Change Without the Pain? Is It Possible?

This weekend I took life pretty easy. Painted my room, and watched football. I am starting to make the transition to life here, but I always mess myself up with thinking about what I will do after I leave. It's silly since I have 10 months left. That’s a long time before I even need to think about things. It is a real lesson in living in the moment, taking life one day (if not less) at a time.
I actually listened to the whole presidential debate on Friday. I find it interesting that the word change, or new direction, is mentioned by both candidates. I also hear the same old thing about tax cuts, one for the lower and middle class, the other for the upper class. But there is little talk about cutting the defense spending, and little talk about where we will get the money to pay for tax cuts. It should be apparent to us by now that any time we cut taxes, other services suffer. Sooner or later the funding cut from small programs won’t give us the money to pay for the tax cuts.
And it’s the small programs that help those who need it, victims of our economy, our health care system, or just life itself. I am not sure of specific answers, but I believe it has something to do with what I mentioned earlier this week, planning our path instead of just enacting laws. If we want to cut taxes, let’s plan for it. Let’s make sure that we can find the money and not assume the tax cuts and “good charity” by Americans will make up for the loss of money by charitable organizations.
Let’s also hold the charitable organizations accountable for the funds they receive. Let’s make sure that when supporting a geographic area, we aren’t duplicating efforts among different organizations. Let’s make sure organizations work together to deliver more comprehensive coverage without diluting funds. Competing for the small amount of funds does not service those it should effectively.
Coming up with an idea and actually enacting it effectively are entirely different activities. It takes planning and thought about the impact of such changes to be successful. We need to take care of those who are impacted. We need to help those who need it feel proud of both themselves and the country they live in. I believe in the future that the strength of our country will come from our ability to show the world our humanity, both at home and abroad. And that will only start when we put humanity into our policies by taking into account those who have no voice.

Nice Day at Elk Creek

For our team outing today we went to Elk Creek (check out the pictures and the video) in the Rio Grande National Forest. It was beautiful with the fall colors, running water, sunshine, and even the cows. I started contemplating the difference between change and the transition to a new state. Defining the change you want to occur is relatively easy, where we fail is in determining the transition. I probably will write more on this later, but for now I will ponder. Off to watch the debate shortly. Does it really make a difference? I often wonder.
Elk Creek Video 1 (zen like no wind)
Elk Creek Video 2 (much more wind)

Black Billed Magpie

These birds are cool. This isn't my picture but there was one flying around the house. The tail is cool, because it is long and there is white on the tip. Also the contrast between the white and black on this bird is stunning in real life.

National Alliance to End Homelessness

This is a really good site. National Alliance to End Homelessness It talks about the issues clearly. Pay particular attention to the Ten Year Plan document. We have an interesting time in front of us. With our economy moving more and more away from manufacturing, our society will have to retool to make our economy strong again. In the by-product of this change, people will suffer. It is up to those who can make these transitions easily to help those who can't. As a nation we need to be aware that things aren't as they used to be, nor will they ever be. We are evolving as a nation, and as in any evolution there will be growth pains. Let's not charge forward without a plan for those who are unable to move easily.
FYI - Hennepin county is working on a ten year plan right now. Check out this site if you want more information. I believe this also is a state-wide initiative. I had my doubts when I first read about it, but have more faith in the approach now.

Adjusting to a Normal Week

Just a short note to say hello to all. I really have nothing to say. Amazing as that is, I did just think of something. I am actually having a hard time adjusting to not working so hard. I keep thinking I need more, even though I am doing everything they ask. A sad state of affairs that a normal work week doesn't seem sufficient for me, particularly given my high pay of $55 a week. I need to slow down the clock in my body and be happy with slowing down a bit. Hard to believe I can't.

Diverse Observations

So it's been a while. I've been busy. This Sunday we went to Colorado Springs. I took lots of pictures at Garden of the Gods, but it was too cloudy to see Pikes Peak. Beautiful area though. Had a wonderful day with 3 other volunteers, Joe, Brandy, and Sarah. I uploaded the pictures if you would like to take a look.

