I First met Dr Alison Thompson in Sri Lanka in 2005, When We Were Both Involved in Sri Lanka’s Tsunami Recovery effort. She Immediately Struck Me as Someone down-to-earth and Highly Motivated to get real, Practical Work

all these churches, they’re behind their walls and they’re praying on Sundays and then they do whatever they want during the week. I just wish we could knock down all those stupid walls and everyone just get out there and help. We’re not asking you to go shave your head or chant on some hill. But imagine a world where everybody does their part. That the karma banks are full of blue-chip stocks of compassion! And then we’re all billionaires on the inside. That’s how I feel. I feel like a billionaire on the inside. And it just gets better and better. Even though the world gets worse and worse, there’s always help and there’s always love.

Last question, because we haven’t been kicked off Zoom yet. Was there an event or perhaps a person that influenced you in your life that inspired you to live a life of adventure and danger?

My brothers were like James Bond characters. They would jump off cliffs and eat spiders and do all this crazy stuff. That gave me adventure. My parents were missionaries all through Asia, so I got to live in the jungles and feel at home in developing countries. We were always landing somewhere so that I had to suddenly make friends. I’m most at home where there’s complete chaos and no infrastructure. But also, I got to meet Mother Teresa when I was younger. My dad was speaking at a big conference, 50,000 people and it was Billy Graham and her. She was very, very old. And I remember all her wrinkles on her hands and her face, which is her history. Women work so hard at getting rid of their wrinkles, but that’s the history of your life. And I had a talk with her, and she would get down with the lowest, lowest person with leprosy in the field and she would just beam them with light and love. And she would say because they may have never been loved in their whole lifetime, she didn’t want them to die without ever having that feeling of love. That sticks with me forever, especially in the 2004 tsunami. Getting down with the dirtiest dogs that were dying and we’d help them. We’d give them food. Or the people lying in the streets. And just give them that beam and that was enough. The moment in Haiti that reminded me of that moment with Mother Teresa, we were in the cholera fields and people were dying. And this old man, he was in his 90s. There was nothing more I could do for him. But I just had him in my arms, and we were beaming love to each other. He died in my arms knowing that he was loved. But LeBron James! Basketball player. He lived behind me over here in Miami. He’s a big famous basketballer but he gives so much to other people. And he does so much for the community. It’s a combination of my brothers, my parents, Mother Teresa and LeBron James. But I think the ultimate was my mother, who was unconditional love. I’m just passing it on to others.