I have lived a charmed life...
 
My father was a political prisoner in then communist Russia, but who was eventually allowed to leave with his family, a miracle attributable largely to the inexplicable kindness of strangers.
 
Growing up poor east of Los Angeles, I rarely felt my poverty:  my 8 siblings were always present to solve the boredom issues that can often accompany a lack of material wealth.  Being the first in my family to graduate from a university, I was given my first job (drum roll, please):  my title was mailroom clerk. 

Many "right place, right time" moments later, I found myself as the Director of Human Resources in a Fortune 100 company, overseeing 13 offices in 8 different countries in Asia.  I had married a woman far better looking and more intelligent than me, and had become a father to two amazing children.
 
Then I got brain cancer.  Not the "everything will be all right" variety, either.  This was the "get-your-affairs-in-order" type, the kind where they tell you your prognosis, and then look away, and where the nurse silently cries as she leaves the room.
 
Bereft of choices, I began living one day at a time, finding joy in places and moments that had previously gone unnoticed.  I began seeing others who were hurting, others who had little hope, but sometimes were in that position because of larger, more endemic societal issues. Those people were always there; I just didn't realize how much I had in common with them before.  I also began noticing commonalities among faith doctrines, especially as it related to the directives around the poor, the hurting, and other discarded members of society, but also realized that most of the people following those same faiths (including myself) did not orient their lives around those directives.  Simply put, we talked about it, but did little to change it.
 
I wish I could say that my story had the fairy tale ending, but I can't.  Given the nature of my diagnosis, I still sometimes walk along the edge of hope and despair, but have begun to realize that there are others all around me on the same journey.  Whether because of medical, financial, mental, emotional or political reasons, there are people who are hurting.  All we have to do is stop what we're so busy doing for a few moments, and we'll begin to see them.
 
My hope and prayer is that this site becomes a tool for action, not just a medium for more conversations.  The world needs people to stand up for those who can't stand for themselves.
 
- Tim Bresenden