I have been amazed at not being too emotionally involved with the people I have been helping. I was worried that I would take their stories home and feel lost and forlorn. On the contrary, I fear now that I may become too cold and clinical in my approach. I find it hard to give out money when I see patterns of behavior that tell me they will just be back. This doesn't make me not want to help, it simply makes it seem like applying a band-aid to a young child and saying "it will be okay" but the kid just goes out and jumps off the roof again. Eventually you hope the kid learns, but if you don't at least try to change the behavior a little, they never will.

I see huge possibilities for multiple organizations to work together to provide a complete quilt for people. Right now I feel that individuals need to search for all the pieces themselves, and when they find them they don't fit.

And what possibilities am I learning for myself? I am finding it hard to adjust to a low budget, though I am getting better at it. I keep worrying about what I am going to do when I am done here, and I should just be focusing on the now. I am having a hard time letting go of old habits, of just letting go period. Perhaps it is a brief period of mourning before I go forward. I know I can't go back to programming again, but have no idea where this will all lead.

And how about those Packers? If they beat Dallas next week, I'm a believer again. Brett who? The green and gold rise to glory again.

I miss all of you back there at home. A day doesn't go by that at least one of you doesn't come to mind.

I have decided that egos keep the world from advancing. We all make choices based on our personal need to protect ourselves. I am not sure if that is learned from society or just inherit in us as humans. Would we choose to lose our job if it meant making life better for 20 individuals, 30, 100, 1? Your opinion?

Did I mention this was a diverse, if not rambling bit of blogging?

Is There an Answer?

Hope y’all enjoyed the pictures of Creed. Cool place. I helped out at the shelter all day Saturday. They had a bed bug problem and were fumigating. We had to wash the sheets, blankets and pillows, and clean up the rooms and mattresses. It was a long day. Sunday I just relaxed. Took some longer bike rides and my ass actually didn’t hurt. What a joy. Did play some tennis for the first time in 25 years. I wasn’t very good 25 years ago, and certainly didn’t improve with time, but it was fun. Perhaps I did improve on whether I cared that I was good or not.

Today I had an interesting interview. Since I have been warned of confidentiality, I can’t go into details. Let it be enough to say that people get themselves in trouble without really realizing it. I think we always believe that love is enough and will sustain us forever. But somewhere that logic fails for some. In the best of cases, both parties can continue on, being friends and being mutually responsible. But in others the love that existed becomes adversarial; one person suffers significantly, struggling to maintain some sort of concept of family and home. Responsibility and integrity take back seat to money and the new “friend”.

How much government money do we spend on trying to force people to do the right thing? Can we really force people to do the right thing? As always, gray becomes the color of choice. So many different stories, so many circumstances, not a single answer to solve the problem.

I started reading about the rural homeless initiative today. It is a fascinating proposition. But still begs a question. If much of homelessness is caused by unemployment, or the ability of the person to maintain employment, providing a home doesn’t solve the problem. It does provide the person a base, and that is essential, but the question of making enough money to pay rent, food, health care, and utilities still remain. Unless some source of income is provided, the ability of the individual to right themselves becomes impossible. Perhaps Roosevelt had the right approach with the WPA. But this would likely require more taxes. Heaven’s forbid we ever think of that.

I thought things would become clearer to me here, trying to understand and come up with a logical approach. But I believe when it comes to the nations’ impoverished there may not be a logical way to handle things. It becomes a question of conscience, and how much we are willing to give up so others can have. It also becomes a question of pride of our country. Are we proud of our individual success, or the fact that as a nation we take care of all of our citizens? What is the balance?

If you have an answer, let me know. I certainly am open to suggestions. My job allows me to patch, but not fix. Hearing and seeing people’s plight makes me realize that just throwing money to keep people living on the edge often only prolongs the inevitable. You can see where some of these people are going and know there is nothing you can do except give them a few more months when hopefully they will get a break. Talk about faith.

Peace to you all. Be grateful daily for what you have, for it can change rapidly. Be diligent with your friendships and don’t take them for granted. In the end it is the love we have for each other that is our true wealth.