas the frustrated government officials tried to erect some toilet facilities and pipe in some limited water supply in an effort to ward off outbreaks of cholera, and typhoid. Over 75% of the inhabitants were unemployed and most just hung out with nothing to do.

The displaced people had come from all different areas, sub-cultures and tribes. There was no immediate consensus of authority or leadership within the shack cities. Different individuals or groups would vie for power. That brought civil disaster and lots of unsolved murders. There were no local, cultural roots or communal mores. Everyone pretty much did what they wanted to do ethnically and morally with hardly any guidelines. Most of the people who had left their old communities or tribes to move to the cities were younger in age. Hardly would there be any older people who had made the move from their villages. Most of the new, young inhabitants were very sexually active.

You take young, sexually active people, in a new surrounding seeking acceptance and intimacy with nothing to do all day and all night but socialize, and you have a problem culturally. Those factors were coming together in the Alberton/Johannesburg area, where the HIV/AIDS virus was already running rampant, and you have an unspeakable disaster. The areas had become virtual tinder boxes for the explosive situation of HIV/AIDS.

No one could fathom the chore of testing persons in South Africa for the HIV/AIDS virus. But random sampling and sampling of just pregnant mothers who visited clinics for pre-natal checks verified that at least 67% of the people in the shanty towns already had full-blown HIV/AIDS. And daily and nightly they were sharing the virus with each other.

Any program of anti-retroviral AIDS medication would only keep those sexually active people alive longer to spread the disease more rapidly. Also, it was being discovered that in those who still persisted in unsafe sexual promiscuity while on the anti-retroviral medication were developing mutant strains of the virus that were then being passed on to the new recipients.

“Now, Dr. Jackson, you are getting an idea of the absolutely impossible situation that we are facing here in South Africa! Vivian and I have been crushed! Our hearts have been torn out! We are seeing millions and millions of our people dying miserable deaths without hope.”

Then, Phillip went on, “We have pledged to God that we will make ourselves available to help. We have studied the situation and have decided to deal with one little aspect of the problem at a time. We are concerned with those who are terminally ill and dying. HIV/AIDS carriers are pretty much left alone to die with whatever disease finally attacks them. They will die somewhere within two and five years from malaria, intestinal bacteria, meningitis or tuberculosis. We have watched scores of dying victims be shunned, neglected, and abandoned to die. We want to comfort and give dignity to those pitiful people in their last days of their lives. We have watched those people lay in their excrement and puss from their sores and no one would bother to help them. We believe that God still loves them and wants us to display God’s love to them, especially the last four weeks of their life.”

“We want to develop the “Eagle Excellence Hospice,” Dr. Jackson. But we need your help to do it. The government here will not even give us any medical bandages, salves, or anything to help us.”

Anna Marie and I were sitting in the back seat of the DeLange’s car. I reached over and quietly took her by the hand. I already knew what she was thinking . . . “Here we are on the continent of Africa . . . and we have seen God do it again! . . . He triggered that same mechanism that initiates the attitudes and acts of goodness in individuals that makes them aware of special needs along with the insight that they can be a part of the solution to the problem! And these wonderful people have wholeheartedly responded to that insight and awareness!”

While we were in Alberton with the DeLanges, we helped them work on securing a larger facility for the “Eagle Excellence Hospice,” decided on how Project C.U.R.E. could replace the rag-tag pieces of medical equipment, ratty beds and mattresses and terribly worn linens and blankets, and supply them with plenty of appropriate medical supplies.

We actually stayed in the DeLange’s present hospice (their home) for four nights. We would obtain a first-hand education about caring for helpless, hopeless HIV/AIDS victims in South Africa before God would allow us to leave the country.

We watched Phillip and Vivian lift the dying patients and place them in their own bathtub, wash their hair, cleanse their oozing, open sores, ease their perpetual pain, all the while, trying to protect themselves, as best they could, from contracting the HIV/AIDS virus from the toxic body fluids.

As they were working, the DeLanges would look at each other, smile, and say, “You see, we believe that Jesus would have loved like this . . . He would have touched those who are dying, like he did those with leprosy and other illnesses.”

Thank God for that divine spark of insight and awareness – Thank God for people throughout history, like the DeLanges, who wholeheartedly respond with redemptive “goodness” in this needy world!

Next Week: Goodness Doesn’t Cost Anything – Just Everything

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"GOODNESS" Part 18: Goodness Demands Nothing in Return

When I was starting out in business, in the 1950s and 1960s, there was an interesting economic philosophy being espoused. The idea was to master the art of “Quid pro quo.” Simply stated, “I’ll do this for you, and you will have to reciprocate by doing that for me.”

Books were written and speakers were teaching that if you wanted to “get rich quick” you had to master the art of giving something to someone, and being sharp enough to manipulate the other person into giving back to you something way more valuable than what you had given to him or her. You could get rich quick if you could successfully trick enough other people to slip up and give you more than you had given them. That’s what they liked to refer to as “profit.”

By the 1970s, the “Give to Get” notion had even permeated the church world. Certain evangelical preachers and disparate fund raisers were excitedly proclaiming that they knew how to put God in a box and make him work for you. You see, the bible says that if you plant one seed, God makes that one seed grow until you have a whole corn stalk, with thousands of seeds all for your very own. And they would say, “So, since I am God’s representative, you should donate to me, and God will have to give to you a whole lot back – You Give to Get!”

