Friday, March 25, 2005

Do Me a Favor. . .Think About Dallas Today

Help me out here.

Think about Dallas, Texas as often as possible as you go about your day.

Today may be a holiday for you. Or, maybe not.

I expect it is somehow a bit different from your normal day as we head into the Easter weekend. So, help me out and think about Dallas as often as you can.

This is one strange place, Dallas.

Think about it. The number of houses of worship in this city are matched only by the number of people who live on our streets.

Talk about disconnect.

On this Good Friday I'd have to say it's about time for a resurrection of civic heart and meaningful faith for all of us who call Dallas home.

Sad fact is, while some of us really have homes to call our own, far too many will curl up in the darkness of our streets tonight--48% will be women and children. Now there is a stat you won't read in any Chamber of Commerce publication!

Kinda hard to think about singing Hallelujah on Sunday given what we all know about tonight and the streets, don't you think? Sort of makes our songs sound a bit hollow, wouldn't you agree?

To help with your special Dallas meditation today, you may want to check out Zac Crain's essay in the most recent Dallas Observer
(http://dallasobserver.com/issues/2005-03-24/news/feature_1.html).

Zac, a very talented writer, does a fine job of describing our problem.

Like I say, do me a favor today. Think about Dallas.

3 comments:

Jeremy Gregg said...

Forgive the random diatribe, but there are some things that I feel compelled to write on this, the evening before Easter weekend. This is not a religious blog, per se, just some comments that I posed to my fellow MBA students in an email tonight. My friends and I are working towards increasing our leadership of the world (i.e. the business world), but never once has a professor asked us, "Why are you here? Why are you working?"

I have spent the evening reading the series of articles linked in some replies to Larry's last post. Primarily, I read a few articles on the crisis facing our health care system. According to The Washington Monthly, “the death toll from medical errors alone is equivalent to a fully loaded jumbo-jet crashing each day.”

This was rough news after another week of learning how hard life is for my less fortunate friends and neighbors.

Some people have also asked me what I think about the Terry Schiavo case. I agree with Larry. One thought dominates: as sad as the Schiavo case may be, why is our federal government debating this question and not the fact that they have just cut the very same Medicaid funding that pays for Mrs. Schiavo’s care?

In our country, ironies are as rich as politicians (“public servants”). In fact, over the past three years, American corporate profits have risen by 60%, whereas wage income has risen by a slim 10%.

http://tinyurl.com/4h8y5

It was after reading this article that I decided to email my fellow MBA students with a serious question:

Why are we working?

Do we work for wages? for our bosses? for customers? Do we really end up working for shareholders whose only concern is their ROI?

Or is there some deeper purpose for why we’re here?

And note, I think that the answer to “Why are you here?” should be the same as “Why are you working?” Unfortunately, in our world, few people have the luxury of choosing what they will do with their life. Their answer to the purpose of life might not match with what they are actually doing with their life. For most of my friends, they do what they can just to get by.

That is not the case for most of us in the MBA program, and probably many of the folks who are reading this blog.

Working just to pay the bills is a hard way to live, and it’s a sad comment on our culture when what we want to do is so rarely what we end up doing. However, many of my friends -- myself included -- are not living bill-to-bill. We have the ability to sit back and ask ourselves this question: What do I want to do with my life?

I’m not necessarily posing this question as a person of faith, though Easter weekend brings such thoughts to my mind. However, I truly believe that something is sincerely wrong when “progress” does not equate with an easier, happier, more satisfying life for all people.

America has the capacity, if we choose, to feed, clothe and care for everyone in the world. But we choose NOT to . . . for a variety reasons, many of which are valid. However, I think that the chief reason is selfishness, followed by greed, followed closely by entitlement and the other moral sores resulting from our capitalist mentality. That, and a complete unwillingness to recognize that Life is about more than the summation of our daily lives.

I am not advocating for a communist state (though some may argue against that). However, it seems to me like people are having to work harder than ever before, only to spend less time with their families and less time pursuing the things that matter most to them (hobbies, worship, artistic pursuits, etc.). Is this where we want to go as a people? Is this progress?

As Americans, we are obligated to answer these questions. As business leaders, we are obligated to answer these questions. As people – people of wealth, intelligence and passion – we are obligated to answer these questions.

And furthermore, we are obligated to follow our answers, or else lead a life that was not a life . . . but merely work.

Forgive the diatribe. And please know that my prayers are with Mrs. Schiavo and her family. It’s a terrible situation, one that is now being mocked and used for political gain by all parties.

My prayers are also with the families of those affected by the shooting at Red Lake High School. They are also with the victims of the Earth’s war (tsunami) and man’s war (Iraq). They are also with the thousands of families who live within a half-mile of my home who struggle to pay the rent, feed the kids and hold onto their job . . . let alone their sanity.

May this weekend be a time of joy, peace and love for you, your family and your community.

Anonymous said...

Great article in the Observer. SROs sound like a promising extension of hope for the homeless and a win for the city.
It's almost too simple to believe. Build homes for the homeless.

Anonymous said...

Great Idea. I hope Dallas does follow through on these SRO's

LKM