Change will come. . .

Another chance. . .

Occasionally, the corner offers up more than I can handle emotionally.

That was the case last Thursday as I talked to people in the cold.  We huddled up for conversation in the cold wind, drinking coffee to cut the chill as much as possible.

My friend "Blue" came by.

Blue is a chronic inebriate.

Strangely though, he seems to handle his life fairly reasonably and with good affect.

Thursday he seemed somehow different.

He never asks me for anything.  Usually he will accept a bottle of water, which he did on this day.

Out of character, he said to me, "Will you help me?"

Surprised, I answered, "How can I help you?  What do you need, Blue?"

He smiled at me and then grew sober, as if he were embarrassed by his request.

"You don't have to help me," he informed me.

"If I give you money, if I help you, tomorrow you won't be any better, will you?" I asked.

"I'll be the same Blue," he answered honestly.

Our conversation shifted to a longer term view of life and options.  I reminded him of previous conversations about a job in the new Opportunity Center, possibly in the new kitchen.

"But, I've got to have you sober, Blue.  If you want a job, I'll be depending on you to be sober and able to stay on the job," I reminded him.

I told him that I believed that he didn't need anyone to "give" him anything but a shot, an opportunity, a second chance.

As I spoke those words, he broke down.

"Do you know that I am in love with a dead woman?" he asked with tears in his eyes.

"What do you mean?" I inquired.

"My lady died.  I still love her," he explained.  He told me her name, but not much else about her death.

Still, I began to understand a bit more about my friend, about how he got our here and about his problem with alcohol.

I expressed my sympathy to him.

With tears streaming down his face, he begged me, "Give me a job, please, give me a job!  What I need is a second chance."

Who doesn't?

We continued talking about the options that were ahead, including possible housing in our Cottages development just down the street, a vast improvement on the driveway in front of the Merindeno's filling station next door where he beds down each night.

He lingered longer than normal.

As I was picking up my stuff to leave, he helped me load up.

As I prepared to leave, he wrapped me in a bear hug and said, "I love you, Mr. Craig James [oh, yeah, I forgot to mention he calls me Mr.Craig James!], I love you man!" 

"I love you, too, Blue!  I love you too," I told him.

I drove away, emotionally spent and thinking about a job and a house for my friend who deserves a "second chance" every bit as much as I do.

Trouble is, if he's anything like me, just one more chance won't be enough.

Making change safe. . .

Space for Change to Take Place
Henri Nouwen

Hospitality means primarily the creation of a free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines. It is not to lead our neighbor into a corner where there are no alternatives left, but to open a wide spectrum of options for choice and commitment.

Source: Reaching Out

"Dangerous" Christians

Here's an interesting take on faith, the world and life purpose.  Let me know what you think about it. 

Dangerous Christians Who Teach Us To Live Like Jesus

Posted: 05/ 9/11 12:10 AM ET
By C.K. Robertson

Systems resist change. The old joke, "How many _____________ does it take to change a lightbulb? -- What, change!" still gets a laugh precisely because we all have experienced some kind of relational system that has been change-resistant. As things have been, so they always will be. Now, change for change's sake is not always a good thing. Sometimes it can be quite destructive. But all too often the failure of an institution to explore possible adaptation has led to years, even centuries, of setbacks and repression. Individuals who challenge the status quo are viewed as threats, and the system deals with them accordingly.

This is true whether the institution in question is corporate, government, academic, not-for-profit ... or, yes, religious. In fact, an ecclesiastical system can the most difficult, for to suggest change there is to risk being labeled a heretic or apostate who has been (as I once heard with my own ears) "co-opted by the darkness."

Throughout the Christian Church's history, "dangerous" believers have arisen, challenging comfortable definitions of who or what is acceptable to God, who can lead and who needs to keep quiet. Jesus himself was perceived as a threat precisely because he challenged seemingly unchangeable laws about the Sabbath and broke down the boundaries between the pure insiders and the unclean outsiders. It is significant that the followers of Jesus would eventually take as their primary identity marker not the rainbow or the fish, but the cross ... a constant reminder that to embrace the way of Christ is to risk following in his footsteps either figuratively or, at times, literally.

Read the entire essay here. 
C.K. Robertson is the Canon to the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and author of A Dangerous Dozen: 12 Christians Who Threatened the Status Quo But Taught Us to Live like Jesus.

Lincoln 1862

Annual Message to Congress -- Concluding Remarks

Washington, D.C.

December 1, 1862

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.


Source: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler.

Ideas, change and patience

Years ago a wise person impressed upon me the truth that funding follows people and ideas. Relationships and clear thinking often combine to create the resources necessary for change and renewal.

Still, this wisdom lacks one other element that, when present, usually seals any deal designed to make things better. Simply put that element is time.

Good ideas and strong friendships or working relationships mature over time. Neither is automatic.

U. S. Navy Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of the "nuclear navy," put it this way:

"Good ideas are not adopted automatically. They must be driven into practice with courageous patience."

Change usually occurs when people are determined to "stay at it."

Soul power

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach. Any small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely. It is not given to us to know which acts or by whom, will cause the critical mass to tip toward an enduring good. What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take "everyone on Earth" to bring justice and peace, but only a small determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these--to be fierce and to show mercy toward others, both, are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity. Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.

From "Do Not Lose Heart," by Clarissa Pinkola-Estes

So, go ahead, change the world!

Not long ago I ran across a provocative essay entitle, "Ten Commandments For Changing the World," written by organizers and community activists Angela Bischoff and Tooker Gomberg.

The intent of their advice was to offer tips on where to begin, how to create and maintain momentum and enjoy the process of working for change in and among communities.

