Are you acting in compassion on behalf of the poor? Imagine if the roles were reversed? What is so ridiculous about what you see in this video? What could this teach us about authentic acts of compassion?
Hat tip to Aid Thoughts via Chris Blattman (via IPA).
I’ve been living abroad for years, and now I naturally simplify my spoken English to accomodate whoever may be listening. I filter out complex grammatical structures and choose simple words. Sometimes when I want to say something too complicated to express in simplified language, I stop as if lacking the language. Or I switch to Japanese. The same thing happens in writing if I know the audience are not native English speakers. The difference is more pronounced in Cambodia. The language of Cambodia, Khmer, doesn’t have verb tenses. When speaking to shopkeepers and tuk-tuk drivers, they understand better if I keep all verbs in the present tense. This naturally spills out in more and more conversations in Cambodia.
On my last trip, I discovered it took a conscious effort to speak like a native English speaker. Rather, simplified English is becoming my default.
Now I have a word for what I do: globish (global English). Do you speak it?
Globish is a “decaffeinated English” that is increasingly becoming a widely used international language. (h/t Kottke)
My blog has a new look. If you’re using Google Reader, you’ll have to come here to see it. Be one of the first to see the short movie I’ve posted on the front page.
Are you a victim of the lizard?
Recently, I added Seth Grodin to my Google Reader feed. He has an amazing ability to churn out useful insights almost every day. Today he writes about the inner resistance that holds people back:
The resistance is the voice in the back of our head telling us to back off, be careful, go slow, compromise. The resistance is writer’s block and putting jitters and every project that ever shipped late because people couldn’t stay on the same page long enough to get something out the door.
The resistance grows in strength as we get closer to shipping, as we get closer to an insight, as we get closer to the truth of what we really want. That’s because the lizard hates change and achievement and risk.
I’ve been wanting to start exercising for months, and I want to write for publication. But the lizard is strong in me.
If you can set aside 20 minutes and watch this movie, I think you’ll be grateful you did. It’s better than lots of films I’ve paid to see in the past. You can learn more about the project and see it in HD if you click here.
I’ve been following the story in Haiti on other blogs. I wanted to pass along this video. It’s an amazing story of a woman rescued after being buried in the rubble for six days. It’s also a story of a husband’s hope.