Article by Milo Rathbun

“My passion for growing food goes back to my childhood when my mother helped me plant a crop of radishes in our backyard. I also treasured the fruit produced by our backyard cherry tree, loved the sweet plums that I could pick from our ancient plum tree, and the pears, which had to be individually wrapped in newspaper at the end of the growing season and set aside in the woodshed to ripen” Since his first day Richard was part of a community, Not a big one, But an important one being his mothers vibrant garden. Now Richard is 81 years old, married, and the father to two boys.

Richard is one of the many timeless souls who can be a representation to those in search of what it truly means to live a meaningful life. Throughout His life he is constantly involved in community in an impactful way. Through his experiences we can learn the value of helping others and living a philanthropist lifestyle.

Richard grew up in a really difficult time globally. Wars were raging left and right and all boys his age lived in constant horror of getting drafted. However, Richard was given an opportunity unlike anyone else. An opportunity to “serve a larger cause, a cause of freedom, and the cause of a peaceful world”. This was the peace corps, as John F Kennedy had presented it in 1961.

As this idea sparked Richards interest he decided to take a leap of faith volunteering to join in the Peace Corps. This would lead to be the “Most impactful experience of his life”. . Going into this experience Richard didn’t know what to expect. “we got down there and nobody spoke our language that we’d learned, everybody was kind of so on. It was hotter than hell.

And I remember we’d sit around under the Moon the first night and half of our group decided to bail a stick this out? Home sounds pretty good right now. Oh my God. Two years seemed like forever. You kn After making it through the first few weeks Richard was sent alone to a remote town in Nepal to assist Richard really learned how to adapt and become a part of this community. Spending two years with th would learn from you”. In such a small town with little to no money, the community came to be the mo derstanding that the real wealth in these villages was the culture and connection they had with each o In hopes to carry these values forward Richard went on, after his time in the peace corps, to found vari dation at stanford. Although different, these foundations all had a common goal rooting back to the va new problems arose constantly, but the biggest being nuclear weaponry “There were 9000 nuclear wa we were in a very precarious situation that was called launch on warning. If you detected that your ene were targeting ours is to launch yours”. With the power to end all life on earth, it was more important t war, awareness had to be spread. To do this Richard set up a small level Nobel Peace Prize their lives working towards saving lives, rather than taking them. “And so the first one defibrillator, which saves a lot of lives” Due to the internet being nonexistent at the time Richard and his foundation used which was simply unheard of. After finding a lot of success and support through be a much bigger scale. Standing alone upon that same stage the following year face to face over the screen presenting the award to five presidents. This beover 250 million live viewers and Richard himself presenting the award.

The Himalayas Photographed By Richard

and go home. 30 people out of 60. And I remember that was my first ordeal, who would now, when you’re in your twenties, it seems like forever.” with its pre industrial agricultural practices. Thrown into such a contrasting culture his tiny village he came to know that “you would learn so much more from them then they ost valuable thing around. Throughout his two year journey Richard emerged with an unother. Not the consumer lifestyle that we know to be normal in the US. ious other foundations such as the Beyond war, Global Community, and Rathbun founalues that Richard had learned throughout his journey, community. With wars still raging arheads pointed at each other across space from the Soviet Union, the United States. And emy had launched a nuclear weapon, the only way you could save yours because theirs than ever for people to come together as a global community. In hopes of moving beyond called the Beyond War Award. This award would go out to individuals whom had spent was given to, Bernard Lown, who is a physician in the United States, the inventor of the satellite links allowing them to broadcast over different countries and continents this ceremony it was presented again the next year. However, on what proved to with millions watching and Words flowing through his earpiece Richard was came known as the largest ever televised event before the internet with

“go through life in love and not fear”.

-Richard L, Rathbun

After finding great success in his journey beyond war it was time for Richard to show others how to put these values to use. Returning to his roots at Stanford he wished to help the future generation who faced similar challenges to Richard. “I’ve got an amazing academic education here at Stanford, but I’m scared to go out in the world because I know nothing about what I’m going to face next.” What would it mean to take these values and live a meaningful life? That was one of the questions that Richard would answer over the following years. Through stanfords prestigious name Richard was able to reach out to speakers such as Oprah Winfrey, The Dalai Lamma and Sandra day O’connor all of whom would come and speak upon what it means to live a meaningful life. “In this day and age, when students are driven by the pace of technology and the pressures to achieve, the increasing concerns over employment after college, it is all the more important to have time to reflect, the space to think, not only about yourself but about the great world around you.” Living in such a restless world, the communities and cultures around become more important, and being exposed to them is what will lead these students to do great, meaningful work. “The people and community, they all take care of each other and show up for each other. There’s a lot of love and it’s really what sustains life.”

Richard now is 81 years old, married, and has two sons, these are his biggest legacies.

Since their first days, they were part of a community and exposed to cultures around the world. Once in grade school Richard wanted to give these kids the tools he wished he had when he was a kid, So he and His wife took them on what turned out to be 3 year trip all the way to the tip of south america. Living in so many different communities along the way these kids were truly given an experience they would never forget.

Richard is a man who is always giving, and me being one of his two sons have learned countless things from him. With all the experiences he’s had he can answer just about any question I have and is willing to support whatever I do. One thing Richard said that will always stick with me is that “The moment I take more from this world then I give, It’s time for me to go”

Milo Rathbun Is A Jr year student who attends Freestyle high. Since a young age milo has always loved working with others and learning. When first introduced tofreestyle Milo was reluctant to the idea of going to an alternative learning program but shortly after learned that it was a lot more then that. With a whole new style of project based learning Milo realized he was right at home and actually enjoying coming to school. As the year went on Milo learned so many skills and could communicate his ideas through countless forms. Milo would say “One of the biggest things I learned was really, learning how to learn.”

Documentary Website!