The Power of Half by Hannah Salwen
Fourteen-year-old Hannah Sal- wen’s awakening to the urgent need for social justice led to a unanimous family decision to dramatically change the focus of all of their lives. They sold their huge historic house, moved into a more modest home and gave half of the sale price to charity.
In The Power of Half, co-au- thored with her father, Hannah describes how the project con- nected her family and lays out how others can undertake their own project (of any size). Han- nah’s work inspires us all to take another look at our own relation- ships and our ability to make a difference in the world.
he who did nothing because he could only do a little.” I know exactly what he was talking about. Before our family Power of Half
A
s the British philosopher Edmund Burke said, “Nobody made a greater mistake than
project, I kept telling myself that no matter how hard I tried or how much money I gave to causes, I would never be able to fully solve any of the world’s big problems. When I worked at Café 458, the Atlanta restaurant for homeless men and women, I saw dozens of people come in looking depressed and lonely. I didn’t see them as individu- als, but instead as a group called “the homeless.” One day, I heard two homeless men talking about a college basket- ball game that I had watched with my dad the night before. I snapped to the realization that these are people, and not just some anony- mous group. How stupid and rude I had been to see them as different from me. Having that epiphany was a big
step for me. In that split second of comprehension, I switched to seeing people in need as individuals; the problem of homelessness and hun- ger seemed smaller and I felt like I could make more of a difference. I also started believing that I could help because I was aware of their problem on a personal level. I believe that no matter how
little you have, it’s worth parting with half of something in order to make a difference. Sometimes giving time is better than giving away money or clothes. The point is not as much about personal sacrifice as it is real- izing how much you have available to give in time, talent and treasure to improve someone else’s life.
Excerpted from “Hannah’s Take” in The Power of Half: One Family’s Decision to Stop Taking and Start Giving Back, by Kevin Salwen and Hannah Salwen, © 2010. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Find more information on creating your own project via the family’s CD, blog and study guide; visit
ThePowerOfHalf.com.
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