One day, I actually heard a “tele-evangelist” who was in financial trouble, tell his audience that they needed to quickly send him $100 in cash, check, or personal money order, and God would guarantee to give them back at least $1,000 in cash, check, or personal money order in return before the end of the year! “It’s called ‘Give to Get’ and it is part of the ‘Gospel of Prosperity.”

When I heard the fellow’s plea for the money, I was reminded of the verse in the bible that asks, “And who could ever offer the Lord enough to induce him to act?” Of course, the obvious answer is, “No one.” God owns it all anyway, and cannot be bribed, manipulated or blackmailed. The problem with dealing with “half-truths” is that you are likely to get hold of the wrong half! It is certain that God always repays when you give – that’s part of His economy, but the selfish motive of “giving to get” is not part of the deal.

I am so very appreciative that I’ve had the opportunity to live long enough to see how some of those things work out. The old English preacher, John Bunyan, who wrote the classic book, “Pilgrim’s Progress” used to tell his people that, “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” Ultimately, it seems that a person can become better off, more certainly and quicker, by making other people better off.

I’ve personally discovered that it is best not to waste your time worrying about how much you can get in return, but rather – just do what’s right – and do it Now!

As I look back over the years, I am humbled and very grateful for the extremely rare experiences I have had in North Korea, DPRK. I have been there an unprecedented eight times. They have told me that Project C.U.R.E. was the first to ever bring to them desperately needed donations of medical supplies and pieces of medical equipment. I hold the very first shipping license granted from USA Dept. of Commerce and State Dept. to DPRK’s Nampo port.

On one occasion my son and I were actually in Pyongyang when the huge dam broke on the Yalu River. At the time two of our huge ocean-going containers were off-loading in Hong Kong onto North Korean ships. Ours were the first and only donations of aid to DPRK during the tragedy. Their question to me then was, “How did you know that our cities would be flooded out and our people would be in need of your supplies…how did you know?”

On my fourth trip back into the DPRK I had a very rewarding experience. The different North Korean leaders enjoyed taking turns hosting me upon my return to Pyongyang. I had become good friends with the minister of health, Dr. Choi Chang Sik, and it was his turn to have me come to his department and welcome me. His offices were formal and elegant with plush chairs, hand woven carpets and delicate lace furniture coverings. We sat at separate, low profile, hand-carved tables, being served insam or ginseng tea. Several attendants in the room transcribed every word that was spoken during the meeting.

We joked and laughed together at the beginning before formal protocol took over. The host always spoke formally first, then the guest would be given time for a brief response; the discourse would continue back and forth. Minister Choi Chang Sik cleared his throat and I knew it was time for the formalities to begin.

“Mister Jackson,” he said, “three more of your very large ocean-going cargo containers have recently been received at our Nampo port and I have personally overseen the distribution of the medical goods to the hospitals and clinics as agreed. Great Leader Kim Il Sung, Dear Leader Kim Jong Il, and all the people of the DPRK personally thank you for your kindness. But you are a mystery to us and we are somewhat confused. We have recorded every word you have said while in the DPRK and have filed those words in our Grand Building of Education. You have given millions of dollars-worth of needed medical supplies and equipment to our people. We cannot figure out what it is that you want. We have reviewed your words and you never give away what it is that you want from us. Mister Jackson: What is it that you want?”

I leaned back against the ornate lace on the chair and chuckled. “Dr. Choi,” I said, smiling, “You have asked me a very direct question. I will answer you with a very direct answer. Had you not asked me directly I would not have answered you directly. Do you have time for a very small story?”

“Of course, I have time. Please go on.”

“When I was a little boy, I determined that I would be a millionaire by the time I was twenty-five years old. You understand what it means to be a millionaire?”

“Oh yes,” he said.

“My brothers and I worked very hard and we tried to learn as much as possible about becoming rich. By the time I was thirty years old I had become sixteen times wealthier than I ever dreamed I would be in my entire life. But no one had told me that accumulating wealth wouldn’t necessarily make me a happy man. I was not a happy man. My wife and I talked about it and asked each other the question, ‘Just when were we most happy in our life?’ We agreed that it was during the time when we had no money, but only had love and good health and a dream.

So, we decided to give all our wealth away and start over again. I asked God to forgive me for being such a selfish man, and promised that from that time forward I would spend all my energy and time helping other people. God answered my prayer and changed the mainspring of the ticking clock of my life. I became a different person than before.

You now ask directly what I want from you. The answer is that I want nothing in return from you for any good thing that I ever do for you. I have given these medical supplies to you and your people because I love you and I will never ask anything from you in return.”

The minister of health was totally stunned as he sat looking at me. He then lowered his cup of tea down to the ornately carved table and stood up. When he stood up, I stood up. I was culturally aware enough to know that Asians do not touch others in public—they just don’t! But Dr. Choi came to where I was standing. He approached me, opened his arms and hugged me with a big bear hug!

“All my life I was trained to hate you and even kill you,” he said. “But you are my brother! I love you!”

Yes, it is true – a compassionate and unselfish gesture can reach a wound that only “goodness” can heal. Joy and fulfillment will be realized when we stop selfishly demanding, and start giving and serving – expecting nothing in return.

