Mariane Pearl's husband was a journalist. In 2002, he was captured and murdered in Pakistan by Islamic extremists. She was five months pregnant. Daniel Pearl never got to see his beautiful son Adam. This heartbreaking story is enough to paralyse most women. Not Mariane, she refuses to be defined by her husband's violent death. If that's what Daniel's murderers wanted - to change Mariane's view of the world - they must be sorely disappointed.
Mariane, who is also a freelance journalist, wrote a book about Daniel's death, "A Mighty Heart" and asked Angelina Jolie to portray her in the movie adaptation. In her latest project backed by Glamour magazine, Pearl explores the meaning of hope through profiling the lives of 12 deeply optimistic women. The women span the globe and span class structure - one is a Moroccan cleaning woman in Paris, another is the president of Liberia, each are working to heal their corner of the world.
Mariane say she began this project because she is determined to hold out to her son a sense of hope. She wants him to know that people like the ones who killed his father do not define the world. Hope comes from the actions of individuals like the women in her book.
Newsweek magazine quotes her as saying. "You have suicide bombers who are ready to lose their lives to destroy, but there are also people who are ready to lose their lives to build." Finding those people became her quest. It was as much personal as professional. The book, entitled In Search of Hope, answers this question - Can we spread hope in the way others spread fear? How? And what are out assets to do that? To her, the assets are people, like the women she talked to for this book.
Glamour profiles the book with a photo section. It's filled with pictures of incredible women. You can see love and peace on the faces. There is a profound quote under the photo of Somaly Mam from Cambodia. She says, "I am not sure what being happy really means. But when I cuddle with the girls, giving them the love I never received, then I do feel happy.”
If you purchase In Search of Hope through Glamour.com, Glamour Magazine will donate 100% of the profits and royalties to charities picked out by the women in the book. There is a list on the website so you know where the money will go.
It's a worthy cause with an important message and a very nice gift. Think about it. I'm buying two.
