Thursday, April 8, 2010

Frustrated but Celebratory

My teeth are gritted, but, my attempted attitude is one of celebration. Last year Mark and I submitted two grants to the Science of Generosity at Notre Dame, but, were turned down twice. One of the focal points of the study was an inquiry into the Parable of the Yeast. The 1 part yeast can make all the difference for the 3 parts of flour! This is the message from Jesus and we wanted to see if this could be recreated in the laboratory.

OK, last week I asked Mark, "Do you know who was funded for the Science of Generosity? I thought our proposal was very solid, but, if somebody came up with something better than us I would really look forward to seeing what comes out of it." Mark didn't know what had been funded, but, this morning there was a press release by the Science of Generosity. Now we all know. One of the winners? Someone studying what they call "Cascades of Generosity". This is extremely similar to our Parable of the Yeast experiments we had proposed.

I'm trying to be celebratory and not bitter about the fact that it was not our research that found this very interesting result that generosity and selfishness are contagious. Really it is my pride that wanted me to be their first! But, this is a terrific find and perhaps it will lend more credence to the notion that we can be salt and light to the world. If we aren't ---well, that spreads too. What are we waiting for?

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