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Helping Hands Tree
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What is the essence of a good life? Aristotle tells us that it is ‘‘to serve others and to do good.’’
VOLUNTEERS
“Many will be shocked to find
When the day of judgement nears
That there's a special place in heaven
Set aside for volunteers.”-Author unknown
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Recently I came across a very interesting article about the wonders of volunteerism, doing good in the interest of the common good, and their corresponding health and emotional/spiritual benefits for those who engage in this type of activities.
I believe the article: ‘Rx It’s Good to be Good (G2BG) 2017 Commentary: Prescribing Volunteerism for Health, Happiness, Resilience, and Longevity’ is of significant interest to the GCGI community, and thus, I wish to share it with our readers.
However, before doing so, I would very much like, to share, once more, a selection of related articles that have been posted online at the GCGI website to highlight our mission further:
“To understand, appreciate, and face the challenges of the contemporary world requires us to focus on life’s big picture. Whether it is war and peace, economics and the environment, justice and injustice, love and hatred, cooperation and competition, common good and selfishness, science and technology, progress and poverty, profit and loss, food and population, energy and water, disease and health, education and family, we need the big picture in order to understand and solve the many pressing problems, large and small, regional or global.
The “Big Picture” is also the context in which we can most productively explore the big perennial questions of life - purpose and meaning, virtues and values.
In order to focus on life’s bigger picture and guided by the principles of hard work, commitment, volunteerism and service; with a great passion for dialogue of cultures, civilisations, religions, ideas and visions, at an international conference in Oxford in 2002 the Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative (GCGI) and the GCGI Annual International Conference Series were founded.
We recognise that our socio-economic problems are closely linked to our spiritual problems and vice versa. Moreover, socio-economic justice, peace and harmony will come about only when the essential connection between the spiritual and practical aspects of life is valued. Necessary for this journey is to discover, promote and live for the common good. The principle of the common good reminds us that we are all really responsible for each other – we are our brothers' and sisters' keepers – and must work for social conditions which ensure that every person and every group in society is able to meet their needs and realize their potential. It follows that every group in society must take into account the rights and aspirations of other groups, and the well-being of the whole human family.”...Continue to read
If you want to be happy, be a volunteer. If you want others to be happy, be a volunteer
Your Body, Soul, Mind, Health, Happiness and Volunteerism for the Common Good
Build a Better World: The Healing Power of Doing Good
And now, the article I had mentioned above:
‘Rx It’s Good to be Good (G2BG) 2017 Commentary: Prescribing Volunteerism for Health, Happiness, Resilience, and Longevity’
Stephen G. Post, PhD
President, Institute for Research on Unlimited Love—Spirituality, Compassion, Service, and Founding Director, Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics Department of Family, Population, and Preventive Medicine Stony Brook University School of Medicine.
Abstract
This article presents and interprets the strong evidence that helping others in meaningful ways generally results in a happier, healthier, resilient, and even longer life for the giver; based on the strength of this evidence overall and in subpopulations including patient groups, it then asserts that the time has come for health-care professionals to prescribe and recommend such behavior at sustainable levels generally in the range of 2 hours per week. The medical evidence justifies the prescribing (or recommending) of volunteerism and helping activities for individuals, schools, companies, and whole communities. This article presents this innovative claim against the backdrop Norman Rockwell’s iconic image of The Golden Rule (1961), in which he captures the benefits of focusing our minds and actions on contributing to the lives of others. The review encompasses all age groups, many special categories of people grappling with illness, and population health generally.
Read the article: Rx It’s Good to be Good (G2BG) 2017 Commentary: Prescribing Volunteerism for Health, Happiness, Resilience, and Longevity
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14th GCGI International Conference
And
The Fourth GCGI and SES Joint Conference, Lucca, Tuscany 2018
‘OUR SACRED EARTH: Spiritual Ecology, Values-led Economics, Education and Society Responding to Ecological Crisis’
CALL FOR PAPERS AND PARTICIPATION
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Globalisation for the Common Good Initiative
and
Fourth Joint Conference
28 August-1 September 2018
‘OUR SACRED EARTH:
‘Spiritual Ecology, Values-led Economics, Education and Society Responding to Ecological Crisis’
To be hosted at
Villa Boccella, Tuscany, Italy
(A truly spiritual and inspirational place: This 17th Century Tuscan estate which is set amongst the hills of Northern Tuscany is very well situated, 10 Kilometers from the medieval city of LUCCA, one hour from the international airport of Pisa and about two hours from Florence. The Villa and estate belong to long-standing members of the School of Economic Science, and we are grateful to them for hosting the 2018 Joint Conference.)
