“Mother Nature is trying to wake us up,” stated a buddy as we departed a morning workout at Kinetics Fitness. It's hard to argue considering the hurricanes, fires and earthquakes dominating headlines and wreaking havoc around the globe.
Often we are helpless against powerful forces changing landscape, claiming lives and forever altering the status quo. Pondering this, the ol’ noggin marinates on pressing societal issues of our times. Unlike Mother Nature, things WE have some control over. Are we waking up?
Bessie's Hope is sure sounding an alarm about the growing number of isolated and neglected American seniors dwelling in assisted-living facilities. For more than two decades the Denver-based non profit has encouraged others to realize the importance of lovingly engaging and interacting with those unable to care for themselves. 60% of our nation’s assisted-living elderly NEVER have visitors. Each month, on the second and fourth Saturdays, A Stronger Cord's Knuckleheads volunteer. We listen, laugh, sing, dance and play games with wonderful seniors starving, not for food, but for attention. Bessie’s Hope is a powerful force changing the landscape.
The same for the Denver Dream Center. One of America’s big challenges in major metropolitan areas? The absence of a healthy family atmosphere for kids/moms living in public housing. Gangs and their destructive forces lure children into a culture providing a sense of identity, protection and financial reward. It’s a charade. The Denver Dream Center, with its “Adopt A Block” program pours love and attention toward the problem. On the first and third Saturdays of each month, ASC loves to support DDC’s infectious “Show up, smile and serve” spirit. We must wake up to the fact we’re losing too many kids to the gangs. We have to give them competition for the kids’ attention!
How can we, collectively, become a powerful force changing the societal landscape of too many marginalized and disconnected folks? How can we re-claim lives and forever alter the status quo? Just one man’s opinion but the answer lies, not in more money, but something more finite: Our time.
“The government needs help from the faith-based community in mentoring those in need,” was the clarion call at a recent meeting focused on lessening the impact of too many isolated, vulnerable and displaced humans in our midst. The smart woman is correct. It’s interesting to watch the generosity offered in relief of natural disasters. Houston Texans’ standout defensive lineman J.J. Watt has personally led a charge of raising millions of dollars for Hurricane Harvey recovery efforts. Awesome stuff.
How can we wake up American communities, regardless of race, religion or socio-economic status, to the importance of building a stronger cord to one another and offering relief from our societal disasters? How to create a storm surge of compassion? To become a powerful force forever altering the landscape through, Denver Dream Center words, “Rescuing people, rebuilding lives and restoring dreams?”
Money is not the answer. We are.
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