My Favorite Christmas Shopping

Some years Christmas just sneaks up on me, and given the fact that my life has been extremely busy and slightly off-kilter over the past month, this is one of those years.  However, I am finally finding the time today to do what is always my favorite Christmas shopping: shopping for those in need around the globe.

I don't love the idea of normal Christmas shopping.  In fact, I really don't understand it at all.  We go out and buy presents for people who already have plenty when there are millions hurting around the world.  During this season of "giving" we tend to focus inwardly (our own close circles) instead of the real idea of giving and blessing.  So every Christmas, I do a little bit of my own shopping (in addition to having a couple of these items on my actual "Christmas List" for family.  I head to the sites of the organizations I know and love and purchase gifts for people in need.  Here are some of my favorite opportunities to bless others this Christmas:

1. Give the gift of cement

Huh?  Did he really say cement?  Yup.  It is actually one of the most important parts of sanitation and restoration projects in Africa, and also one of the most expensive.  Blood:water Mission is out to get 5,000 bags of cement for this Christmas to help build latrines, wells, biosand filters, and rain tanks.  Check it out.

2. Give Fashion(able)

The Mocha Club is an organization I've partnered with for a long time.  They do great work in Africa, and I fully recommend them to anyone looking to get involved.  Thanks to their clothing branch, FashionABLE, you can give to the fashion conscious on your lists with a gift that will do far more than keep their neck warm by helping to create sustainable businesses for women in Africa.

3. Red Earth Trading Co.

This is the gift/clothing division of Global Support Mission, based right in Nashville, TN.  I know the guys running this personally and can vouch for what they are doing.  You can find gifts of home decor and jewelry that come straight from artisans in Africa, helping them build businesses that can support entire communities.  You can even watch the videos to meet the specific people creating the work and learn their individual stories.

4. Give the gift of loans

Kiva.org is a great site, helping to partner with hundreds of thousands across the world to build businesses through micro loans.  Even a loan as small as $25 can make a world of difference in helping to get a business off the ground.  Not only that, but they have a 98.6% repayment rate, meaning they successful far more often than not.  Give someone the gift of freedom through a loan this year.

There are plenty of other options, but I'll stick with those for now.  If you want any other suggestions, just let me know and I'll be glad to point you in the right direction!

A Sad Loss

Tonight I arrived back at my house to find that Steve Jobs passed away. I’m not normally one to take much pause for the deaths of celebrities, but Jobs is different. Without specifically ever acknowledging it, Steve Jobs has had a remarkable impact on my life. Many of my favorite movies, computers, programs, and devices are directly linked to him. His company has influenced the entire world of design and branding. His business model is revered world-wide. His products literally stop the world in it’s tracks when they are announced. I can’t imagine being a part of, or responsible for, something so dynamic and compelling. He literally changed the way we live.

It is hard to imagine Apple and Pixar moving on without him. He was not a distant leader and CEO, he was the public face and embodyment of the Apple brand. He was as intertwined into the success of Apple as the iPod. Steve Jobs is a household name, and not for infamy, like other computing giants (Mark Zuckerburg, Bill Gates, etc.), but because he is almost universally loved.  He will go down as one of the most influential and compelling men in history. He changed the course of the entire world. 

So how can we learn from Jobs? I recommend starting with listening to Jobs’ Commencement speech to Stanford grads in 2005. After that, I will certainly be buying his biography, which is ironically scheduled to be released next month, but until then, it’s time to look at some quotes of his that give some insight into his philosophy and may help us understand just why he was who he was.

“Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

-- Steve Jobs, at a Stanford University commencement ceremony in 2005.

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains of the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.”

"The reason that Apple is able to create products like iPad is because we always try to be at theintersection of technology and liberal arts, to be able to get the best of both."

It is shocking to see and read the literal world-wide impact his death is having. Tweets and stories are pouring in from all over the world and absolutely dominating the online content. His life has truly affected us all. He is being labeled our generation’s DaVinci, Edison, Disney, and more. Here is what people are saying about Steve Jobs through twitter and online:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/reaction-steve-jobs-death/story?id=14678187&page=2

http://www.businessinsider.com/luminaries-respond-to-steve-jobs-death-2011-10#ixzz1ZxeLi1lT

Jobs’ influence live on for generations to come through the products he created. Perhaps the most telling aspect of Jobs’ impact is that most of the conversation currently happening around the world is somehow happening through a device that he created.