I work from home and usually have the radio on all day, sometimes just as background noise or to catch the occasional news story.This week, I walked into the kitchen to make lunch, and I heard an incredible talk given by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Nicholas Kristof at the Westminster Town Hall Forum.I stood silent at the kitchen counter for a full hour, my lunch uneaten, unable to tear myself away from the pull of the stories he was telling.Kristof has been writing for years about human rights abuses in Asia and Africa, particularly human trafficking and the genocide in Darfur.He has been the international voice of many women abroad who have faced unspeakable horrors and who have dared to tell their stories anyway.With his wife, also an accomplished journalist, Kristof wrote Half the Sky. Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide.During his presentation, he spoke candidly of the urgent need to establish gender equity.Research has shown the the best way by far to fight poverty and extremism globally is to educate women and girls.The ripple effect of educating girls literally changes everything.It elevates the social and economic situations of individuals, families and neighborhoods.Entire villages have been lifted out of poverty in one generation when its girls have had a chance to go to school (there are several reasons for this, which Kristof goes into in his talk).Another thing really struck me about Kristof's speech.He pointed out that social psychology has shown that humans have very different base levels of happiness.Some tend to be more happy, some tend to be less, and all the things that we think will make us happier usually don't.And here's the paradox, as outlined by neuroscientist and author Jonah Lehrer..Although per-capita wealth has more than doubled in many industrialized nations over the last fifty years, levels of happiness have flat-lined.Even more dispiriting is the fact that, as countries become more prosperous, depression becomes significantly more common.To that paradox, Kristof offered this reminder to his listeners. there is one thing that has been found to universally elevate our base level of happiness, and that is "engagement with some cause larger than ourselves.".It is a difficult and cynical time we live in.People everywhere will tell you that there's nothing you can do, that we are removed from these stories and that they have no real effect on our daily lives.But our engagement -- whatever the cause -- shows something vastly different. that these stories matter a great deal, that we can be transformed by them, and that they have something to say to us, now, about who we are and who we will be.To listen to the entire audio presentation by Kristof, go to. http.//minnesota.Publicradio.Org/display/web/2009/10/13/midday2/.
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