Next Week: Goodness is usually Sparked by Insight and Awareness

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"GOODNESS" Part 17: The Results of Goodness are Forever

Today, I would like us to consider the phenomenon of influence and its amazing effect on what we call “forever.” The waves of “goodness” that we set into motion while we are alive and dwell on this earth, will be lapping up against the beautiful shoreline of eternity even when the designation of what we call “time” is no more.

My parents taught me that doing well in business and doing good deeds in the world should be inseparable. They instilled in me an entrepreneurial spirit that looked forward to philanthropic ends. I was taught how to create wealth in order to enthusiastically practice virtue. If you have read my books, you have already been introduced to our Dad, who taught his three young boys the art of countertrade and barter (“don’t get hung up on the price tag – learn to deal with value for value”). He used to tell us, “Don’t sit around complaining that you don’t have something – take what you have and make it into what you want or need.”

He also used to remind us that if you put a business deal together and want to keep it together, you must make sure that everyone in the deal ends up better-off. Those ideas greatly influenced my life.

Now, let me tell you about the long-lasting influence of my Mom. I loved the evenings at our house where Josie Jackson, our Mom, would come home from a hectic day at work, sit down at the piano, while her kids took care of their assigned chores, and she would create a soothing, calm, and stabilizing atmosphere by playing and singing some of her favorite songs for about a half an hour.

My Mom was a dedicated public-school teacher, principal, and sometimes school superintendent. She had grown up on a dairy farm in Idaho and helped in the delivery and sales of the products. When she was twelve years old, her church’s regular piano player died suddenly, so Josie started playing the piano for the church services. In the 1930s, my Mom and Dad met at a Christian college located in the Boise valley in Idaho.

Our home was always full of books and in the evenings after dinner, and with all the dishes washed, dried, and put away, Mom and the four kids would head for the sofa where we would snuggle in around her as she would apprehend our little minds by reading to us until our eyes drooped with sleep. It was in that setting that I first began to hear about young boys who had overcome incredible obstacles to become great successes.

I still have in my possession some of those old books. In “Boy’s Stories of Great Men” I learned about the adventures of Andy Carnegie, the little Highlander boy who had come to America from Scotland when he was thirteen years old. I learned of Henry Ford, Dwight L. Moody William Carey, John D. Rockefeller, and James J. Hill and the railroads. In another book, “Boys Who Made Good,” I learned about such young men as Charles Schwab, and Cecil Rhodes, and many others.

My Mom had just introduced me to the power of story! Also, as just a little kid, I had decided that I would be a “millionaire” by the time I was 25! Our parents were close by as they watched their three young men become abundantly wealthy entrepreneurs on their own.

There was not a single day in my life that I did not know that my Mom was believing in me, cheering for me, and always praying for me. She was nether a “meddler” in my private life, nor a “drama queen” regarding circumstances. Rather, she teamed up with the God of the Universe in her prayer life for her family, and depended heroically on divine intervention as the ultimate influence for goodness.

It was my Mom who became a loyal friend and mentor to my bride, Anna Marie. She prayed for her and encouraged her in her educational pursuits. Mom taught just down the hall from Anna Marie during her first year of teaching, mentoring her through such things as lesson plans and parent-teacher conferences. She continued her prayer vigil for Anna Marie during her graduate studies for her Master’s Degree from University of Colorado, Boulder, and her PhD. Degree from University of Denver. They were both Master Teachers. Thousands of young minds were introduced to the ideas of “goodness” by each of them.

When my Mom retired from the education world, she became a staff member at a Denver area church in charge of visiting retired couples in their homes. For about another ten years she would go into the homes, visit with them, pray with them and if they had access to a piano, Mom Jackson would sit down “tickle the ivory keys” and sing with them some of the old hymns.

When I founded the work of Project C.U.R.E. in 1987, Mom Jackson took it upon herself to become the faithful “prayer warrior” for the whole endeavor. While I was traveling in over 150 different countries of this world, Mom Jackson was bombarding the gates of heaven with prayers for the needy people who would be receiving the millions of dollars-worth of medical supplies and pieces of medical equipment – and also for my personal protection and the well-being of all the staff people and the thousands of volunteers of Project C.U.R.E.

I don’t know for certain just how my Mom stayed up with my international travel schedule, but even if I had been gone to several different countries over a period of weeks, it seemed that just as I would step back inside my house with my suitcase, our phone would be ringing. It would be my Mom. She would say, “I don’t want to talk to you now . . . you just go to bed and get some rest . . . we will talk later, or you can send me a copy of your travel journal so I can catch up. I just wanted to know that you were home again – safe.”

I was in a hotel in Beijing, China, waiting to board an Air Koryo flight into Pyongyang, North Korea, when I received word that Mom Jackson had peacefully slipped away to heaven in her sleep. I was so sad, and the night was so long, as I cried and thanked God for giving me Josie Jackson as my Mom. The family delayed the memorial service until I returned to Colorado.

The very next week, I was off to the intriguing country of Burma – known now as Myanmar. In the city of Yangon (formerly known as Rangoon) I met up with my wonderful Burmese friend, Daniel Kalnin, who had worked tirelessly with me to not only ship donated medical goods into Thailand but also into the highly restricted northern areas of Burma. We were able to fly on small government military troop planes into Myitkyina and the northern town of Putao close to the border of China and Thailand.

