Sustainability Studio

Last Saturday, my partner, David, and I were on routine: latte, morning yoga class, smoothie, afternoon movie, then grocery shopping. The day was filled, as usual. When we finally got home in the evening, David checked his email on his iPhone. Someone sent him an email to let him know that he had David's laptop which he found on the UAL plane that David was on the night before. David had no clue that he left his laptop on the plane - so when he read the email, it was a huge surprise. David responded to the email - profusely thankful - and gave the gentleman, a UAL employee, his phone number, so that they could connect via phone. Within minutes, the gentleman phoned back and asked if David could come to the Washington Dulles airport to pick his laptop up. We were out the door. Both of us decided that a good reward would be $150 or so. On the drive, David was perplexed with feelings of losing something and being lucky. I said, "Well, there are good people in the world. I think this gentleman is a good man. It is not luck. He is a good man doing a good thing for another human being." We got to Dulles and David went in as I waited in the car. David told me what happened. The gentleman, with another colleague, came up to him with the laptop in a plastic bag. He handed it over and they shared a few words. The gentleman would not accept a reward, he simply said, "If I lost something, I'd want someone to do the same for me." He was serious about not accepting a reward and said kindly, "Just don't do it again." When we got home, David sent the gentleman another email, to ask again - if he would accept the reward or if there was anything that David can do for him - and within the hour, David received a response, "No. I just hope that if it ever happened to me that someone would do the same for me." I believe this is the heart speaking from a good man. His love shows clearly.

As he patted his heart, my 14-year-old son said to me the other day, "Mom, I live for love, knowledge and my music." The depth of this teen is profound and so is his love.

Although our actions often represent what and how we love, it is often not seen or even recognizable, as it is an internal personal quality and not always expressed openly - or it is expressed silently within. Think of a sometimes father-son relationship in which saying the words "I love you" is not commonplace. The love is there but not openly stated and not openly displayed in let's say a father-son embrace, for instance. So, in some ways, love cannot be seen or recognizable. The son may not even feel loved, but the love from the father exists.

It's the same with love of the planet - the things we practice - such as recycling, buying green, saving energy, etc - are not so visible but practiced from an inner desire. It is just something we do and feel is absolutely important and necessary.

Love of your fellow human being is also the same - not seen - like the man in Jill's story who did not want to be recognized.

Like the song says, "love is everywhere."

The words previous to this is in the form of a question" "people can you feel it"?