Besides His Holiness the Dalai Lama, my father was and is the most spontaneously generous, responsible, and committed person I've known. I didn't quite understand what that meant when I was a kid, and I certainly didn't understand the special quality of spontaneity that my father embodied. I found it a bit confusing that he would respond to anyone who would call the house with a problem. He was gone a lot doing that. I probably was a bit jealous that he was off helping almost anyone who would call. Later in life I've come to value and understand it more.

...I am continually amazed that the simplest thought, the simplest action has waves that, when motivated properly, resonate with joy and creativity throughout the universe. I see this when I get a card or a letter or meet someone on the street who was deeply moved by something that I had been involved in. We have a photograph here by Nicky Vreeland of a monk from Rato Monastery. I knew we were helping a lot of people by starting a health insurance plan in the Tibetan refugee community, but for some reason I never personalized it. Then Nicky gave me this photograph of this young monk who had not been able to walk properly his whole life. He was able to have an operation through the insurance plan that we put together and he's walking now and able to sit properly in meditation without pain, and now we have this photograph of this wonderfully happy, joyous, young monk. I didn't do it specifically for him, but these are the waves that go out. As soon as any well-motivated thought or action begins, those waves do have a positive effect on the world.

-Richard Gere, Actor, Humanitarian and Activist