I heard a quote the other day from Horace Mann, a famous American educator from the early 1800s: “Be ashamed to die before you have won some victory for humanity.”
That seems to raise the game to a much higher level — beyond politics, beyond religion. This is something everyone could do, a good challenge for each of us to undertake.
A few examples are:
Irena Sendler (Poland): During WWII, she smuggled over 2,500 Jewish children out of the Warsaw Ghetto. She kept records in jars buried in her yard so the children could later be reunited with their identities.
James Harrison (Australia): Known as “The Man with the Golden Arm,” he donated blood nearly every week for over 60 years. His blood contained a rare antibody used to create a treatment that saved over 2 million babies from Rhesus disease.
Nicholas Winton (U.K.): In 1939, he organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from Czechoslovakia, arranging their safe passage to Britain.
Claudette Colvin (U.S.): At age 15, she refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama — months before Rosa Parks. Her case was part of the legal challenge that struck down bus segregation.
Wangari Maathai (Kenya): A biologist and environmentalist who founded the Green Belt Movement, planting over 50 million trees and empowering women through conservation. She became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
These are amazing contributions. The vast majority of us would never have the opportunity to make contributions like these.
The question is, what could we do to win a victory for humanity? It isn’t going to happen overnight. Contributing to humanity in small ways every day seems like a good quest for all of us.
Ken Hollen
Draper