There are no designated roads or formal transportation systems in the northern restricted areas of Burma. Years before, Daniel Kalnin had formed a group called “The Barefoot Doctors” who were sneaked out of Burma into Thailand to be hastily trained in rudimentary medical services and sent back, put on bicycles, and commissioned to go out from village to village to serve as best they could. Now, Project C.U.R.E. had found ways to ship medical supplies and simple medical instruments into those areas to assist with the overwhelming medical needs.

While in Putao Tuesday night, a group of Barefoot Doctors came to visit us. They had traveled long distances on their bicycles to reach Putao while we were there. Along with them had come ruling elders of the village church congregations from nearby. We sat out under the beautiful night sky. The rain had stopped, the clouds had floated away and the stars were brightly twinkling. The fires were crackling within our compound and the ladies had lit candles outside and had served hot tea and sticky-rice pieces of fried bread.

A large portion of the population in and around Putao were Christians as a result of the heritage left by the British missionaries who had come during the Colonization era.

One Barefoot Doctor wanted me to know that the word of our large donations of medical goods to the people of Burma had reached even the most remote villages on the China border high in the Himalayan Mountains. “I am here to tell you how much we love you and appreciate all that you are doing for Barefoot Doctors and for the people.” He went on, “From village to village they want you to know that every day they pray for your safety and for your good work and ask God to protect you and love you.”

I felt the tears forming around my eyes. “These people had come all this way to tell me this,” I thought, “what a sacrifice of love.” They told me more stories of their work in the villages and I asked them specifically what they needed most in their work with the people, then suggested that we make Putao a depot in the future for medical supplies. Project C.U.R.E. could ship them in and they would only need to come as far as Putao to collect needed supplies for their work on the borders of China, India and Thailand. They beamed and asked if I could also help in getting eight new bicycles for them. We all laughed about what we would call them on the inventory list in order to get them through Burma customs as medical goods.

Before the evening was over, they asked that I speak to them about our hopes and plans for Burma. Indeed, I took the time to share with them and encourage them explaining that we could do nothing of significance without them traveling the many miles on foot and bicycle to meet the needs of the thousands of villagers in the remote areas. “In my opinion,” I told them, “you are the heroes and together we are changing the healthcare delivery system of a whole country here in Asia. And we are doing it all for the glory of God.”

Then, the Barefoot Doctors, and the church elders asked if there was anything that they could do to help me in our endeavors. Since I was still hurting, and grieving the loss of my Mom, I decided to share with them about the life and death of my saintly mother, and how I feared that one of the things I would never be able to replace in my life after her death was her constant praying for me and for the great ministry of Project C.U.R.E.

One of the church elders quickly stood and spoke out. “Dr. Jackson, we join you in your heartache and grief. Nothing can replace your precious mother – but we will become the ones to pick up her prayer mantel and faithfully pray for you and for Project C.U.R.E. Please count on us.” Then, they all gathered around the chair where I was sitting and in the beauty of the jungle night and the aroma of the wood fires and wild flowers, they placed their hands on me and began praying aloud and creating a heavenly chorus of ascending prayers that broke through the night sky of the Burmese jungle, straight to the gates of heaven and to the very throne of the Almighty with their simple prayers of petition and praise.

I was crying openly as they prayed aloud. As my eyes were closed, I experienced the most beautiful picture of my Mom with her kind and cute little sense of humor, having arrived in heaven, smiling broadly with almost a chuckle in her voice, saying, “And you thought that just because I died there would be no one left to pray for you. Oh, my son! Just look at you – Just look at you!

For sure, my Mom never knew the full results of her incredible influence for goodness while she was alive. Those results of goodness, however, had powerful and lasting impact on the mainstream of civilization. Those results will still be lapping up against the beautiful shoreline of eternity even when the designation of what we call “time” is no more.

Next Week: Goodness Demands Nothing in Return

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"GOODNESS" Part 16: Expect Counteraction to Goodness,

At the outset of this series of articles on “goodness” I asked each of us to consider a very personal question: What accomplishment of goodness would you dare to pursue this next year, if you were assured you would not fail?

What has been your experience so far as you have tried to pursue that accomplishment of goodness? I think that I can guarantee you one thing – that if, in your process of accomplishment, you have not already experienced opposition, hinderance, or obstruction to reaching your goal of goodness – you will! You can count on it.

Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “We know that there are chiselers. At the bottom of every case of criticism and obstruction, we have found some selfish interest, some private ax to grind.” 

It seems strange to me that there are folks in this old world who would willfully choose attitudes and behaviors of avarice, selfishness, corruption and evil manipulation in order to see the blocking of some other person’s attainment of their goals for goodness. Selfish interest, however, happens to be one of the most common obstructions to the advancement of truth and goodness. (You don’t have to look much farther than the arena of modern-day politics to observe some pretty cringeworthy examples of intentional hinderance, corruption, and evil manipulation in the obstruction to intended acts and attitudes of goodness.)

