Looking for Peace.....to help or not to help?

More of a thought today.....why is it that people/organizations have to almost beg for help from people that have claimed their desire for change is priority one?  Is it because the claim has a bias to it?  Or do we offer help and assistance in a shallow way just to feel better about ourselves at that moment?

I know it may sting a bit what I have just said but the reality is while we are sitting back and considering whether or not we should help someone or an organization people are dying.....yes people are dying while we make up our minds whether to help or not.

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....loving and hating.

“I love that! Oh but I hate that!” These expressions have become very common in our society so much so that they seem to have lost their meaning and depth.

A friend posted on her face book page addressing the Love part: “People seem to take advantage of the word Love. 'I love this song/this candy/this book/etc.' It feels faded and devalued. I am trying to avoid being cavalier about its use, something I feel guilty I even have to remind myself to do.” 

Is it just a word and should we not worry about whether it holds depth or not?  If the answer were to be yes then there are a bunch of words that have started campaigns of equality and justice that would then have been for nothing.  Where else is the word Love used so much?  Well I have a church background and still involved and at times I visit other churches that are not traditional in service and all you hear is LOVE!

I asked a family member about their church and she went on about how wonderful the pastor is and sung his praises.  She tells me that we don’t have to believe in the Ten Commandments anymore because Jesus dying fixed all of that and all we have to do is Love one another and nothing else.  I felt like a puppy because I turned my head to the side out of curiosity.  I didn’t get into an argument with her but I could see the desire in her face of wanting to be right so I left it alone, will she ever know that by me leaving it alone was my expression of Love to her? and an unconditional love at that? 

The problem with this is when I have been to similar churches they usually don’t say much other than a quick verse in the Bible with a lot of “thank you Jesus” in between then a suggestion that one should Love like Jesus did.  If anyone has ever been in a relationship you know as well as I do that at some point our partner will ask “why do you love me?”  You better have a really good answer because if you don’t then it becomes obvious that you might not really know that person and they will know it based on your answer.  How do we know that Jesus loves us if you don’t really know the Brother?  Is reading scripture enough to understand Him?

Let’s move on to non-religious views on love which isn’t far from what I have already said…”I Love that book!” Is a common one I hear a lot and what I have noticed is that it sometimes is said to a person that knows the author, which would mean to the person that is expressing that Love that one day they will be introduced to the author, or trying to find something in common with someone else in hopes of friendship or more. 

What has happened in our society for us to “LOVE” everything? Or “HATE” everything?  If anything it is a sign of emptiness in our society that we are unaware of what it truly means to love someone.  Most romantic comedies the word love is used so much that it does become a cliché when used.  Hate seems to have become a favorite word for people that misunderstand something or are unclear of something’s purpose so they simple say that they hate it.  

This would mean that our society is heading to become one of absolutes in feelings, as shallow as they may be, in determining what is worthy of our attention.  How does this affect our youth in particular?  Recently there have been some youth that have been charged in attacks on people and when asked why they did it the unfortunate answers have been “I don’t know I just did it.”  When you take the time out to plan an attack lure someone into an alley and beat them it is not a “just because” it is a lack of depth in that youths life that allowed them to do what they did.

When you express the emotion of Love to someone there should be a mix of feelings involved here and that is something neither I nor anyone else can explain because it takes on different forms in different people.  For me it becomes complex, difficult, sad, exciting, and energizing to express that to someone else and I do say sad because when one truly loves someone else you will feel sad when they are not around but you still Love them.

It took a long time for me to be able to express the word Love to another man and that is something that in the “hood” you don’t do because it might mean something else.  We all know that is an ignorant way to look at it but one day I found myself grateful and inspired by an action that a Brother took in my protection and I understood it as his way of expressing his love for me.  Later on I told him “I love you Bro!” and he smiled from corner to corner and said “Yea I love you too!” and threw in a wink and there I knew that he meant that we would be Brothers within the same struggle.  

It is that depth we seek as humans to understand each and every expression in our lives so that we can have as much of a full understand as to what is going on in us.  It is human nature to ask someone that runs around saying “Jesus loves you!” or “I’m going to love you like Jesus did!” How does He love me? You need to have an answer other than “He died for our sins…” because His love is unconditional and I seriously doubt that everyone running around saying that they love like Jesus have that unconditional love inside of them!

When your partner asks you why you love them it should never be because you both like to watch Jersey shore or go out drinking every Saturday night it really needs to about your human and spiritual experience. 

There is no problem in asking why someone loves you including Jesus because that is an expression of loving right back and wanting to have that feeling of knowing so that you can Love back.