As they put it, "Changing the world is a blast. It's all the more achievable if you have some basic skills, and lots of chutzpah. With apologies to Moses, and God, here are our top ten commandments for changing the world."

Here is their list of "commandments" for community workers and leaders who want to change the world:

1. You Gotta Believe. Have hope, passion and confidence that valuable change can and does happen because individuals take bold initiative.

2. Challenge Authority. Don't be afraid to question authority. Authority should be earned, not appointed. The "experts" are often proven wrong (they used to believe that the earth was flat!). You don't have to be an expert to have a valuable opinion or to speak out on an issue.

3. Know the System. The system perpetuates itself. Use the tools you have. . . . Learn how decisions are made. How is the bureaucracy structured? Who are the key players? What do they look like? Where do they eat lunch? Go there and talk with them. Get to know their executive assistants. Attend public meetings.

4. Take Action. Do something -- anything is better than nothing. Bounce your idea around with friends, and then act. Start small, but think big. Organize public events. Distribute handbills. Involve youth. It's easier to ask for forgiveness after the fact rather than to ask for permission. Just do it! Be flexible. Roll with the punches and allow yourself to change tactics mid-stream. Think laterally. . . . Don't get hung-up on money matters; some of the best actions have no budget.

5. Use the Media. Letters to the editor of your local newspaper are read by thousands. Stage a dramatic event and invite the media -- they love an event that gives them an interesting angle or good photo. Bypass the
mainstream media with email and the Web to get the word out about your issue and to network.

6. Build Alliances. Seek out your common allies such as other community associations, seniors, youth groups, labour, businesses, etc. and work with them to establish support. The system wins through "divide and
conquer," so do the opposite! Network ideas, expertise and issues through email lists. Celebrate your successes with others.

7. Apply Constant Pressure. Persevere -- it drives those in power crazy. Be as creative as possible in getting your perspective heard. . . .

8. Teach Alternatives. Propose and articulate intelligent alternatives to the status quo. Inspire people with well thought out, attractive visions of how things can be better. Use actual examples, what's been tried, where and how it works. Do your homework. Get the word out. Create visual representations. Be positive and hopeful.

9. Learn From your Mistakes. You're gonna make mistakes; we all do. Critique -- in a positive way -- yourself, the movement, and the
opposition. What works, and why? What isn't working? Find out what people really enjoy doing, and do more of that.

10. Take Care of Yourself and Each Other. Maintain balance. Eat well and get regular exercise. Avoid burnout by delegating tasks, sharing
responsibility, and maintaining an open process. Be sensitive to your comrades. Have fun. As much as possible, surround yourself with others (both at work and at play) who share your vision so you can build camaraderie, solidarity and support. Enjoy yourself, and nourish your sense of humour.

Remember: you're not alone!

Organizing for change. . .

Antonio Gramsci, writing after World War I, describes the effects of the war on Russia and its people.

"Selfish, individual instincts were blunted; a common, united spirit was fashioned; feelings were universalized; the habit of social discipline was formed. The peasants came to see the state in all its complex grandeur, it measureless power, its intricate construction. They came to see the world no longer as something infinitely vast like the universe and as circumscribed and small as the village bell-tower, but as a concrete reality consisting of states and peoples, social strengths and weaknesses, armies and machines, wealth and poverty. Links of solidarity were forged which would have taken decades of historical experience and intermittent struggles to form. Within four years, in the mud and blood of the trenches, a spiritual world emerged that was avid to form itself into permanent and dynamic social structures and institutions." (A Gramsci Reader, page 115)

Gramsci's description of the impact of the trauma of a world war on poor workers and farmers in Russia helps explain how the people managed to come together quickly to form an entirely new political worldview and social framework for such a vast nation. The exploitation and violence of the oppressive regimes of Lenin and Stalin intervened to thwart what might have been created had it been allowed to go forward in more equitable and just ways.

The interesting point here for me is the effect of shared pain on human communities, especially on communities of common interest and experience. Clearly, the pain caused by the war and the preceding stark realities of deep poverty, extreme class disparities, disease and death created a social movement among common, very poor people.

My grandfather once told me that "you can't organize farmers." I expect he should have known. He and my dad were West Texas cotton farmers for decades. The promise and/or availability of continuing credit, no matter how bad the terms, combined with the prospects of a "better crop on the place next year," almost always blocked efforts at collective action or marketing among independent producers.

The same sort of dynamic seems to hold true here in Dallas and across the nation among poor folks, though in an even more hopeless context. It is very hard to organize people at the very bottom of the economic ladder for any sort of collective effort to bring about change or social improvement.

So much energy is expended on simply "getting by" that very few have time or resources to spare on getting together to promote change, reform or better opportunities for themselves as a group.

Mix in healthy doses of a religious fervor that continually points people away from the harsh realities of this world and on toward the next and you take away even more motivation to come together to demand changes and reform for the here and now.

Others turn to narcotics, alcohol or other abusive addictions, including unchecked sexual avarice, to deal with the pain and discouragement associated with poverty and economic failure. The "quick fix" options often crowd out the longer term requirements of community activism and organizing.

Then, there is the extremely resilient power of the persistent social and cultural notion that boasts "anyone who will work hard and follow the rules can make it in this country." Like my grandfather's friends, this takes us back to the power of the motivated individual rather than the promise of the organized group. This social myth leads people to act, vote and behave in ways that often work against their own best self-interest.

Still, Gramsci teaches me that if the pain is severe enough and the crisis deep enough, people will come together to work for better lives for everyone who shares in and understands the difficulties of poverty and the consequences following from the absence of real, widespread opportunities.

Call me naive, but I find at least a glimmer of hope in this promise. Maybe things will have to get worse in our inner cities before they actually get much better.