I remember playing the phone game when I was a child, and I loved it. I know the purpose of it was to see how the story was altered by the end, and that each person along the way had their interpretation of what they heard and passed it along. I always got the game and the idea and it was always a good laugh to see what had transpired along the way, but what I liked most about the game was the connectedness of it all. Even though some may have seen that as a series of tiny mistakes along the way down the phone line I always saw it for what it really was, as a group of people connecting and having fun with each other. We were part of a collective action and we could see the impact each of us had within the group.
I strongly believe that we are all connected in some way. I believe in a collective consciousness that is manifested by large groups thinking similar thoughts.
I also believe that while it is easy to spot and focus on our differences it’s just as easy to try and find what we have in common, to find out what our shared beliefs and thoughts might be. I also know that everyone has a different perspective and the collective gathering of all these perspectives can lead to a much richer environment and experience
Quite often ideas and beliefs can start in a very simple way, often with one person or a small group of people. I would like to share a beautiful idea that was started by our friends Avnish, Bij and Sørin Mehta. They are certain in their belief that the Calgary Public Library is an integral component of a better society. This is a family that believes in the ethos of better and better. And often better and better happens when you do it together.
To that point they have recently honoured our family by giving us a task. They knew we had an eclectic network and have asked us to reach out to our friends and neighbours to build a list of 101 books to be housed in the Calgary Public Library system.
We asked our friends to suggest a book that in some way had relevance to their connection to the Button Family. The outcome has been a spectacular compilation of meaningful books that I will now start to take out of the library one at a time. If you ever want to go for a walk and a visit to the central library let me know. my goal is to read each book, my stretch goal is to read all of them by next April.
In the meantime here is the list of books that have been recommended for Chapter One: Buttons. Hope you enjoy them.
Please thank the Mehta’s for their ongoing support of the Calgary Public Library, not only did they start off this chapter with 101 books but they also donated $101,000 - the first portion of their lifelong goal of donating $1,000,000!!