Acts of Kindness, Reality & Perception

[Blade]

bumppetty bump bump

[Tommi]

Gay intern credited with saving Giffords’ life

Daniel Hernandez Jr., a 20-year-old University of Arizona student who’d been working as an intern for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords for only five days, is being credited with saving her life after she was shot on Saturday.

Hernandez, who confirmed that he is gay in an interview with Instant Tea on Sunday morning, is a member of the City of Tucson Commission on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Issues. “She’s been a great ally to the LGBT community,” Hernandez said of Giffords during the brief interview across a bad connection.

According to the Arizona Republic, Hernandez was standing about 30 feet from Giffords during the “Congress on Your Corner” event outside a Safeway store near Tucson. When the gunshots began, Hernandez ran toward them and began checking the pulses of people who’d been hit. When Hernandez got to Giffords, he used his hand to apply pressure to the entry wound on her forehead. He pulled her into his lap and held her upright so she wouldn’t choke on her blood.

Daniel Hernandez is shown with Giffords in this image from his Facebook page.

Hernandez used his hand to apply pressure to the wound until someone brought clean smocks from the meat department of the grocery store. He stayed with Giffords until paramedics arrived, then climbed into an ambulance with her. On the way to the hospital, he squeezed her hand and she squeezed back. From the Republic:

When they arrived at the hospital, Hernandez was soaked in blood. His family brought him clean clothes because the FBI took his for evidence.

He waited at the hospital while she went into surgery. He needed to tell police what had happened. He overheard people walking by talking about how Giffords had died. He also heard this on NPR. Later, he learned she had lived.

“I was ecstatic,” he said. “She was one of the people I’ve looked up to. Knowing she was alive and still fighting was good news. She’s definitely a fighter, whether for her own life, or standing up for people in southern Arizona.”

The fact that Hernandez was nearby and able to react quickly probably saved Giffords’ life, said state Rep. Matt Heinz, D-Tucson, and a hospital physician. He talked to Hernandez at the hospital after the shooting.

Eight hours after the shooting, Hernandez stood with Giffords’ friends and staff and told them what had happened. The tall, strong 20-year-old said, “Of course you’re afraid, you just kind of have to do what you can.”

They hugged and thanked him. Later, he sat with his mom and sisters and told them about his friends and the staffers who had died that day.

“You just have to be calm and collected,” he said. “You do no good to anyone if you have a breakdown. … It was probably not the best idea to run toward the gunshots, but people needed help.”


http://www.dallasvoice.com/meet-gay-...e-1060085.html

[Andrew, Jr.]

Coming from a pov of someone with neurological disorders, most people and society do not understand my perceptions. Not everyone is kind, nice, or understanding. I am bad in that I am always honest. My reality is mine. It isn't anyone else's. I hope this makes sense.

this is not dramatic nor deep but it is the nicest thing anyone has said to me in a long time. i was talking with a friend today, actually the mother of one of my very good friends but we have become friends over the course of the fact that my friend and i share RSD. we were talking abot my moving and she was asking about the emotional and phusical impact it would have on me immediately. anyway, before we hung up, she asked me to call her when i arrived in OK so that she would know i arrived there safely. i thanked her and as i did so realized that of all the people who knew i was leaving and even when i was leaving, she was the only person who asked me to do that. for some reason, her concern has touched me deeply. she cares enough to worry about my safe passage.
this has made reflect upon kindness in general. of course, Roshis are supposed to practice kindness in everything, but that one remark really brought that home. we never know what small act, what one kind word even, might have a huge impact upon another person. what might not seem like very much to me might be like the pebble dropped into water that sends ripples into another person's life. it might even be like a volcanic action that sends a tsunami feeling of being cared about. so from now on i'm going to make more small acts, more small remarks of caring and concern, because i never will know what one seemingly insignificant small act or word of kindness will do.
just a note on developing the general attitude of karuna, the Buddhist word for loving-kindness.Sharon Salzberg has a wonderful small book called A Cup of Kindness. In it are contained instances of just such small things that can make such a huge impact on another person. it also contains meditations one can do to help develop karuna. she also has a Cd that accompanies the book that contains meditations, just small ones, to help one develop a general everyday attitude of loving-kindness. you do not have to Buddhist to appreciate, understand, and use the exercises in the book or the meditations on the Cd. i highly recommend either, both if you can get them.
remember that one small act, that one kind word....

[Glenn]

I have been reading OSHO, who claims the ego is our false center we cling to, that creates confusion in what we think of others since what we think of ourselves has been dictated to us since birth.

Ego-The False Center
From Beyond The Frontier Of The Mind
http://deoxy.org/egofalse.htm

[Sachita]

Certainly there are many theories, concepts and definitions about our human nature. OMG I spent a great deal of my 20's reading, praying, meditating and trying to grasp some kind of meaning. All of it made sense to me and it was hard to pick one so I didn't. But it all boiled down to metaphysics for me. Vibration, perception, projection (faith) and the all powerful concept of love. Sometimes I wonder if God really isnt love or the other way around - Love is God. That which we all crave, desire and seem to spend a lifetime trying to capture and express. That which threads and weaves into every area of life.

more later

[Sweet Bliss]

Thank you so much for posting links and stories for us

Will be back later to maybe share a bit.