Peace/AMOR----I really mean it and ask me why I do and I will tell you.

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....can you find Peace in this?

Today marks the end of Jane Addams Hull House Association (HH) after 123 years of providing services to the needy in the Chicagoland area.

I have had some interesting exchanges with people and it has confirmed to me that our society just doesn’t get it sometimes. 

The issue has been about funding for HH and they are claiming that they owe millions and when you look over the list of the Board of Trustees you see that most people have a title of “Partner” or “Vice President” and one of them is even the “Chair” of an investment group.  So with these people as part of the Board, how is it that they did not see this problem coming a lot sooner?  Did the millions that are owed suddenly come up missing?  Did they just find out that the checks from funders bounced all of last year?

Just like any other company I am sure that the issue has been one that has been brewing for some time and I’ll be honest I know for a fact that it’s been at least for the last two years.  So why didn’t they do something about it?  I had one person say that they admire how the management has fought these past few weeks in trying their best to keep things going.  When I read this I thought to myself ‘why would you admire a last ditch effort if they have known about it this whole time?  They should have been fighting the whole time!’  Now, some will say that they did but let’s not kid ourselves here there’s doing the best you can then there’s FIGHTING for what is right!

As I read what people write on Face Book and how they are sorry to hear about what is going on and hope the best for the staff. I do not hear nor do I read any outrage at what the clients might be going through and how they will find their needs met.  We see ONE child in a foreign country without food on TV and we are DEMANDING the United Nations to do something and contacting movie stars to draw some attention to the issue.  Hull House closing down and all we can say is “oh wow, well that sucks!  Hope you can find a job in this market!  I’ll keep my eyes open and let you know if I hear of anything!”  Really?  Why is America NOT as outraged and worried when it comes to the poor within our OWN society?  Is it because we expect someone else to worry about it?  Or do we say “hey there are better opportunities here than somewhere else so if you can’t get yourself moving it’s not my problem!”  I’ve heard that one many times and that comes from a privileged point of view.  I do not mean it in a sense of “White privilege” or Kennedy family type of privilege I mean it in the sense that you made it and you are now selfish to help others get there in fear that you might end up where they are at again. 

When you truly fight for something you really do all that you can and the management team at Hull House could have stood together at a news conference and expressed their disappointment of the board to close the agency (this comes from within the management that it is the fault of the board HH is closing and not theirs) and that they needed the help of Chicagoans to help them keep the doors open.  I would have been one of the first people lining up asking what I could do to help and I know that there would have been a long line of people doing the same thing.

It didn’t occur to someone at the main office to reach out to the Mayor and ask him for help?  or to jump on a news broadcast and plead with Chicago for funds to keep the doors open?  You can’t say you tried everything when the first time you bring it out to the public that you are having problems is to let them know you are closing your doors.  ANYONE that is from Chicago knows that we are 100% loyal and we will stand strong with our people to make sure we get things done.

The simple fact is that there may have been a lack of funding but the lack of WILL was much greater and that is the true demise of Jane Addams Hull House Association.

The poor will always remain poor as long as there’s an executive making money off of their poverty.

How can anyone find Peace in all of this when their lives are being disregarded as a failed company?

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....humanity, is yours intact?

Depending on where you live in the US, obviously, the effects of youth violence may not be a big issue in your community.  Recently a report came out about the total number of murders of minors in the city of Chicago and in some communities there were zero deaths of youth but just down the street in a different neighborhood there might have been several.  What is interesting is that each neighborhood in Chicago can almost be its own little township where just crossing the street can be a world of a difference in opportunity and education.

I think about people that live in Montana and how they must see a place like Chicago, I imagine a couple sitting on their porch and hearing the news on the TV or radio as they look out at the beautiful mountains and hear about shootings and gangs.  What must cross their minds?  I’m sure that it’s out of concern about what is going on in the world and at the same time very thankful that they live where they live.  I don’t blame them for feeling that way and it would be great to have a life without worry of drive by shootings and gang violence.  It would be great to have a life without police brutality and political corruption but places like Chicago were not built for freedom of anything.  Here we have to take it whether we like it or not and it’s really not the youths fault but much more about what a system expects.

I have friends that live far from Chicago and have spent time here or in other large cities and they always say that the people in Chicago have some serious issues and that it must be something in the water that makes us the way we are.  I don’t disagree with that statement because it does seem like we all have a chip on our shoulder and we dare each other to knock it off each and every day.  

