Tag Archives: Charity

Starting at Home

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, impediments, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Striving

January 27, 2019- 

One of  my mother’s favourite sayings, “Charity begins at home”, was made a basis for many of my actions, as a child and as a teen.  Nothing was made, or done, that wasn’t shared with family, on some level.

So it is, also, with conservation- as the late John McCain was also fond of saying.  A few weeks ago, during the height of the ill-fated shutdown, I went up to Sunset Crater National Monument, to see if I might help with a clean-up.  It turned out not to be necessary, though there was a mess, on Federal land, some twenty miles west.  Others took care of that clean-up.

With the shutdown over, however temporarily, I decided to take some time, after a study session this afternoon, and check a popular local trail, Lynx Lake, for residual clean-up that might be needed.  I was thanked by a few other hikers, especially accepting three pooper bags in my larger trash bag.  It was rather cute, that a lone duck followed me in the water, as I walked along the north shore, collecting a few plastic bottles.  It was almost as if it knew that the toxic items were being removed.  Long story short, I put a half-filled trash bag in the dumpster of the  south beach.

It was a minor effort, in the scheme of millions of acres of Federal land needing attention, after the lengthy hiatus.  I can only hope that there were thousands of others stepping up and doing their part, with there being way too much to be done, as it is, by those returning to work.  I think of the first National Historic Site I ever visited:  Saugus Ironworks, of the most extensive I’ve ever seen:  Grand Canyon and of the park I visited most recently for the first time:  Valley Forge.  Then, there is Arlington National Cemetery; today would have been the 95th birthday of my father-in-law, who is interred there, along with his wife.

I can only hope there are no more shutdowns of government, but if there are, I know to be ready to help, as a citizen.

Larry Nassar

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Posted by on in children, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Personal Values, Striving

January 27, 2018, Prescott-

I dropped off my customary load of old newspapers, at a local charity for battered women and their children, as is routine for me, on Saturday mornings.  Next door to the thrift shop, there is a thriving donut shop, run by a young couple and their extended family.  I went in there, as is also routine, and was greeted warmly by the wife, who apologized for not having enough coffee to fill my order, but graciously gave me an extra 1/2 cup, when the brew was ready.  Shortly afterward, feeling the need for a  more substantial breakfast than a donut, I stopped in another young lady’s shop and got an open-faced bagel, with lox and cream cheese.

Both young women are gorgeous, brainy, hard-working, and very much in love with their mates.  I am there to support their dreams, and their families’ dreams, period.  In the face of the recent conviction of former sports medicine practitioner Larry Nassar, for the serial abuse of young female athletes, a few observations:

Many people have an intrinsic fear of certain among life’s features- Financial wealth, personal success, good physical health and the presence of good-looking members of the opposite gender.  I get all of this.  “I used to be among the crowd you’re in with”, to quote Bob Dylan (“Positively Fourth Street”).  Financial wealth eluded Penny and me, largely due to life happening, but also because of my own lack of financial intelligence.  I didn’t think I deserved personal success, and lo and behold- there were plenty of movers and shakers who were glad to oblige me, in that deprivation.  Physical health has been my strong suit, though the dental part of it had to be recovered, after putting my own needs on hold, during Penny’s long illness.  I was blessed with a beautiful wife, and stayed with her, long after both of us found our good looks fading- because in my family, a marriage is for life, and besides- I love her spirit, still.

Outside of my marriage, though, there was a time when I felt myself undeserving of the attentions of attractive women.  Some attribute such an attitude to misogyny.  Perhaps, but I think that criticism is way too simplistic.  No fear is about the thing that is feared.  It is about the lack of self-worth, in the beholder.  Beyond that, however, is this:  Women have always been complete human beings, with dreams and goals that are every bit as worthy as those of men.  That we men have often overlooked or discounted those dreams and goals is no fault of the dreamers.

I get that the condemned Mr. Nassar may have started off wanting to serve the population of teen women athletes.  He may even have had twinges of conscience, when he first gave in to his lower cravings.  Yet, it didn’t last.  Women who should have been able to pursue their athletic goals, without hindrance from a source that should have been trustworthy, found themselves being treated like toys.  Mr. Nassar’s reaction to their needs, and to their presence, became despicable.

I have worked with teens and young adults, pretty much continuously, since the late 1970’s.  The bottom line has ever been, honour and respect; build, not destroy.  If I inadvertently wronged anyone, to the “extent of a mustard seed”, that person got full amends.

I can only hope that the frightened, ravaged young gymnasts go on, to recover, to dream again and to live in fullness.

