The last American slave ship docked illegally in Mobile, Alabama in 1860, carrying about 160 West African captives. Among them was Cudjo Lewis, who recognized how his birth culture might be erased while toiling in this new land.
So when he was freed, he purchased two acres and started a self-sufficient community of survivors of the last slave ship. Known to outsiders as Africatown, Lewis' neighborhood was modeled on his West African home, where extended families lived together, members conversed in their regional languages, and partook in traditions that might otherwise be lost to them in America.
Today, Africatown still exists and houses the descendants of the nation's last slave ship community.
In London, there's a woman who goes every day on the subway and sits on the dock just to listen to the announcement recorded by her husband in 1950.
Margaret McCollum after the death of her Oswald Laurence, sits on the bench waiting to hear this recording that became one of London's most famous "Mind the gap" (attention the space between the train and the dock).
In 2003, Oswald died leaving a huge void in Margaret's heart. So Margaret found a way to feel his presence closest.
But from the day after more than half a century, this voice was replaced by an empty electronic recording. Out of distress Margaret asked this cassette tape to the London subway transport company to continue listening to her husband's voice at home.
But, knowing the moving history, the company decided to restore the announcement in the only stop near the house where the woman lives, specifically at the Embankment stop of Northern Line, where all passengers can listen today Oswald Laurence's voice and to think that eternal love really exists.
Wonderful gesture by the authorities.
In honor of Keanu Reeves' birthday today:
This is Matrix movie star Keanu Reeves. He was abandoned by his father at the age of 3 and grew up with 3 different stepfathers. He is dyslexic. His dream of becoming a hockey player was shattered by a serious accident. His daughter passed away at birth. His wife passed away in a car accident. His best friend, River Phoenix, passed away of an overdose. His sister battled leukemia.
No bodyguards, no luxury houses. Keanu lives in an ordinary apartment and likes wandering around town and is often seen riding a subway in NYC.
When he was filming the movie "The Lake House," he overheard the conversation of two costume assistants, one crying as he would lose his house if he did not pay $20,000 - On the same day, Keanu deposited the necessary amount in his bank account.
In his career, he has donated large sums to hospitals, including $75 million of his earnings from “The Matrix” to charities.
In 2010, on his birthday, Sept 2nd, Keanu walked into a bakery & bought a brioche with a single candle, ate it in front of the bakery, and offered coffee to people who stopped to talk to him.
In 1997, some paparazzi found him walking one morning in the company of a homeless man in Los Angeles, listening to him and sharing his life for a few hours.
In life, sometimes the ones most broken from inside are the ones most willing to help others.
This man could buy everything, and instead, every day he gets up and chooses one thing that can not be bought:
To be a caring person.
Simple Acts of Kindness
Share this — who knows, maybe Keanu will see it for his birthday!
In 1971, 17-year-old Juliane Koepcke was flying over the Peruvian rainforest with her mother when she got sucked out of the airplane after it was struck by a bolt of lightning. She fell two miles to the ground, strapped to her seat.
"The plane jumped down and went into a nose-dive. It was pitch black, and people were screaming. Then the deep roaring of the engines filled my head completely. Suddenly, the noise stopped, and I was outside the plane. I was in a freefall, strapped to my seat bench and hanging head-over-heels. The whispering of the wind was the only noise I could hear. I could see the canopy of the jungle spinning towards me. Then I lost consciousness and remember nothing of the impact. Later I learned that the plane had broken into pieces about two miles above the ground. I woke the next day and looked up into the canopy. The first thought I had was: 'I survived an air crash.'"
Koepcke's first instincts were to try and find her mother, but she was nowhere to be found. After eating some sweets found at the crash site, Koepcke waded downstream and followed the river. After 10 days, she found a moored boat. She poured the gasoline from the boat's fuel tank onto her wounds, which were infested with maggots. She then spent the night in a makeshift shelter.
"I remained there, but I wanted to leave. I didn't want to take the boat because I didn't want to steal it."
The next day, she was discovered by loggers and was soon reunited with her father. She later discovered that her mother had initially survived the crash, only to die of her injuries several days later.
Like her parents, Koepcke went on to study biology at the University of Kiel in Germany, graduating in 1980. She received her doctorate from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and returned to Peru to conduct research in mammalogy, specializing in bats.
"Do not underestimate the hole your absence would leave. We are remarkable creatures, and we have something to offer to the world and to the people." @jordanbpeterson
"People often say life is meaningless. No it is not. That is wrong, because if it was meaningless and easy, you could just sit there and do nothing. If you do not have a lofty ambition, then you suffer miserably." @jordanbpeterson
God only knows what is inside you, within your capacity for consciousness and your capacity to confront the world's potential, to turn it into something good. That is us. It is our responsibility, and it really is who we are."@jordanbpeterson