Jordan Kassalow - Dare to Matter: Your Path to Making a Difference Now

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

This book would not have seen the light of day if it were not for Jen Krause. I thank her for her belief that my journey was worth sharing and for the patience and persistence that were necessary to bring this book to life. I am indebted to her for helping me uncover how my faith animated my work and led to my desire to leave the world a bit better because I was a part of its miraculous unfolding. This book came alive because of her wisdom and writing skills. I am particularly grateful to her for helping me help the reader find their unique path to make a difference.

Our lives are made up of a symphony of people. It is with them that we make the music of our days. I am most fortunate to be part of a large symphony. I will do my best to thank all the players, but alas I will fail. I apologize in advance for not including you because if you are looking for your name, you warrant a mention.

First, I must thank the entire team at Drs. Farkas, Kassalow, Resnick & Associates for affording me a home base that has anchored my personal and professional life. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to my father, Dr. Ted Kassalow, as well as Drs. Paul Farkas, Barry Farkas, Susan Resnick, and Kevin Rosin for graciously giving me the latitude to spend half of my professional life on endeavors beyond our practice walls.

To my colleagues and friends at VisionSpring: you have made my dreams come true. Your dedication to spreading the gift of sight across the world leaves me in awe of each of you. I want to give special thanks to Lily Dorment, our first employee, and Graham Macmillan, Neil Blumenthal, and Miriam Stone, who I consider our founding team. To Peter Eliassen, Nira Jethani, and Anshu Taneja for their years of concentrated dedication. To Kevin Hassey, for his years of leadership, and last, but certainly not least, to our dynamic and fearless leader Ella Gudwin.

Appreciation also goes to VisionSprings entire team, past and present, and to our Board of Directors for their strategic guidance and stellar governance under the capable and remarkable leadership of our board chair, Reade Fahs.

On behalf of VisionSpring, I also want to thank our major donor partners whose financial support and guidance have been a steady source of strength. These include Warby Parker, the Mulago Foundation, Sam Morgan and Jasmine Social Investments, Peery Foundation, The Skoll Foundation, USAID, the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, Alcon Foundation, Bohemian Foundation, and the David Weekley Family Foundation.

In addition, I would like to thank the many other organizations and individuals who have generously contributed to VisionSprings efforts over the years. This includes our key field partners, with a special mention to BRAC and its remarkable founder and vice chairperson Mushtaque Chowdhury, who have collectively helped us deliver vision services and eyeglasses to nearly six million individuals.

I also owe a deep debt of gratitude to my colleague and friend Liz Smith with whom I co-founded EYElliance. Her undaunted resolve and keen strategic mind made the whole effort possible. Special thanks to the founding members of EYElliances steering committee, Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, Chris Jurgens, Kovin Naidoo, Alex Sloan, and Andy Tembon. Many thanks, as well, to the generous donors who helped us bring EYElliance to life, including USAID, The Skoll Foundation, Alcon Foundation, Essilor, Draper Richards Kaplan Foundation, Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, the Crown Family, the McNulty Foundation, Jeff Walker, and Rachel Tiven.

I have been incredibly fortunate to be nurtured by a host of fellowships that focus on supporting, celebrating, and improving social entrepreneurs and their endeavors. These include the Draper Richards Kaplan Fellowship, The Skoll Foundation Fellowship, The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs, the Ashoka Fellowship, and the Henry Crown Fellowship at the Aspen Institute. I am deeply indebted to each of these extraordinary organizations, the people who fund and manage them, and especially to my friends and colleagues in each of these groups. They remain a source of strength and inspiration in my life.

Id like to express thanks to my teachers and colleagues from the WellBeing Project. You have given me the gift of silence and space and the realization that the best way to see and hear is in quietude.

To my lifelong friends from high school, Id like to express how much I love you guys. You have always been so encouraging and proud of my work and that means the world to me. You will always be my brothers.

I have been blessed with several mentors to whom I will be forever grateful. They include, Rabbi Ammiel Hirsch, Les Gelb, John Palmer, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy, R.D. Thulasiraj and David Green.

Jen and I would like to express our sincere gratitude to our amazing agent Jane von Mehren at Aevitas Creative Management whose genius enabled us to distill the essence of this book, build a compelling proposal, and find it a wonderful home at Kensington Publishing.

To the Kensington Publishing family, under the inspired and inspiring leadership of president and CEO Steven Zacharius and publisher Lynn Cully, thank you for believing in us and for your willingness to donate 15 percent of the books profits to VisionSpring to help bring sight to the underserved people worldwide. Special thanks, as well, to our thoughtful and skillful editor Denise Silvestro, and to the entire talented Kensington team, including Jackie Dinas, Vida Engstrand, and Ann Pryor.

Finally, I would like to thank my incredible family. To my supportive and loving sisters, Julie and Jennifer, your shining examples give me hope for the world. I cant express how important you are to me.

To my father, who has always been a beacon of strength in my life, and to my mother, who although no longer with us in body will forever glow at the center of my spirit.

To my beautiful children, Bryce, Jonas, and Sofia, perhaps this book is really for you. I love you. May you find the remarkable gifts that bloom when you serve others.

Finally to my wife, Erica, who is the true star of this book. You have taught me what it means to love. You have taught me the power of love. I am forever grateful to you, and I will love you forever.

The challenge I face is how to actualize, how to concretize the quiet eminence of my being. Beyond all agony and anxiety lies the most important ingredient of self-reflection: the preciousness of my own existence. To my own heart my existence is unique, unprecedented, priceless, exceedingly precious, and I resist the thought of gambling away its meaning.

R ABBI A BRAHAM J OSHUA H ESCHEL

1 Dare to Matter

We are all something, but none of us is everything.

B LAISE P ASCAL

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Do you remember when you first heard this question? How old were you? Who asked? How did you respond?

From the moment were old enough to carry on basic polysyllabic conversations, What do you want to be when you grow up? is the go-to icebreaker topic when grown-ups talk to kids. Chances are that before you could read, count to ten, or tie your shoelaces, people wanted to know what you wanted to bemeaning, what you wanted to do for a living.

I was in the second grade the first time I recall being asked the question, and I replied in the remarkably unremarkable way lots of kids do at that age. What did I want to be when I grew up? That was easy: a fireman. Firemen had everything you could possibly want in a job: a cool car with flashing lights and sirens, which you could drive as fast as you wanted; cool gadgets; cool uniforms; and you got to be a hero.

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