Intercalary

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Posted by on in Community, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Spiritual

February 26, 2016, Prescott- Today is the first of four Intercalary Days, celebrated by members of the Baha’i Faith, as days of charity, gift-giving and fellowship. The proper name for this short period is Ayyam-i-Ha, or “Days of Giving”.  It is followed by a Fast, of nineteen days, on which I’ve written before, and will again.  Our Fast has some similarities to Lent, Ramadan and the Jewish High Holy Days, as well as its own unique character.

Intercalary means “in-between calendar months”.  Our Baha’i calendar, properly called the Badi Calendar, has nineteen months of nineteen days each.  In the past, we would have four days of intercalary in 365- day years  and five days,  in a Leap Year. The calendar has now been synchronized, world-wide, so that our Holy Days will be based on the occurrence of the new moon, and thus will fall on different dates each year.  The Intercalary Period, therefore, will be four days a year, regardless of a year’s actual length.

Personally, this month and next, are rather lean, so my charity and gift-giving come more in the form of time and energy, this year. I’d rather have it that way, actually, as we humans sometimes value each other more on what things people bring and how much money they give.  I’ve lost a few friends, over the years, because I didn’t contribute, financially, to their efforts or causes.  Then again, were they really friends, in the first place?

 

Today, I will shortly set out and see what is happening downtown, and visit one of my favourite journaling haunts- either the Courthouse lawn, or one of the coffee houses that so wonderfully grace our central area.  This evening features two gatherings, and tomorrow- three.  I have, on such occasions, developed the art of selective grazing- each of these affairs is centered around food- and refined my conversational skills, which, for much of my life, have been halting, at best.

It’ll be a fine weekend, at any rate, and will have its share of acts of service.

Community

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Posted by on in Personal goals, Social

November 20, 2014, Prescott-  This evening will feature yet another speech by the current President.  Some things will change in this country, albeit temporarily, as happens with Executive Order- induced policy adjustments.  The whole affair, though, brings me to the matter of communities, large and small.

I have five basic observations:

1.  Charity begins at home- Mother instilled this in each of us, from Day 1.  Many people in this country are hyper-charitable.  It’s an admirable thing, when they have the wherewithal to give copiously.  I donate my time and money as close to the end receivers as possible, and as close to my own level of awareness of their situation as possible.  There will always be people in need, right in one’s neighbourhood, and there will always be people in need on the other side of the planet.  “The poor will always be with you.”  Everyone can share something, but few can give all that much.  My son is my top priority, then my family, then the community, starting in Prescott and working upward.

2.  A family, and a community, is only as strong as the level of trust between its members.  I live in a neighbourhood that is quite homogeneous.  There is, however, a high level of mistrust, especially among men aged forty and older.  Many of these men are carrying weapons.  I don’t pack heat, but I can sense the fear and tension from those who do.  Should there be a breakdown in order, many will opt for the quick response.  It won’t be pretty.

3.  This leads me to my own support system.  My Baha’i community, Prescott Save Our Schools, Slow-Food Prescott, American Legion Post 6, and the Yavapai County Red Cross are my local support groups.  Individual friends, both real-time and online, local and farther afield, offer additional back-up, and God knows I’ve needed it on several occasions.  Those who don’t have a human support system turn to self-medication.  This fuels the drug and sex trades, resulting in more misery across a wider area, and thus more human migration, both legal and surreptitious.

4.  Politics has been defined as the art of the possible.  For as far back as one can study, this has been taken to mean, the art of the powerful.  It is time, with social media and its attendant level of awareness, for power to move from the ground up.  Political extremists understand this, and have used it to their advantage.  The grassroots, however, mean that everyone matters, not just the loudest, the most devious or those with the deepest pockets.  Otherwise, what Pete Townshend wrote, in “Won’t Get Fooled Again”, will continue to be the norm:  “The parting on the left is now parting on the right”, and back and forth, ad nauseam.

5.  Character matters.  We have seen so many prominent people, revered by the masses, prove to have committed horrible acts against others.  Many will live in denial- Hitler still has his apologists, as do Mao Tse-tung, General Custer and Charles Manson. Others will subvert the misery of others for their own ends- which criminals have done since the Biblical Cain and Nimrod.  Each of us does, however, have the bounden duty, from our Creator, as we understand Him/Her/It to be, to “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.”  The Golden Rule has nothing to do with “He who has the gold, rules”.  As long as we are on the subject, though, it is worth remembering that every behaviour has its consequence, eventually.

The vast majority of people close to me are wondrous, loving and compassionate.  I work, daily, to be the same and it hasn’t always been easy.  It is, however, the only way I know to be.