The Oakland Buddha

Day 212 / 365

Dan Stevenson lives in a rough neighborhood in Oakland. Crimes and drugs were quite rampant, and even the police didn’t seem to do much about it. Like other residents, Dan chose to ignore the situation and carry on with is life.

Dan’s view changed after a concrete divider was put in just in front of his house. The divider had space in between meant from plants. But the entire neighborhood decided to use it as a dustbin. Dan recalls that the heaps of garbage could go as high as 8–10 feet at times. He had to constantly keep reminding the authorities to clean it up, but they took their own sweet time. This is when Dan and his wife decided to do something about it.

As a last-ditch resort to prevent the people from throwing garbage at the place, they decided to keep a Buddha statue there. Now, these two weren't Buddhists. They chose the Buddha as they thought it was the most neutral figure. Any other religious symbol might have caused outrage. He actually drilled the Buddha into the concrete so that no one would steal it.

The Buddha started showing it’s magic slowly. Within a few weeks, he saw that someone had painted the Buddha with a clean white color. Later he would see fruits like oranges, pairs, etc. kept near the Buddha. People started coming near the Buddha in the morning and praying. Within a few months, that spot became a popular shrine, and even people outside the city came to visit!

This is how the shrine looks today —

Not only did this solve the garbage problem, but this Buddha also had an effect on the entire neighborhood. A study showed that the crimes in the area went down by more than 80%!

This post is part of my 365 Day Project for 2019. Read about it here

Yesterday’s blog — How online gamers helped scientists solve tough problems