Is it because we are an urban city?  Is it because there are so many different cultures mixed in one city?  Whatever it may be it has made for an interesting experience that I wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.  I could have done without the violence as anyone else but does it mean that we just keeping moving along each year doing the same campaigns, marches, political actions, protest, etc.? 

I find it interesting that ONE person running for an office in this city really thinks that they will change it all and not to discredit anyone’s ambitions but if you have lived here long enough you should already know that the solution to the issues here is NOT via the political system in Chicago or the state of Illinois for that matter.  It really comes down to dealing with the people first hand and I know MANY people will say “but we have tried that!” and I will always say “NO you haven’t!”  I can say that because the people that have said that they have tried have not tried to be unconditional in their approach.

Here’s an example; people in the Latino community say they have worked hard to stop the violence in the community so when asked who did they work with on that the first group is ‘oh the police…’ and they go on and list a varied of groups that usually have a Zero tolerance approach to youth that might look like they might be a “trouble maker.”  The police have their place in any society but they should NEVER be used as a social worker, counselor, role model, or the standard to reach because in a city like Chicago the police force is under a lot of stress as it is so for them to fulfill those roles would mean that they are not going to let their training affect their opinions when dealing with “at-risk youth.”  The police need to be what they are and that’s a law enforcement tool and nothing else.

People usually will say that the reason they work with the police is because they are afraid of what might happen to them if they approach these “at-risk youth” on their own and I laugh because I tell them “they’re not wild animals!!” I would take caution approaching a grizzly bear at yellow Stone Park but a 15 year old kid?  What have we become to think that a 15 year old kid is dangerous to approach? 

Our perception of what youth are is what fuels the violence in our communities and that is a hard pill to swallow but it is the truth.  I was at a church where the pastor ended the service with basically condemning “gang members” and how we needed to pray to get those devils out of our communities, if he only understood who was standing behind him he might have thrown the Bible at me or his bottle of oil! 

We cannot continue to have a belief system that is based on hate because that’s how it is being expressed when we say “well if he didn’t want to get shot he should have never been out on the street! He got what was coming to him! Oh well!”  That is something I have heard more than once about a teenager being shot and killed.  What do we do different?  How can we look at things differently? 

I ask this of you, is it the best practice of humanity to disregard someone so easily and carelessly?

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....where is all that money?

When a social service agency promises to serve the community and they serve themselves first, as administrators, people usually look the other way and say ‘people need to earn a living.’  But what if that living was 20+ times greater than those that they serve?

How about a pastor at a church?  I know many pastors and all of their incomes vary greatly as do their membership or weekly attendance.  There are some pastors that do not receive a salary from the church instead use the weekly offering as the 100% fund for the church and its needs.  Then you have pastors that know how to shout and energize the crowd because they have an upcoming trip to the Bahamas and would like to upgrade their hotel accommodations.  Then you have the few that don’t really push on weekly donations and runs the place as more of an obligation than anything else and the rest fall somewhere in between all of that.

In either case the principles of both establishments are profound and that is to serve those in need.  In recent days here in Chicago we have seen news about Jane Addams Hull House Association closing its doors after a 123 year run due to lack of funding.  Then today a report comes out of our local Public radio station WBEZ 91.5FM that a pastor has been paying people to go protest in favor of local school closings. There have been many debates about underperforming public schools in Chicago and the city is holding area hearings to give the community a chance to argue the closing of the schools.

 

The report shows that the pastor’s organization has received funding of $1.4 million in recent times for programing that is assumed being run out of his church.  Somehow he must think that he will benefit from the closing of these schools, he’s been offered something from a politician, or he’s just a mule doing as he’s been told to do.  I don’t mean to call him a name but it truly seems as though he is not functioning in any capacity of reason to why it is a good thing to close a school.  Usually when you oppose an issue it’s because you have some solid ground to stand on to explain your position but the reporter was quickly told to move away from the area once they realized who she was.

Hull House has made moves in the past that have been questionable and the employees usually take the blows and keep on trying their best to give 100% to their clients even if you are getting paid for only 30 hours of work a week and your clients are expecting 40 hours of service and you give them that and more.  Last week Hull House said that they would be closing their doors at the end of March and yesterday they delivered a surprise to the Head Start program at their Uptown Center at 4520 N. Beacon Chicago, IL the administration of Hull House cancelled the food service to the Head Start program and did not notify anyone at the center about it.  The staff had to call the parents of the children and had them picked up because otherwise these children would have gone hungry for the day while in the care of Hull House.  What did these children do to the administration of Hull House to receive such a back handed treatment in services?

