Optimal Friction™

Earlier today I had the privilege of having a sushi lunch with two of the POPTech speakers, Kevin Kelly and Robert Freling. Both of these fellows delivered an amazing session that you can read more about in a previous blog posting, and it was a pleasure talking about everyday life stuff like photography and family, as well as some of the heady and thoughtful subjects that they spoke so elegantly about.

Speaking of networking, I have to introduce Bob to two of the most remarkable people that I know, Sally Goodrich and her husband Don, who live in Bennington Vermont, near my hometown in western Massachusetts. Sally and Don lost a son, Peter, who was on UAL Flight 175 which was hijacked into the WTC South Tower on 9/11.

This is an incredibly powerful story, as Sally and Don, in response to Peter’s death, took whatever compensation they received and decided to build a school for girls in Afghanistan. The school recently opened on the 5th anniversary of 9/11. More information can be found about their mission here on the Peter M. Goodrich foundation.

To make a long networking story short, last year I arranged for Sally to meet with Sanjit Bunker Roy, who was an inspiration in helping Sally with ideas to solve the energy and water needs of the school with using technologies like solar electrification. When Robert Freling and I talked about that initiative, he also wanted to know more about Sally and this remarkable project that she and Don had come to fulfill. (Sally and Don, if you're reading this, Robert would love to know more about you and somehow connect on the subject of solar power for the school.)

At present, there is also a documentary film in the works by my friend Rick Derby, an HBO award-winning documentary film maker (google the title "Rocks With Wings" or "Rick Derby"), who is putting his heart and soul into this project. More of this is unfolding day-by-day. I find it humbling and exciting that life manages to find a way for the people I described to come together, with seemingly orthogonal connections even making their way through avenues like folks I've met at POPTech.

(Additional note: There is an exciting notion to incorporate the music of Haale, who weaves Sufi inspired melodies with poetry by Rumi, a 13th century Afghan mystic, to be part of the Goodrich documentary. Go to Haale's website and find out if she's going to be performing near you - www.haale.com.)