One of the strangest examples of obstruction, or counteraction to goodness, that I have ever observed, took place while I was working in the country of India:

I boarded my flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then transferred to another three-hour flight that dropped me off late into the night at the airport in Madras, India. The next morning, I continued my travels to the city of Coimbatore, India where my friend Dr. Samuel Stevens met me and we drove together to his home in Salem, India.

Sammy Stevens was born into a wonderful Indian family, and is a third generation Christian. His accomplishments are outstanding. He has built and managed the Sharon Cancer Center in Salem. Additionally, he and his wife built and operate the Sharon Garden Orphanage where they house, feed, and educate over 300 orphans. Project C.U.R.E. became involved with Dr. Stevens to help him enlarge his 50-bed hospital to a 150-bed facility.

While we were driving, Dr. Stevens told me of his friend, Dr. Siddharthan who runs a successful eye hospital in a nearby city. They have additionally set up a blood bank and an eye-donation bank.  Dr. Siddharthan is a very talented eye surgeon and has been very kind to Dr. Stevens. Whenever Dr. Stevens has children in the Salem area who need eye surgery, Dr. Siddharthan comes and performs the procedures for free at Dr. Steven’s hospital.

As we talked, he mentioned that Dr. Siddharthan was going to come to his hospital in Salem this week and perform surgeries on three blind children – two girls and one boy. I would get to meet Dr. Siddharthan then.

As the week progressed, Dr. Stevens informed me that he was having a bit of trouble with one of the three young kids who were scheduled for eye surgery – it was a problem with the mother of the young boy. It didn’t look like she was going to give permission for the doctor to operate on her son!

The mother said the people of the village were very hostile and were demanding that the surgery absolutely not take place. They liked the boy just like he was – blind! They had taken care of him so far and they would take care of him always. He did not need to be able to see. It made them feel good and important to have the boy totally dependent on them and they did not want that feeling taken away from them. It made them feel fulfilled and important and necessary.

The villagers were serious enough about the situation that they threatened the mother and told her that she, and the child, and the entire village would be cursed forever if different eyes or eye parts would be put in the boy’s head by another man.

I thought, “Oh no, these villagers will actually use their selfish interest and pride to obstruct this little boy from ever seeing his mother, his friends, the sunshine, a delicate flower, -- anything – ever, ever. How horrible. How sad!

Dr. Siddharthan had performed the pre-surgery procedures on the little boy the same day that Samuel Stevens had driven to pick me up from the Coimbatore airport. So, Dr. Stevens had never met the little boy or his mother before.

The morning before the scheduled surgery, Dr. Stevens said he wanted to go out and talk to the mother in the village to find out what was going on. When we arrived, the mother saw Dr. Stevens for the very first time. She began to cry and was visibly shaken. She took Dr. Stevens by the hand and said, “Oh, I am so happy you are here – I must tell you what happened to me last night.”

“A man came to see me – it was not just a dream. . . it was in a vision. The man had come to our village and had brought my son back to me – when he came back, my son could see – we saw each other for the very first time! Dr. Stevens it was you who brought my son back to me in my vision. I had never seen you before – but you were exactly the man in the vision who brought my son back to me. I now see you and you are the same man!”

“Yes, I want you to take my son to your hospital so that you can bring him back to me, and he will no longer be blind. I am now strong enough to stand up against all the people in my village and tell them they cannot use my blind son to always be dependent on them -- to make them feel needed and worthwhile. They can now help my son grow up and be a strong man.

Dr. Stevens, if you came to me last night and brought my son back to me – and he could see perfectly well – why would I be afraid to let you take him with you today to the hospital where they will fix him and make him see for always?”  

“Please go now, Dr. Stevens – and hurry back with my son!”

Well, as you might guess, that day was a day of happiness and rejoicing. All three surgeries went perfectly well for Dr. Siddharthan and his three little blind patients.  Dr. Stevens was later able to take our excited little boy back to his mother and the waiting villagers.

A great miracle had taken place. God had taken an occasion of counteraction and obstruction to righteousness and had transformed it into an occasion for the advancement of truth and goodness!

Next Week: The Results of Goodness are Forever

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"GOODNESS" Part 15: Goodness is the Correction Mechanism for Civilization

As a cultural economist, I love to observe and concern myself with the flight path of cultures and civilizations. Guess what! Cultures and civilizations spend a whole lot of time traveling off course. It didn’t take Adam and Eve very long to get off track and get booted out of the Garden of Eden. Things got better – and then, Noah and his family found themselves floating around looking for another chunk of dry ground where they could start procreating all over again.

A quick review of civilizations, past and present, will leave the investigator’s head spinning and heart pounding. How could all of that have happened? And Why? Consider the Babylonian Empire and the Persian Empire, then the Egyptians and the Hellenic Greeks, and the Roman Empire that stretched from 29 B.C. to 476 A.D. Take a look at China’s Dynasties from 220 B.C. to the Ming Dynasty in mid 1600s. Or check out even the Americas with the Toltecs, the Incas and the Aztecs through the 1500s.

It seems to me that individual folks of each culture and civilization have an undeniable impact on the outcome of experienced and recorded history. They are the ones who choose to employ attitudes and actions of greed, avarice, pride, manipulation, murder, pain, and evil, that eventually work to unravel the golden threads of the civic fabric.