Hull House will of course shift the blame to someone else and they might effectively get away with it and find themselves giving the same type of careless service to other clients at another social service agency.  How do we stop these abuses?

The long term effect of these actions is what people fail to see, if a parent is unable to find appropriate child care this week they will have make some decisions quickly.  Do I ask for time off to from work to find child care?  If I do will I get in trouble?  Many of the people served in this program are low income and in the case of Uptown mostly recent immigrants that have jobs that do not usually allow for time off.  If you are running a multimillion dollar agency and you can’t add the numbers up to make sure you have enough money until the end of March then the immediate question that government agencies and foundations should have for Hull House is, what have you done with the money we gave you?!

That is where we are at right now; to all administrators at Hull House what have you done with those millions of dollars?  

I hope that those of you that read this have the courage to ask that question to them directly via phone, fax, email, or even directly face to face.

Jane Addams Hull House Association Headquarters

1030 W. Van Buren

Chicago, IL 60607

Toll Free: 800-448-0083

Phone: 312-906-8600

Fax: 312-235-5287

Email: info@hullhouse.org

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo

Looking for Peace.....in the politcial process?

“The presidency is not about an individual’s color or gender it’s about accepting the humanity in this country equally.” -GSerna

This thought came to me the other day after watching all the news reports about the republican debates and hearing them go at it with each other.  I thought to myself it’s not about the promises they make about turning this country around it’s their understanding of Humanity that I am concerned with.

We have become complacent with the candidate that will promise the most and do a convincing job of it each time they speak. 

We hear that they will create more jobs, applause! 

We hear that they will reform health care, applause! 

We hear that they will bring jobs back to America, applause!

We hear that they will reform immigration, applause!

We hear that they will…..

After all of that and more we feel like that is exactly what we wanted to hear and we go to sleep feeling better about ourselves for having participated in a Democracy.  I’m all for political participation but believing what is being promised to me is not what I do because if the promises were true 10% of the time we would be in a better place right now.

Let’s pick apart each of the above, let’s start with jobs.  Why is it that so many jobs leave the USA?  Is it that others are better at building or creating items?  Maybe they have a better work ethic than we do?  Well it’s not that what, it is this thing called Capitalism and the power it brings to corporations to make as much money as they can.  Some of you might say ‘but that’s a good thing!’ and I’m sure it is for those that are receiving our money.  It would be different if there was responsibility within that “ism” and as we know today there isn’t.   

So back to the lack of jobs, the reason jobs go overseas is simply because the wage is much lower in other countries then what it is here in the USA.  Some shows like 30 ROCK and Will and Grace have done shows were a character damns the “little brown hands” that stitched a garment because it was such a good job.  Many companies do employ child labor indirectly overseas because they just pick a factory somewhere and rarely go and do surprise visits to ensure that they are holding up to a standard.  So why don’t we make our own garments in the USA?  Mostly because the cost of labor is high and in our system of Capitalism, as it functions today, that is a big NO-NO.  Never pay your labor too much the controllable cost should always be as low as possible.  This is not to say that people shouldn’t get paid well but how is it that we have found ourselves in a place where we are complaining about high cost of items in a store but wish we had the job that made some of those products and would expect a well to do salary as well?  I’ve heard people say “I’d love a job like that but hell they going to have to pay me good!”  And there’s nothing wrong with that people should be paid a livable wage and as a society we should learn to live within our means.  To have the freedom to create an opportunity to make more is one of the things we cherish about our society and that’s great but when we complain that an item at Walmart is not on clearance yet and you hold back is just unforgiving.  

I’ve heard people complain about a loaf of bread that cost $2.29 saying they can get it cheaper somewhere else and I think to myself ‘do you realize that what you waste in gas to get to that other place out weights the cents that you think you might save at another store?’  People usually don’t.  So we are being taken advantage of when it comes to Jobs because these mega corporations know that as a society we are WILLING to spend as long as it comes cheap and fast.

Health care has been on the table so much that I doubt there is much room on it left that hasn’t been changed and the horrible thing about it is that it has a lot to do with what I just wrote about jobs.  Everyone needs to get paid and get paid very well and the pharmaceuticals are the big bully on the block because they make it seem as if they care about people but what they really care about is their pocket books.  What ends up happening is that people get twisted when we speak of Universal health care and only since President Obama mentioned it the issue became a “Socialist” idea.  The fact that the USA took over Iraq and the USA was the administrator for Iraq in its rebuilding and created Universal health care for the people of Iraq so amazing!  It’s good for Iraq and bad for America?  The answer is yes because pharmaceutical companies do not have a hold on Iraq as they do here.  So until we deal with this issue we will NOT have a health care reform policy the way ANY presidential candidate has promised. 

