(This story is still in the works and I will update it as soon as it is over)

As some of you may know I work for a shipping company and we broker shipments between customers and carriers throughout the world.  Three weeks ago a new customer called to ship out a package with a well known carrier.  He informed me that it was important that the package ship as soon as possible.  So I told the customer I would go ahead and prepare a waybill for them and get it over to them the following day.  The next morning I walked into the office around 9:00 AM and I learned that the customer had called and left messages for me 4 times.  I quickly processed the label and emailed it to him at which time he called and thanked me for the label.

In our conversation he began to explain the importance of shipping the package.  Apparently he refurbishes antiques and had received an old wooden box from a church in Hawaii.  When the box had originally shipped to him the priest at the church informed him that if anything were to go wrong and if he wouldn't be able to repair the box to please let him know.  That is all the priest told him besides the fact that the box belonged to a priest that lived on the island of Moloka'i in Hawaii and worked at a leper colony in the 18th century.  To learn more about Father Damien please visit the wikipedia entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Father_Damien. 

Interesting enough, I had some knowledge of the history of Father Damien through my mother and I began to ask my customer more questions.  Once my customer heard that I knew about the history, he immediatly began to inform me of what was going on.  Apparently over the course of the week that my customer had had the box in his possession, there had been many strange things transpiring.  He told me that the box rated heat like a furness.  He said that a little girl had been appearing in the work shop with burns, asking for water.  The box itself would not allow itself to be fixed.  If they rubbed out a scratch the scratch would come back.  So on and so forth.  So of course he needed to get this box back to Hawaii as soon as possible as he and his employees were terrified. 

He informed that the church was having similar reports of activity in the location where the box usually was kept.  So we shipped the box and the box was immediately lost.  Still is...somewhere.

The interesting part of the story is that my mother has had a strange tie to Father Damien...if you want to know more about that I will be happy to tell you as it really ties the story together but I don't feel comfortable telling that part of the story here.

Matt and I have been in development of Good Social Network for some time now.  The flow and layouts have changed over time but the core concepts have always remained the same.  It's simple.  Create a community for people to have a great time doing all the normal activities that you do while giving back at the same time.  In our mind it is not a difficult thing to make a difference in the world.  One simple gester can change a life, change the environment or change whatever you want.  Why not have fun doing it at the same time?

The structure of the site is one of entertainment, friendship and knowledge.  What some don't realize is that everything you do on the site will impact someone somewhere.  We are finishing up with the core elements of the system and one key element is still missing... with a little hard work it will be up and running very shortly.  In the meantime we hope that our users (the strong united ones that we currently have) will work together and begin our mission.  We haven't begun to push the system to more users as it is still in development but soon enough we will.  We wanted to give the system the opportunity to be used by you to see how it responds.  We appreciate everyone who is here helping goodsocialnetwork get off the ground.

Play with the site, create some great events and groups that help promote good living and most importantly THINK OUTSIDE OF THE BOX.  There really are no limitations to what we can do with this system.  Some of you knew us before we were goodsocialnetwork.  We were launchzilla and zelixy as well.  Back in those days we didn't have the tools necessary to push a big movement yet still were able to accomplish wonderful things.  It was all because of the help of you the users.  Don't think of this website as just another social network, think of it as your tool to accomplish all the great ideas you have.  No idea is too small or too large.  Together we can make them happen.

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I have decided to start something.  Something small that can only get bigger.  For the longest time I have been observing the world that we live in only to discover many sad realities.  So many people are lonely, depressed, and feel generally out of place.  I don't remember it always feeling this way.

We live in a time when technology is speeding life up.  When greed is turning everyone upside down.  When the world is seeing the largest population it has ever known.  Yet even though there are so many people and there are so many wonderful ways to connect through technology, it seems even more disconnected.  I have been looking for a way to participate in bringing people closer, toward a more unified goal. 

I have heard that a picture is worth a thousand words and also that a smile is worth a thousand words.  Yesterday I posted my first mission here on goodsocialnetwork.  Everyday I am going to try to accomplish a goal that I created the previous day.  Yesterday I wanted to start small so I decided that I would smile at one random person on the street today.

Today I did just that.  Sometimes I get so caught up in doing whaterver it is that I am doing that I focus inward rather than outward.  I may forget the little things that make a difference and so today I decided I would smile.  I was exiting my home this morning and noticed someone walking up the street.  I timed it right so I would cross their path and give them that smile.  I didn't realize how awkward I would feel by planning out a smile...as though they knew it was all a plan.

Even though I felt strange, by the time it actually happened that feeling of awkwardness had subsided.  I smiled as they walked toward me.  At first they looked down as though attempting to avoid my eye contact but I wouldn't let them.  As soon as they realized I was smiling they looked up.  Their uneasy eyes suddenling filled with a general mood of happiness.  They lit up too.  Not only did they smile back, but they actually struck out with a "how's it going".  I recipricated and so on and so forth.

This isn't the first time I have smiled at someone walking passed but it was the first time that I planned it.  I found a brief moment of calm with the correspondence.  And then...went along with my day. 

I have traveled in various countries and have never found that uncomfortable feeling of smiling and saying hello to someone as I walk by.  It is expected.  People take the time to acknowlege and respect one another.  I mean why not?  I think it is sad that sometimes people are afraid or uncomfortable to have this very simple interaction.  My goal is to do this everyday.  Maybe it will catch on...maybe the next person they pass will smile at that person.  Hopefully there is a chain reaction.

So mission one accomplished-smile at a random person walking down the street.  I will add this to my list of things to do on a daily basis.

Start small dream big.

Good Social Network!  Welcome:

It has been a hard battle but here we are.  We are finally making the headway we have so desperately needed.  The passion, drive, and determination have never waivered over the past 4 years.  Obstacles seem to jump out...small and large...and yet we continue to adjust to them.  Goodsocialnetwork is more than a social networking website.  It is a vision of what we hope our world can be.  Work together and we can overcome all obstacles together.

I look forward to the ongoing journey...