Paul's Inspiring Journey of Compassion

The person is my friend Paul, who lives in LA. I think we all know somebody in our life who wakes up each day and makes the choice, because it is a choice, to walk on the sunny side of the street or take an inventory of the things he's grateful for instead of things that he isn't.

Paul is a caregiver for his son, who was born blind and autistic, but that's actually led him to many other things and inspires loads of people, partly in response to how his son responds to music.

He lives quite close to Skid Row, an area of downtown Los Angeles where there are thousands of people living on the streets and experiencing homelessness. Back in the day, he went out with a few cheap CD Walkmans and started donating them with some music they could listen to. Then he got some funding, and it quickly transitioned into something much bigger.

Paul managed to bring together all kinds of different people to volunteer to support and distribute essential products. The main thing is that he knows everybody down there by name, knows them and what they need, and helps them along when he can.

These people are often dehumanized in the mainstream media as people you should be scared of, but the way that Paul does his work is just so inspiring to me. It always comes back to his son and the challenge he was faced with. He decided to completely embody and make it his strength, not a weakness.