LEO BUSCAGLIA & LOVE 1-A !

Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D. 1924-1998

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He was born Felice Leonardo Buscaglia Ph.D., of Italian descent. For 40 years he served as a Professor at the University of Southern California. In the late 60's, a young student in Leo's class committed suicide. Shocked to his core, Leo was determined to understand how this tragedy could have happened. He concluded that human disconnectedness and the meaning of life required open and positive dialogue in a class where the students guided the direction of the topic. So he started a non-credit class called "Love 1-A", where he delivered dynamic and invigorating lectures. Leo focused on the need for self-love, overcoming everyday stresses, communication gaps between generations, and social and mental barriers that prevented people (from celebrities to the disabled and the elderly in nursing homes) from expressing outwardly their love for one another's uniqueness. A staff member from a local PBS television station happened to be in the audience at one of his lectures, and this encounter led to a long-running series on PBS Television stations across America on the topic of "Love".

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Among his most famous quotes:
"It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of personkind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely."

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Raised Roman Catholic, Dr. Buscaglia enjoyed his visits to Asia and understanding Buddhist thought. On a trip through Hong Kong, he met a Chinese refugee who, with his family, lived in extreme poverty. The young refugee's name was Wong. In order to find work, Wong needed to learn English. Dr. Buscaglia paid Wong's tuition to an English-language school. Years later, Wong wrote to Dr. Buscaglia. By then he was able to get his family out of the refugee camp and pay back what he saw as his "debt." Instead, Dr. Buscaglia encouraged him to find another determined person such as himself and to give the money, with love, "from Wong and Leo", with the hope that in this way it might touch many lives.

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Among his 14 books in publication is "A Memory for Tino", his first book for children to show them "the Joy that is possible by thinking of others". It was later made into a 1996 movie. Among the first books I read by Leo was "Loving Each Other". In this book he outlines "human relationships, fears of commitment," and he makes a case that "society's flippant and suspicious attitudes toward tenderness, compassion, caring, sharing and love, has created detached, apathetic people". "Because I Am Human" is a photo book of life as seen through the eyes of a 4-year old. His book, "The Fall of Freddie the Leaf" is, “Dedicated to all children who have ever suffered a permanent loss, and to the grown ups who could not find a way to explain it.”

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There's not enough room in this Blog to go much further except to add that the combination of his profound subject struck a responsive chord within millions of people who felt their lives were deficient. By 1998, Leo's books had reached eighteen million copies in print in seventeen languages. Leo died of a heart attack on June 11, 1998 at his home in Glenbrook, Nevada, near Lake Tahoe at age 74. The tragic events over the past 6 years in our country and throughout the world continues to bring me back to rebroadcasts on PBS, DVD's for rent at the library of Leo's broadcasts and even his first groundbreaking book that coincided with the founding of his Class, "Love 1-A". The title of his book? "LOVE". For more information go to: http://www.buscaglia.com/

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ENJOY!