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Western culture is to blame for rising childhood obesity in developing countries
‘A history of colonialism and misplaced admiration for Western culture means fast food chains see developing countries as a potential gold mine’
An article by Safeeyah Kazi, first published in The Independent on 16 October 2017
New statistics have revealed the extent of the world’s obesity epidemic, with obesity rising tenfold in children over the past four decades. In addition to this, another 213 million children were classed as overweight. Yet obesity figures in the US and the UK reached a plateau for the first time.
As a millennial, junk food – namely crisps, burgers, chips, pizza and fizzy drinks – was an integral part of my childhood. Walking to the shops after school and ordering some chips was a daily habit. We all know that it’s not difficult to find junk food for a cheap price in the UK. Indeed, many poorer families depend on it precisely because of its price point.
But some of these products are only now making their way to developing countries – and this “new” mode of cheap, fatty, filling cuisine is having a terrible effect. The worst increases in obesity occurred in China, India, Polynesia and Micronesia – in the case of the latter, half of their young population is either overweight or obese. The number of underweight children has decreased, but this development has been quickly met with an epidemic at the other end of the scale.
Diabetes epidemic affecting 350m – and western fast food is to blame
A 'Happy' McDonald's in India-Photo:gulfnews.com
Most people in the UK are aware that the country has undergone an obesity “boom” in the past decade. Figures indicate that we are stabilising the problem, but one in five children of reception age are still classed as obese or overweight. The figures increase to 26 per cent of children in the most deprived areas, compared to 12 per cent in the most affluent – showing that poverty and obesity still go hand in hand.
So it’s no surprise that some of the most deprived countries are now seeing a rise in obesity, and we bear some responsibility for outsourcing this problem.
India's fascination with fast food
Egypt was recently found to be in the top 20 most obese countries in the world, with an estimated 35 per cent of adults classed as obese and 22 million Egyptians living in poverty. In Egypt’s heart lies Cairo, and with a buzzing capital city come with long working hours and often low wages.
Samoa, the “paradise island” in the Pacific, has seen a dramatic increase in obesity, with figures showing a 95 per cent increase since they began importing Western food and tinned goods. This has led in turn to sharp increase in the diagnoses of diabetes and sleep apnoea.
Developing countries seem to now be subjected to the hands of power-chains in the same manner as the US and the UK. KFC in 2016 planned to open 600 restaurants across China and McDonalds stating a long-term goal of 1,000 stores over the next five years.
One in four children aged seven or above will be obese in China by 2030. And although China has seen a drop in poverty since the late 1900s, millions still live below the poverty line.
Africa's journey from one disaster to a bigger disaster: from underweight to overweight
Photo:jolpress.com
Many of these countries either currently are or once were colonised by the West, which may have led to a widespread ideology that a better life exists here. For the millions in poverty, we are perceived as wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. It’s plausible that in some way by adopting the norms of the West, these countries feel closer to that dream and to the culture and society they idolise.
Having been a tourist in some of these countries, including Egypt, it became obvious to me that there was a growing obsession with the West. I could barely walk down the street without being approached about being a Brit; I had countless conversations with Egyptians dreaming of the UK, their very own idea of a “paradise island”, and discussions of how much better life must be.
The trend appears to expand far beyond the food industry extending to fashion TV and music in a push for modernisation over traditionalism. Recent times have seen a spread of this culture, a prime example of this is mainstream artists such as One Direction, Ed Sheeran and The Vamps all cracking markets in developing countries. Next month India will see Ed Sheeran make a stop, Jakarta will similarly be another one to experience this. Last year British band The Vamps made a highly-anticipated stop in India. It is more apparent than ever that global chart-toppers are appealing to markets far beyond the West.
TV shows such as Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and The Big Band Theory have all taken China by a storm following the success of Friends in the early 1990s, giving users the opportunity to watch American favourites with Chinese subtitles for free.
This obsession with Western-affinity taken high-street brands such as Zara, H&M and New Look and landed them with stores across the developing world including Egypt, Morocco and Indonesia, there is a want to be associated with and embraced by the West's modernisation on a broad scale.
Many of the countries struggling with obesity have embraced Western food culture with open arms because they have a desire to mirror the environment as a whole, a dream of a wealthy and prosperous society and an easier life for their people and perhaps adopting this food culture makes them feel a step closer to that, even if it means giving up what they know so well: great real food.
With such admiration of this food culture, big chains see these territories as a gold mine.
The West’s “boom” of obesity is now transcending across the oceans as developing countries start trading in real produce for convenience food – and it’s clearly having a detrimental effect on their health.
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