“Practice random acts of kindness” is a catchy little phrase. It is also nonsense. There should be nothing random about the decision to be kind. There is no single action more powerful and “The Seeds We Sow” offers proof of the cross-generational power of kindness. The book tells the story of the intertwined lives of George Washington Carver, Vice President Henry Agard Wallace, and Nobel Laureate Norman E. Borlaug. It tells how their kindness and passion to feed the world was passed on and enhanced across generations. In his quest to help feed the world, George Washington Carver was probably the most influential not because he was the “peanut man,” but rather because he was a “gentle man.” His protégé Henry Agard Wallace grew up to be the Secretary of Agriculture and Vice President of the United States. He was likely one of the most under-appreciated and misunderstood leaders of the twentieth century. In turn, Wallace passed the baton to Norman Borlaug, who worked in quiet obscurity for most of his life. M.S. Swaminathan of India summed up his friend's life, “Norman Borlaug is the living embodiment of the human quest for a hunger free world. His life is his message.” Because Carver, Wallace and Borlaug lived, so do we. After a 30 year career in Vocational Rehabilitation and Special Education, GARY BEENE retired as the state director of the New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation in September 2008. He and his wife, Carla, enjoy life at their home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Gary states that for him kindness did not always come naturally. He says, “I was one of those poor saps who had to do a lot of personal work before understanding that only the merest quarter-turn of the heart separates us from life's abundance.”
