simple truths

I have always felt as if someone forgot to include the manual when I was made. I try to watch and see what everyone else is doing. But, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.  I have finally come to the conclusion: No one knows what the hell they are doing. Can you tell me for sure, why you are here? Why you are doing what you are doing?  Yes, we can come up with some superficial answers- but frankly, we are all going to die and everything you have done will be forgotten. Erased by time.  Meaningless. A chasing after the wind. -Ecclesiastes   But we are here nonetheless and no one wants to look weird, or stupid, as if they don't know what they're doing.  We create roles and rules (that's the manual I mentioned never getting) so we can live with some direction and purpose. We try to nail it and be the best at it. All the while looking around to see what everyone else is doing to make sure we have it right. According to who? Who says they have it right? Becaus...

The Lonliest Oak A tall strong oak left in charge of a plain. Lonely, with no one around. Stuck in pride, but dread. His dreams over his head. Stuck alone, rooted to the ground With no one around. Large and boastful, but with no one to envy him. Neglected by nature, became withered. It's cold outside, and everyone has come in, but you. You're alone and rooted. Yelling with no one to hear. No one to envy him. It's cold outside, and everyone has come in but you. -Taylor C. (11 yr old)

Kneeled down on the hard floor in a closed-off, quiet, sunlit-streamed-in place. There I am. Just me now, taking up both halves of this space. Just a while ago, we had bickered and struggled, angered and raged. Deceived and ignored. So many tears have streamed down my face. For this love, I gave up everything. It broke me, but I kept on giving. Even when apart, there was nothing that could replace. He knew and I did too. I could stare a lifetime into your eyes, and he did until we part.  Despite the world's wisdom, and also, in spite of myself- I still loved him. What the world doesn't see is who I have to live with now is me. What he gave went with him. It wasn't mine to keep. Not the pain nor the heart. The love I gave is what is left in my own two hands to hold, since death do us part.

In the desperation of communities struck by poverty, war and crime around the world, occassionally there arises a narrow avenue of hope. A way out.  In Samoa young men dream to become NFL stars. In Compton they dream to become famous rappers. In Dagastan, they dream to win a UFC belt.  It only takes one brave soul to challenge the status quo... to believe they can make it. If only a few succeed in escaping a previously impossible circumstance, then the dam breaks open. The avenue of possibilities begins to light up.  Like when the four minute mile was eventually broken. It was once a feat thought to be impossible for the human body.  Suddenly it became possible. Runner after runner beat the record. So it is in these communities, it only took one person daring enough to try. It only takes one person to believe they can, to bring hope to an entire community or an entire nation.

 Not everyone notices.Most are completely unaware. The beautiful timing, and synchronized dancing of the molecules in the air. The molecules that have no idea who you are. Nor do they care. Even though you're made of them, before you made up who you are.  The notes and silences that make the sounds of the music we hear. The lyrics spoken as if an old dear friend chiming in like they were near. Singing on in perfect time to the rain playing bass on your windshield,  and your windshield wipers swipe swiping along to the rhythm of your breath  and the bumps in the road like a map that knew where each heartbeat would be left. How this moment would not exist unless every single one preceeding it had happened first. If you pay close attention, do not force nor try to control it, The ceaseless echoes sent endlessly out into the universe will tell all in time. You are here and It is now. There is truth about your place in this.  The future is the past, simply the f...

I ended my previous blog, " Why Our Programs Will Never Stop Homelessnes, " on this note, "To fix homelessness, they don't need us. We need to need them." As a follow up to this, here is a story about giving charity wrapped in dignity... One day my mother asked me to run a quick errand for her. "Will you please go knock on Ms. Trudy's door and ask if she can spare a tablespoon of salt for the bread I am baking?" My mother asked. Ms. Trudy lived next door with her two young children. "Why Mother? We have salt. You don't need Ms. Trudy to give you salt," I replied. "Because, since Ms. Trudy was laid off from her job, she is having a hard time making ends meet. Lately, she has needed to ask us for help and I can tell she feels ashamed." My mother explained. "What does that have to do with borrowing salt from her?" I questioned. "Because dear, this way she feels like she has something to give back. Consider it a t...

 What if we are totally wrong about WHY there are so many people "experiencing" homelessness? We continue to pour money into a service-based model for dealing with homelessness. Hand out food, because they lack food. Hand out clothes, because they lack money to buy clothes. Hand out tents because they lack the ability to find shelter. Rehousing programs abound and millions of dollars flood in to get "these people" off the streets. However, the number of chronically homeless people keeps rising. [Chronically homeless as defined here is distinctly separate from those facing temporary lack of housing due to job loss, sudden eviction, etc.] Despite our greatest efforts, the problem gets worse. But, what if we are trying to fix the wrong problem? People do not remain chronically homeless because of an inability to find housing or work. If highly motivated, a person could take advantage of the many programs and pull themselves up from the trenches and back on their feet. ...