It also seems evident to me, that historically, it has been the phenomenon of “goodness” that through the ages has been the positive correction mechanism for cultures and civilizations. There were prophets, sages, holy leaders, righteous rabble rousers, men and women of sterling character and unusual bravery, who individually and collectively decided to become involved in exemplifying and promoting “goodness.”

Those individuals became change agents. Many times, it was their dedication and commitment that enabled the creative powers of goodness to become the corrective mechanism that altered the very history of this world. That is because if you can change your direction – you can change your world. There will always be a need for correction burns as long as this world exists as we now know it.

On February 8, 2011, NASA’s Mission News reported that their Stardust spacecraft needed to correct its flight path. The Stardust spacecraft was in its twelfth year of space travel and had already traveled 3.5 billion miles since its launch. If the flight path correction was not made the mission would be lost.

That trajectory correction maneuver took just a little over one half minute, and consumed 2.4 ounces of fuel. The maneuver altered the spacecraft’s speed by 1.3 miles per hour – it got the mission successfully back on track.

NASA knows all too well that rockets will eventually get off course because of extenuating factors in space. Journeys don’t always go as planned. There will be need for inflight correction burns to reach the ultimate destination.

What to do? To start with, the first set of guidance instructions will need to be revisited, reevaluated, enhanced, and reaffirmed. The tricky part comes in recalculating the necessary correction burn from the present incorrect position. Few will argue the necessity of getting back on track – but how many ounces of fuel will it take, what new angle will be required, and what new speed will be necessary in order to avoid total calamity and gain ultimate success?

More recently, NASA launched the Mars 2020 Mission from Cape Canaveral on July 30, 2020, headed for the planet of Mars. It contained a very sophisticated nuclear-powered “Perseverance” rover, and a miniature robot helicopter to aid in an unprecedented research exploration. The rover and the robot helicopter were both successfully deployed to the surface of planet Mars on February 18, 2021.

My curiosity compelled me to research and find out if the Mars 2020 Mission required any inflight correction burns. Indeed, there were correction burns! On August 14, the first correction maneuver required the firing of eight thrusters to adjust its course toward the red planet. Before the flight was completed it was necessary to calculate and propel four more trajectory correction maneuvers: September 30, December 18, February 10 and February 16. Not bad for having traveled in excess of 35 million miles.

Regarding correction burns for civilizations and cultures; it seems to me that first, there must be a recognition that the flight is off course. Next, there must be the decision to do something about the problem. Then, agents of change must make a volitional choice to step forward and set a correctional plan into action. Throughout history that positive correctional mechanism for getting cultures and civilizations back on course is a new awareness and extreme dedication to the righteous principles of “goodness.”

We presently are in desperate need of a cultural and civilization correction burn to alter our inflight trajectory. Who is it in our midst that will decide to be the historical change makers in order to see this next great awakening happen for goodness sake?

Next Week: Expect Counteraction to Goodness

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"GOODNESS" Part 14: Goodness and Governance

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made for only a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (John Adams, October 11, 1798: 2nd President of the United States of America.)

The depth and passion of religion in the early formation of America had a huge impact on secular society. It is true that the Christian religion was practiced in Europe at the time of the founding of America and even throughout the nineteenth century.

Virtually all European countries had state-sponsored religions that were woefully entangled with the governments and cultures. The state-sponsored religions often received certain leveraged legal standings and were largely controlled by financial subsidies doled out by the governments.

America followed different religious traditions that began with the Pilgrims and the Mayflower. That is not to say, however, that the leaders of the new nation all held to the same theologies, doctrines, denominations, or religious traditions. They did not. They did, however, emphatically agree that the new nation would be established under one God, with liberty and justice for all.

There would be a breadth of religious freedom and the absence of any state assistance. Both of these considerations would be explicitly protected by the first amendment of the Bill of Rights.

American churches had to compete in the marketplace for their members. The most vital of those churches were the ones that held most consistently and enthusiastically to the central Christian doctrines. The new nation that was being built was a radical experiment in governance. Somehow, they had the divine insight that this new national experiment was not going to make it as a democratic republic unless it was built on the principles of “goodness.”

The dissenters of Europe became the Baptists, Quakers, Presbyterians and Methodists of America. They had a certain confidence that humans possess a unique capacity to attain, through invitation and development, excellence of character. They knew that the new experiment had to be built on that high standard of goodness.

It was going to take dependence on the Spirit of Truth, attitudes and actions of kindness, generosity, fairness, sympathy, personal responsibility, virtue, justice, righteousness and a whole lot of heavenly wisdom, to make the new experiment become an enduring reality.

The early leaders had a distinct vision that God was a God of “goodness.”. Indeed, He was the very author of goodness revealed in Spirit and Truth. His enduring interest in His created human beings on earth was for their personal advancement in liberty – the very freedom and liberty to on purpose choose to worship God according to the dictates of their own personal conscience. It was a liberty to construct and manage a commonly agreed upon form of governance and a liberty of the personal integrity to successfully pursue a pathway of goodness all the days of their lives.

As the early settlers began to take up residence in the new land, some unique behavioral patterns could be observed. There were certain moral and social commitments being expressed between the new neighbors. Voluntary mutual assistance among unrelated people who happened to be living alongside each other was becoming the quiet rule of the day in matters great and small. Some may have called it “neighborliness” but it was nothing more or less than intentional “goodness.”

