Little Bags of Dreams
As many of you know I affiliate myself with the Buddhist Religion, and specifically Rissho Kosei-kai. Rissho Kosei kai holds a Little Bag of Dreams Campaign every year. The campaign started in 1999 which is a charity event that is held late June through August and involves elementary and junior high students filling little cloth bags full of stationery items, small daily necessities, toys, and cards containing messages of friendship.
After the campaign, the Little Bags of Dreams collected from each Rissho Kosei-kai church are sent with the assistance of other nongovernmental organizations to be distributed to children in Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Northern Ireland, and the former Yugoslavia, many of whom have suffered the loss of their homes and family members as the result of local conflicts.
In December, Rissho Kosei-kai’s Executive Committee of the Little Bags of Dreams Campaign announced that a total of 58,735 small bags of gifts had been collected in this year’s campaign period of June 1 to August 31.
In recent years more and more churches of Rissho Kosei-kai have endeavored to make the campaign part of members’ family life. This encourages parents and children to discuss the world situation among themselves and deepens their wish for world peace as they prepare the bags.
Rissho Kosei-kai also plans to dispatch volunteer member groups of children and their parents to these countries in March to help hand out bags directly.
No one realizes how big of an impact such a small gesture provides. In the many conflicts around the world it always is a fact that no one suffers more than the children. Many Americans take for granted how well they have it in America. In fact even the poor and homeless are much more well off than people in other parts of the world. I think a lot of Americans leaving the comforts of this country would be shocked as to the things that happen in other parts of the world. Seeing it on television is not the same, but to experience the poverty and suffering that others experience on an ongoing basis would be very traumatic for most.
I find it hard at times to be sympathetic to the millions of people on anti-depressant drugs, and wonder what they would and how they would cope if born in India or Afghanistan. The next time that you think that your life sux or your at the end of your rope, think of others who don’t know where their next meal or the next place they will sleep will be. And think “you know I really dont have it as bad as I am perceiving”.
Make it a point each day to spread some love and tell someone how thankful you are that you have them as a friend.
Namaste
Hokkaido Japan Spirituality \\ spiritual, religion, buddhism, Rissho Kosei-kai, happiness, charity
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