They wrote the book on activism The Ottawa Citizen Page: C4 Section: Citizen Weekly Byline: Shelley Page Brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger have quietly sold tens of thousands of books to high-school students around the world, offering advice on community activism. Now with a new book, they are targeting soccer moms and sedentary seniors in the hopes of starting a revolution -- with a little help from Oprah and Jane Goodall and other famous friends. Even Queen Noor of Jordan has lent her name to the book's cover. But it is also the stories of the not so famous -- who have helped changed the world in small and large ways -- that moved them to write Me to We: Turning Self-Help on its Head. Within two weeks of its release last month, Me to We (Wiley. $19.99) swept to the top of the Amazon books non-fiction bestsellers list. But the Kielburgers say they won't measure their success in book sales alone -- although all proceeds to go back into programs operated by their charity Free the Children. Instead, they hope to inspire people to get up off the couch, or step out of their minivans, and become more involved in their communities. "We think that people have reached a point in their lives where they are asking, 'Is this it? Is this all there is?' We hope to inspire them to become more connected with their community, inspire them to take small and large steps to help people," says Craig, 21, and founder of Free the Children, which has built more than 400 primary schools in developing countries, sending more than 35,000 children to school. "Ten years ago we started our work overseas, and no matter what we did we realized we had to change attitudes in North America. We have trained 200,000 students overseas and as leaders and they still go back into communities filled with shopping malls and video games and apathetic people," he added. "So for the first time, we are trying to go outside our youth audience. "The book is filled with ideas, tips and "actions" he hopes will provide people with the tools to become more active. They have set up a website, www.metowe.org, to help people get started. Craig's older brother, Marc, 27, is an Oxford University-educated Rhodes Scholar who is executive director of Free the Children. The brothers are authors of Take Action: A Guide To Active Citizenship, published in 2002, which sold more than 40,000 copies to school boards and teen buyers. Take More Action, released earlier this year, has already sold 10,000 copies. The authors say the focus on self-help as the key to happiness has been misplaced. It's helping others that really makes people happy. In the United States, in 2000, the authors write that people spent $5.7 billion on the self-help industry. Amazon.com lists 54,000 self-help diet books, 67,000 marriage advice books, and more than 90,000 money advice books. "But when an estimated 65 per cent of American adults are overweight or obese, when the divorce rate has doubled since the 1960s, and when the percentage of Americans living in poverty jumped from 11.7 per cent in 2001 to 12.1 per cent in 2002 -- representing nearly 34.6 million people – it seems that the advice may not be working," they write. Meanwhile, studies have consistently shown that the people who are happiest are those who help others. An Ontario Ministry of Health report from 2003 found the physical benefits of volunteering included lowered blood pressure, strengthening of the immune system, and distraction from one's own aches and pains. A study by researchers at the University of Michigan, also published in 2003, followed 423 married adults for five years to see how giving versus receiving affected longevity. Those who helped others, by providing support to friends, relatives and neighbours, lived longer. The researchers showed that volunteering for less than one hour a week was enough to affect longevity. Receiving support did not lengthen a person's life. The Kielburgers say that by helping others, people will become happier. They are hoping to encourage a return to the values of service and community. The book is filled with the personal experiences of celebrities and friends of the Kielburgers who have made the shift from "Me to We." Primatologist Jane Goodall, Oprah Winfrey, actor Richard Gere, Archbishop Desmond Tutu are among the well-known contributors. It also tells the stories of lesser-known people. Ten years ago, Chris Delaney, of Burlington, Ont., was a star football player at Bowling Green State University in Ohio with dreams of playing in the Canadian Football League. He started missing catches and thought he needed glasses. He was diagnosed with a rare eye disease that could eventually leave him blind. He sunk into depression. One day, he was pedaling his stationary bike, remembering his old days on his motorbike. "He thought of all the long waiting lists for services for the blind, and wondered why no one raised money for the cause the way they did for cancer and AIDS." Soon, Delaney was pedaling across the country, with the help of a guide. He raised $250,000 and went on to launch a speaking tour and set up sports programs for disabled children. "This book shows what we have learned over the past 10 years in 40 countries, and we wanted to share it with others," Craig says. They have targeted women and recently-retired seniors because "they are also the backbone of the family and the ones that can inspire their children," says Marc. Source: The Ottawa Citizen
|