If a family needed to have a barn constructed, neighboring families would rally around and build the needed building in no time at all. Agricultural resources; seeds, methods, and scarce tools would be shared between families. Informal agreements would be made among the individuals to watch over and protect each other’s personal and real property. There existed a healthy willingness to get engaged in solving civic problems or volunteering to fill necessary government positions.

When a felt-need arose, there was a delightful spirit of social trust that answered that need whether it was a shared sack of corn, a cup of sugar or a helping hand during inclement weather. That confidence in “goodness” encouraged the new neighbors to be willing to share their time and possessions with others with the secure understanding that the good deed would find reciprocation somewhere down the road.

But our second President, John Adams, spoke prophetically, clear back in 1798. Should the governed of this unique experiment called a Constitutional Republic choose to throw off the bridle of morality, righteousness and goodness, and willfully choose attitudes and behaviors of avarice, selfishness, corruption, evil manipulation and destruction, then the designed means of governance based on that Constitution, would in no way, be able to contend with such attitudes and actions – any more than a simple fishing net would be able to hold the viciousness of a giant whale.

You see, life is full of alternatives – alternatives demand choices – choices set into motion consequences – the governed are allowed to make the choices – but they do not have the power to determine the consequences that are set into motion by those choices.

When the expressed aim is to cancel not only the constructive characteristics of “goodness” – like justice, honesty, fairness, virtue, personal responsibility, and kindness, -- but also to willfully endeavor to cancel and eradicate the very Author of Goodness from a culture, then, it is only rational, that you cannot expect to experience the same positive benefits that once were received.

The history of humans on this earth has recorded a number of dramatic “Great Awakenings” where the reset button of a continuing unrighteous saga was activated, one way or another, allowing for the beginning of a new chapter. Perhaps we will get to experience another “Great Awakening.”

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. (John Adams, October 11, 1798: 2nd President of the United States of America.)

Next Week: Goodness is the Correction Mechanism for Civilization

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"GOODNESS" Part 13: Opportunities for Goodness are Everywhere

I am continually fascinated with how this phenomenon of “goodness” actually works out in real life. How, when, and where, do all the unique “needs” of this old world get hooked up with the potential “helps” that are available?

I had been working in the Madras, India area, and in Salem, India, with Dr. Samuel Stevens, director of the Sharon Cancer Center. I needed to make my way to the City of Coimbatore, and then on to Hong Kong. I made it to the airport in time for my flight, but I wasn't real keen on the equipment for the trip. It was an older propeller driven plane and loaded with lots of people headed to Madras.

Different connecting flights had me flying all night, and until 1:00 p.m. the next day, with a little layover in Singapore. When I reached Hong Kong, I took a taxi from the airport to the Kowloon Hotel. I checked in and made my contacts with Caleb Lam, who represented several medical mission enterprises throughout the China mainland.

Perhaps, as significant as any other meeting in Hong Kong was one appointment I hadn't scheduled. My first evening at the hotel restaurant they seated a white-haired gentleman at the table next to mine. He was trying to read the menu in the dimly lighted room and he had forgotten his glasses.

I could tell what was happening, because I had been in situations before like that myself. In fact, I was wearing a pair of glasses I had just recently purchased. I never said a word -- but gently took my glasses and quietly reached over and laid my glasses on his table next to his silverware.

It absolutely caught him by surprise, and he just stumbled all over himself thanking me for noticing his plight. He said he was about to just randomly point to something on the menu to the waiter, not being able to read a thing. We began to chat and when I had finished my dinner and was finishing my tea, he invited me over to his table.

He told me that he lived in New Zea­land and was a successful businessman coming to Asia often in his line of business. He had been buying and selling umbrellas for over twenty-seven years. He inquired about what I did and I shared with him about Project C.U.R.E. He asked a million questions and my answers kept getting a little more spiritual. He said, finally, you couldn't do what you were doing without being a deeply religious man. I told him that once I wasn't, but several years ago everything had changed.

That opened the flood gates of emotion for him. He told me that just three weeks prior, the diagnosis had been confirmed that he had can­cer -- the same kind of cancer that had taken his mother, within a span of 10 months after her diagnosis. He told me how he was trying to cope with everything that was now crashing in on his life. He shared how his wife had begged him not to go on this business trip to Hong Kong. But he said he felt he absolutely had to get on the plane in New Zealand, go to Hong Kong and check into the hotel.

We talked about goodness, and hope, and the brevity of life. We stopped, and in that dimly lighted restaurant, we bowed our heads and had prayer together. "Now I know,” he said – “Now I know, -- just why I was supposed to be here tonight! – thank you.”

I left the restaurant that night very humbled -- just to think that God would bring one man from New Zealand and one man from Colorado all the way to Hong Kong in order to strike a match and kindle a flame of hope and encouragement in the heart of one of his hurting children who needed to talk and then hear of things eternal. Indeed, I would have traveled just to Hong Kong for no other reason than that one precious experience of goodness.

