Who Cares?

This is a question that rings in my ears and is the title of an amazing book by David Schwartz. The whole title is Who Cares? Rediscovering Community. In this book he provides "Five Simple Solutions That Are Wrong" -- they are:

1) Rejecting Government Intervention
2) Increasing Management Efficiency
3) Promoting Volunteerism
4) Believing there is a "treatment" for troublesome people
5) Changing Government Program Funding Rapidly

David used to be the director of the Pennsylvania Developmental Disabilities Council. He still lives right outside Harrisburg and is a delightful spirit with real joy and grace in what he does and in who he is. I love these five solutions that are wrong -- because they remind me to not look for the quick fix. And also not to be an idealogue -- but to understand the value (and place) of institutions and so-called "helping" professions. David is a wonder.

In the book he also includes "Six Useful Way to Support Hospitality" -- they are:

1 (above all) Slowing the Destruction of Human Culture
2 Promoting Asking: Connecting Strangers Who Are Unlikely to Meet
3 Stimulating Associational Groups
4 Championing "Third Places"
5 Preserving Professional Healing Traditions
6 Cherishing Place and Local Economy

In Sunday's Banquet I think that we did a lot of these things (if I can be so bold). We helped slow the destruction of human culture -- through the celebration and sharing of one another's gifts. We saw strangers who were unlikely to meet in any other way or in any other place get connected. We stimulated at least one associational group (the Mapleton Fall Creek Development Corporation) -- who for the first time in its history is building a strategic plan by first listening to the voices of its residents -- NOT for their needs -- but for what they care about and what gifts that they bring. The proprietor of one of the important "Third Places" of our community -- Unleavened Bread (proprietor Ms. Elyse Womack) -- was in attendance. In preserving professional healing traditions -- we had two fairly new residents in our neighborhood -- one who is an MSW student at IUPUI who is working in the area of Mental Health and who I wrote about on Good Friday -- and another is Sarah, a pediatric physician. Both Marc and Sarah spoke about their feeling that healing comes mainly not through clinical settings (though both think such settings are important) -- but they are mainly concerned about building the health of the community, through community and through what they can offer from their professional traditions. And finally, the whole thing was a cherishing of local place and culture. There was much laughter and wonder in the room. There was the meeting of strangers who were becoming friends. It seemed like the atmosphere that I felt in our home when friends gathered as Jordan was born in the upstairs bedroom.

David Schwartz -- thank you for taking the time to help us see the gift of community and the value and place of institutions...

(Many thanks to Dan Slattery for the wonderful painting at the top of this posting)