Below are a number of stories illustrating the power that love has to heal situations in the world. I hope you will find these stories inspiring, and I invite you to send us your own real-life stories. We will publish as many as we can. Thank you!

(E-mail your stories to GlobalPeaceToday@aol.com, and type "Real-Life Story" in the subject box. Be sure to state your full name and where you’re from. Note: Please send your ideas within the e-mail itself, as we do not open e-mails with files attached. By sending us your story, you are granting us permission to publish it.)

The Miracle Worker

"BASEBALL PLAYER HEALS BOY OF CANCER." The headline caught my eye; it was my kind of story. Before my life was dedicated to healing, it was dedicated to baseball, and the combination of the two loomed as a metaphysical jewel to me. I knew I had to read this account. I invested sixty-five cents in the tabloid and nestled into the front seat of my car, eager to learn the details.

The story was even more intriguing than I had expected. The doctors in a Boston hospital had given up on six-year-old Sean Butler, a little boy whom they had diagnosed as having incurable cancer. His condition, they assessed, was beyond anything they could do for him. They discontinued attempts to reverse the condition and gave the boy just a few days to live.

One night little Sean told the nurses that his favorite sport was baseball, and his hero was Dave Stapleton, the first baseman for the Boston Red Sox. If Sean had one last wish, it would be to meet Dave.

Following the clue, the nurses called Dave Stapleton to ask him if he would visit the child before he passed on. Dave kindly agreed, and that afternoon he came to the hospital with his wife and spent some time with Sean. They talked baseball, laughed, played, and Sean was visibly touched. Before he left, Dave promised Sean that he would get a hit for him the first time he was at bat during the baseball game that night. Sean was thrilled, and he promised to watch the game on TV.

Somehow the word about Dave’s promise got around Boston. I was told by a woman who lived in Boston at that time that many eyes in that city were glued to their TV sets that evening. They watched with anticipation as Dave stepped to the home plate in Fenway Park. Several pitches went by. Dave didn’t flinch. Then, on the next pitch first baseman Dave Stapleton slammed a triple off the famous green left field wall in that ballpark. Sean was ecstatic.

The something amazing happened. Sean’s condition did not degenerate as the doctors had predicted, but instead he began to improve. Day by day he became stronger until within a few days his symptoms disappeared.

"We have no medical explanation for this," the newspaper quoted the doctors as saying. "It can only be described as a miracle." They released Sean from the hospital, healed.

What healed that boy? I see no other explanation than the power of love. Genuine caring healed that child, and that is the only power that can heal any of us. Perhaps Sean was not feeling important or needed or beautiful. Perhaps he had decided on some subconscious level that life was not worthwhile, and that he was not really wanted here. His illness was really a call for help, a request for some kind of confirmation that he should continue. And who did God call to give him the encouragement he was so desperately seeking? A first baseman. A first baseman with a big heart...

...The kind of healing that Dave Stapleton accomplished is available to all of us -- if we are willing to believe in ourselves. We must know that Spirit is eager to use us as we are, as we dedicate ourself to the Light. We do not have to change what we do to be a miracle worker. Dave did not quit the Red Sox to attend the Famous Healer’s School or learn any particular incantations. In fact, staying in the work he loved and simply being himself was absolutely necessary for him to accomplish the healing that he did. What a lesson in the importance of being ourself!
(from Lifestyles of the Rich in Spirit, by Alan Cohen)

What Do Trees Have To Do With Peace?

Thirty years ago, in the country of Kenya, 90% of the forest had been chopped down. Without trees to hold the topsoil in place, the land became like a desert.

When the women and girls would go in search of firewood in order to prepare the meals, they would have to spend hours and hours looking for what few branches remained.

A woman named Wangari watched all of this happening. She decided that there must be a way to take better care of the land and take better care of the women and girls. So she planted a tree. And then she planted another. She wanted to plant thousands of trees, but she realized that it would take a very long time if she was the only one doing it. So she taught the women who were looking for firewood to plant trees, and they were paid a small amount for each sapling they grew.

Soon she organized women all over the country to plant trees, and a movement took hold. It was called the Green Belt Movement, and with each passing year, more and more trees covered the land. But something else was happening as the women planted those trees. Something else besides those trees was taking root. The women began to have confidence in themselves. They began to see that they could make a difference.

They began to see that they were capable of many things, and that they were equal to the men. They began to recognize that they were deserving of being treated with respect and dignity. Changes like these were threatening to some. The president of the country didn't like any of this. So police were sent to intimidate and beat Wangari for planting trees, and for planting ideas of equality and democracy in people's heads, especially in women's. She was accused of "subversion" and arrested many times. Once, while Wangari was trying to plant trees, she was clubbed by guards hired by developers who wanted the lands cleared. She was hospitalized with head injuries. But she survived, and it only made her realize that she was on the right path.

For almost thirty years, she was threatened physically, and she was often made fun of in the press. But she didn't flinch. She only had to look in the eyes of her three children, and in the eyes of the thousands of women and girls who were blossoming right along with the trees, and she found the strength to continue. And that is how it came to be that 30 million trees have been planted in Africa, one tree at a time. The landscapes -- both the external one of the land and the internal one of the people -- have been transformed.