Next Week: Goodness and Governance

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"GOODNESS" Part 12: Goodness is Authentic - But can be Counterfeited

We have now spent a fair bit of time looking at the subject of “goodness.” It has become clear that positive revolution does not just happen because a culture adopts new technologies – it happens when the society adopts new attitudes and behaviors of goodness. Goodness, in my opinion, is the most powerful, least costly, and most under-rated agent of positive cultural change ever known.

The concept of goodness is compelling; the longing for goodness is universal; the results of goodness are forever; and most certainly, the urgent need for goodness is right now! But it takes the activation of the human will to implement the phenomenon of authentic goodness and to experience its revolutionary effects on a culture.

So, now is the time for a reality check! Goodness is not new. The opposite of goodness is not just “ho – hum.” The opposite of goodness is “badness” – the opposite of good is evil. Evil is not new either. Hypocrisy is not new either.

Everyone loves stories of goodness. Everyone wants to be seen as good, and righteous, and virtuous. You may not necessarily feel like you need to make the volitional choice to actually be good, and righteous, and virtuous – but you have the driving need to be seen as just a little more good, and righteous and virtuous than the person in the car next to you.

That is one of the reasons why social media platforms are so utilized. It would be nice if your friends would be just a bit envious or jealous of your spectacular family vacations or your fancy new boat, but at least you have a chance to show them the charity events your family have attended or the virtuous causes you promote. Just imagine what it must feel like to experience receiving a prestigious award for your “benevolent generosity” at a glitzy Hollywood charity gala. Participants just might even design and organize such events just for the showcasing.

Because “goodness” is such a universally desirable commodity, the perception of a person’s righteousness carries cultural advantage. It is admirable to be known as a virtuous citizen. It bestows on you a certain measure of clout in society. It may not singly win your next argument or negotiation, but it will probably at least give you the benefit of the doubt.

The interesting thing is, that a person can actually build up a stockpile of influence and clout using the generated commodity of perceived goodness. It becomes somewhat like a moral or cultural “Stock Market Exchange.” Alongside the stock listing at the “Stock Market Exchange” could be the initials “RR.” Those initials would not stand for “Rolls Royce,” but rather, for “Righteous Reputation.” The commodity can be created, the extended value can be increased by the owner, and once enhanced, that commodity of perceived virtue can be taken to the “bank.”

This commodity of “Righteous Reputation” is so desirous and so easily leveraged in matters of moral and cultural negotiations, that ambitious citizens will actually set out to willfully counterfeit the real essence and purity of “goodness” for their own personal gain. The only reason that a successful counterfeit of goodness can be produced is that somewhere in existence there is an “authentic goodness.”

The “authorities,” however, who manage the Cultural Stock Market, have no way to effectively regulate the authenticity of the commodity. Sometimes it is really difficult to determine whether the “RR” (Righteous Reputation) stocks are legitimate or phony. You can’t just pick up a stock certificate of morality, like you can pick up a $100 bill, hold it up to the light, and check for a watermark of legitimacy.

As I mentioned above, Hypocrisy is not a new concept. It is a person’s practice of faking moral beliefs or standards to which that person’s own behavior does not conform. You might even call it affected piety. The indulgence in hypocrisy is not just a slippery-slope convenience but is dangerous and deadly. It is a mask to fool the public and is highly effective, especially to gain political advantage and benefit.

During the period of history between 1750 and 1850, my Scotch-Irish ancestry had the opportunity to observe the English, as the Whig aristocrats boasted of their special benevolence regarding the common people. In exchange for the support of those people, they claimed to be championing initiatives to prevent the outbreaks of popular discontent that were causing instability and even revolution.

The more radical Tory party accused the Whigs of hypocrisy, alleging they were deliberately using the slogans of reform and democracy to boost themselves into power while preserving their precious position of privilege. They were trying to make it look like they were advancing the targeted group’s cause as a strategy for giving them control over that group. (Mercy me. The very idea! -- Can you even imagine a political party somewhere trying to utilize the feigned perception of goodness to advance control over a political situation and manipulate certain groups of voting citizens? Wow!)

That all reminds me of T.S. Eliot’s memorable quote: “The last temptation is the greatest treason; to do the right thing for the wrong reason.”

Writers of almost every era have warned civilizations of the destructive forces of individuals and groups setting out to willfully counterfeit the true essence of purity and goodness. Even the major religions of today denounce hypocrisy and the false virtue signaling:

Jesus: condemned the Scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites: “Woe to the Pharisees”
(Luke 11:37, Matt. 23:1, Matt 7: 5)

Islam; Koran 63rd Chapter: “. . . those who claim to be believers and rail against peacemakers thinking they are fooling God and others, but only fool themselves.”

Buddha: Dhammapada text: condemns a man who takes the appearance of the ascetic but is full of passion within.

The good news today, however, is that “Goodness is still Authentic” and no matter how folks try to twist, pervert, or counterfeit the glorious concept of “goodness,” it will always be the same as it was in the beginning, and our earthly journey from success to significance is, of necessity, traveled over the road of “goodness”:

Humans have a unique capacity to attain, through invitation and development, excellence of character, and based on that character they can choose to become involved in initiating attitudes and actions of kindness, generosity, fairness, sympathy, personal responsibility, virtue, justice and wisdom through their conduct. The genuine initiating and promoting of those attitudes and actions is what we will refer to as “goodness”.

Next Week: Goodness and Governance

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