I received a great letter from a reader yesterday. His name was Lopez and he told me to write about the wonders of soccer and not to forget about its healing powers. You see, Lopez was in Kigali after what he called 'a nasty civil war' and he noticed how much the women there loved to play soccer. I thought this was incredibly poignant for several reasons. First, for those of you who aren't up on geography and world history, Kigali is the capital of Rwanda, where in 1994 "the Hutu majority of Rwanda murdered an estimated 800,000 of their Tutsi countrymen--a rate of killing that was faster than the Nazis." For more information on how the US and UN stood by and did nothing, even refusing to call it genocide so they wouldn't have to get involved: Frontline: The Triumph of Evil
Secondly, team sports are not historically taught to women. Look at our present day array of sports that are available to women and compare them in popularity and economically to male sports. See the difference? The ability of a country of people that have been let down ( a gross understatement on my part) by their global teammates to reinforce the notion of unity through team sports, even on a backyard level, is profound. The fact that they were women playing shows you that women are the heart and soul of a culture, we are its purveyors, and if we can teach the lessons to our daughters that soccer inspires - unity, endurance, strength, and the desire to succeed- then there is hope for this world. Lastly, playing soccer is evidence that there is still a fire in the ashes. When you can stand among the bodies of your family and neighbors and reject it as your reality and take control of your own existence by infusing it with levity, with playfulness, with happiness, with positivity, with your own spirit, when you can refuse your oppressors; those girls are my heroes! To be able to fight against your own sorrow and fear is a strength I hope is present in my own spirit and in all of our souls! Thanks for the letter, Lopez!

Do you ever get to the point where you say, but what can I do to change this world and make it a better place? Well here is another inspiring person, Kiyoshi Amemiya.
Japanese businessman builds own machine to make world landmine-free
Kiyoshi saw the atrocities of Cambodia and what land-mines were doing to the women and children of that nation and he used what resources he had as the owner of a construction machinery distribution company to create an "anti-personnel landmine disposal machine" which basically means the machine can locate and destroy landmines. He has used them for Cambodia,Thailand, Vietnam, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan, and they are distributed through the United Nations. What makes it even more wonderful is he has decided to NOT sell to governments for military purposes, (can you imagine how they would sit on this technology or use it for their own purposes in a war?) simply because "I have no business with the military," he said. Mr. Amemiya, I thank you for your generosity and compassion. The people of all of these countries that suffer under the threat of landmines thank you and I applaud your decision to keep your invention on a humanitarian level and not sell to any military agencies. You have inspired me to search into my own life for ways in which I can make a difference and I know, as people read about you, they will reflect upon their own lives as well.

One person can make a difference!

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