The Water Buffalo Movie

Among the most moving recent stories of the Internet was how it served as the catalyst for Robert Thompson's loving gesture of giving the gift of a Water Buffalo to a small, poverty stricken family in China that consisted of four people in which each member of the family was a different generation.

Robert Thompson is a violinist and composer who moved to the Yunnan province in China to get married. Now he blogs (Robert Thompson's Still Point), and reaches out to his surroundings in an effort to create change and share the common bonds that unite us as fellow travelers on this small blue marble in this brief moment against the backdrop of eternity. One of the most poignant messages is the simple principle of Do it Now.

He began his Odyssey of the gift of the water buffalo when he appeared on Philip Greenspun's Weblog investigating the claim of a website that a donation of $250 would provide a poor family in China with a water buffalo that provides a means for livelihood in farming for fifteen years or more. But upon reading further, the website explained that there were was no water buffalo or needy family. The claim was made as a metaphor to illustrate how much a small donation would mean to farming families in Asia.

Philip Greenspun asks Robert Thompson if given the money could he buy a water buffalo and give it to a family in need. He agrees, and in this simple journey he buys the water buffalo and discovers an extraordinary family. Thompson documents this journey in a short video he titles 4 Generations. Underlying this simple, eloquent documentary is Thompson's narrative and original music he composes and performs adding depth and presence to the the singular moment of giving the gift of a water buffalo in China.

This is a story that is beautiful in its pure simplicity and takes on a certain lustre through Thompson's narrative and the music he creates and performs that echoes through the moments eloquently. One gets the sense that his music provides him with a special way of seeing and knowing. This special sensibility gives him a special way of relating to the world and to the people of this story. It almost carries the essence of a fairy-tale, a "once upon a time there was a family..." magical quality that makes us all realize that if only we would do something rather than just talk about it, we could make a difference in the world.