In 2002, the people of Kenya held a democratic election, and the president who opposed Wangari and her Green Belt Movement is no longer in office. And Wangari is now Kenya's Assistant Minister for the Environment.

She is 65 years old, and this year she planted one more tree in celebration and thanksgiving for being given a very great honor:

Wangari Maathai has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She is the first African woman to receive this award.

After she was notified, she gave a speech entitled, "What Do Trees Have To Do With Peace?" She pointed out how most wars are fought over limited natural resources, such as oil, land, coal or diamonds. She called for an end to corporate greed, and for leaders to build more just societies.

She added: "Our recent experience in Kenya gives hope to all who have been struggling for a better future. It shows it is possible to bring about positive change, and still do it peacefully. All it takes is courage and perseverance, and a belief that positive change is possible. That is why the slogan for our campaign was 'It is Possible!'"

"On behalf of all African women, I want to express my profound appreciation for this honour, which will serve to encourage women in Kenya, in Africa, and around the world to raise their voices and not to be deterred."

"When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope. We also secure the future for our children. I call on those around the world to celebrate by planting a tree wherever you are."

As she received the Nobel Peace Prize this week in Oslo, she invited us all to get involved:

"Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-support system. We are called to assist the Earth to heal her wounds and in the process heal our own."

(The above article was e-mailed to me, and although I found many websites that provide information about Wangari, I was unable to find the author of this specific article. If anyone has any information about its authorship, please e-mail me so that I can contact them and make sure it’s okay with them to post this article here.)

This is an e-mail I received years ago, forwarded to me by several people. You may have heard it before, as it’s such a beautiful story that many have shared it and it has made the rounds. In fact, I just found it again recently, when I read The Isaiah Effect, as Gregg Braden mentions it in the back of the book:

A Lesson

And they call some of these people "retarded..."

A few years ago, at the Seattle Special Olympics, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, assembled at the starting line for the 100-yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, not exactly in a dash, but with relish to run the race to the finish and win. All, that is, except one little boy who stumbled on the asphalt, tumbled over a couple of times, and began to cry.

The other eight children heard the boy cry. They slowed down and looked back. Then they all turned around and went back...every one of them.

One girl with Down’s Syndrome bent down and kissed him and said, "This will make it better." Then all nine children linked arms and walked together to the finish line. People who were there are still telling this story. Why? Because deep down we know this one thing: What matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What matters in this life is helping others win, even if it means slowing down and changing our course.

And the e-mail ended with this great saying: "A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle."

This is from an e-mail Lauren Tratar received and published in her book, Life: A Complete Operating Manual:

The Story of Shaya and an Everlasting Gift of Kindness

In Brooklyn, New York, Chush is a school that caters to learning-disabled children. Some remain in Chush for their entire school careers, which others can be mainstreamed into conventional Jewish schools. At a Chush fundraising dinner, the father of a Chush child delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he cried out, "Where is the perfection in my son Shaya? Everything God does is with perfection. But my child cannot understand things as other children do. My child cannot remember the facts and figures as other children do. Where is God’s perfection?" The audience was shocked by the question, pained by the father’s anguish and stilled by the piercing query. "I believe," the father answered, "that when God brings a child like this into the world, the perfection that He seeks is in the way that people react to this child." He then told the following story about Shaya.

One afternoon Shaya and his father walked past a park where some boys that Shaya knew were playing baseball. Shaya asked, "Do you think they will let me play?" Shaya’s father knew that he was not at all athletic and that most boys would not want him on their team. But Shaya’s father understood that if his son were chosen to play it would give him a comfortable sense of belonging. So Shaya’s father approached one of the boys in the field and asked if Shaya could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said "We are losing by six runs and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and we’ll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning." Shaya’s father was ecstatic as Shaya smiled broadly. Shaya was told to put on a glove and go out to play center field. In the bottom of the eighth inning, Shaya’s team scored a few runs but was still behind by three. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shaya’s team scored again and now with two outs and the bases loaded with the potential winning run on base, Shaya was scheduled to bat. Would the team actually let Shaya bat at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shaya was given the bat. Everyone knew that it was all but impossible because Shaya didn’t even know how to hold the bat properly, let alone hit with it. However, as Shaya stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few steps to lob the ball in softly so that Shaya could at least make contact with it. The first pitch came in and Shaya swung clumsily and missed. One of Shaya’s teammates came up to Shaya and together they held the bat and faced the pitcher waiting for the next pitch. The pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly toward Shaya. As the pitch came in, Shaya and his teammate swung the bat and together they hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher.

The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shaya would have been out and that would have ended the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond the reach of the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, "Shaya, run to first. Run to first!" Never in his life had Shaya run to first. He scampered down the baseline wide-eyed and startled. By the time he reached first base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman who would tag out Shaya, who was still running. But, the right fielder understood what the pitcher’s intentions were, so he threw the ball high and far over the third baseman’s head. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second." Shaya ran towards second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases toward home. As Shaya reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him, turning him in the direction of third base and shouted, "Run to third." As Shaya rounded third, the boys from both teams ran behind him screaming, "Shaya run home!" Shaya ran home, stepped on home plate and all 18 boys lifted him onto their shoulders and made him the hero, as if he had just hit a "grand slam" and won the game for his team. "That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his face," those 18 boys reached their level of God’s perfection."

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