Back to jobs….well it’s pretty much as the above in creating jobs because to think that a president has the power to tell or even suggest a company to abandon its cheap labor force overseas is ridiculous.  So why do we believe them when they say it?  

Immigration has been a hot topic since the Native Brothers and Sisters saw a bunch of people hop off a boat with weird clothing and hats.  The idea that we can speak on immigration without addressing hate is unreal.  I do mean hate because that is how it has been expressed by the people that feel that they are affected by it the most.  What the people on the other side of the argument say is ‘have you read your history?’ and most people might say that the pilgrims was a long time ago so let it go.  What people don’t realize is that immigration was an issue that Mexico had with the USA before the USA had an issue with Mexico. 

The entire South West of the USA was Mexican territory and people will say that the USA won it fair and square and I will not debate the issue because the history is clear on it that it was NOT won fair and square….Mexico allowed immigration into its territory freely until the America settlers wanted to break off a piece of land that was already sovereign to the Republic of Mexico.  Well Mexico did what any other country would do, they ended all immigration into its territory but that was not going to be respected by many.  Here’s what Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his book about Thomas H. Benton during those times:   

“…Westerners honestly believed themselves to be indeed created the heirs of the Earth, or at least of much of it as was known by the name of North America, and were prepared to struggle stoutly for the immediate possession of their heritage.”

That is a loaded statement because it is justifying the actions that took place in taking away sovereign land from another country based on what a group of people thought about themselves and how a government followed them into the West in their support.  Could you imagine if the Mexican government supported and followed Mexicans onto what is now US territory based on a belief of a group of Mexicans that the South West of the USA is their heritage?  In terms of history this wasn’t that long ago so those feelings are still fresh in people’s minds and hearts.  So as we would like to think about immigration reform there are many obstacles to overcome and at some point someone needs to raise their hand and say ‘OK people it’s obvious this is messed up in almost every point that we look at it how do we reconcile our boarders?’ or something like that….

Now, you may be asking what all of this has to do with violence and youth, it has EVERYTHING to do with it!  The lack of jobs creates stress in whole communities that lack local opportunities of employment and that stress leads to health problems.  Those health problems need to be addressed but not everyone can afford Good medical attention.  As they hear about bringing jobs back they are given false hope because no one is dragging a corporation back to the USA for the sake of hiring someone local at a livable wage.  As for the immigration issue, people that live in poverty and are born here feel as if they need to compete against foreign nationals that are “taking away” jobs that could have been for them and they don’t realize that it is more about that job not paying a lot and putting the foreign nationals at risk in many ways then it is about them taking the jobs away from them.  No one is going to hire a US national at below minimum wage with no health benefits and work them 7 days with no breaks or lunches sometimes…it’s twisted from every corner you look at it.

How do we create change that we haven’t seen before?  I truly believe that the youth of our society has the answer in their hands as a vote and in their minds as a voice with a vote.  The 26^th amendment had its first push by non-other than President Nixon and on July 7^th 1971 it became official that the voting minimum age would be 18.  The debate started back in WWII because men being enlisted felt like they were being told to die for a country but you cannot vote in your country until the age of 21 and these same men were being drafted at 18.  So the feeling was that if they were old enough to die for their country they should be old enough to vote in their country and they are right!  The argument started up again during the Vietnam War and it was changed and so we find ourselves today with military recruits in our High Schools and ROTC programs as well basically getting minors to think about the military as soon as they get out of HS.  If we allow that then we should allow a 16 year old to vote in elections.  They may not be risking their lives on a front line on foreign soil but many decisions that are being made now is putting their future lives at risk of no health care, no social security, etc…

We as a society currently prosecute minors as adults when they commit crimes that would normally be committed by an adult.  Sometimes they are sentenced to Life in prison with no chance of parole and other times they are let out by the time the reach their adult legal age depending on the crime.  When they do come home they might not know how to act as an appropriate adult in a society that is expecting them to not act as a child but all they knew from the outside was their childhood. 

It is complicated but I think that as we have seen our society become increasingly intelligent at younger ages I believe it is time again to question if the voting age should be brought to the age of 16.  If you don’t believe they are ready I suggest you go to a school and ask to sit with a group of 16 year old youth and ask them about their families and about life and you’ll quickly forget that they only have 40mins to talk to you because they are HS students that need to move on to their next class…

Peace/AMOR

Gerardo