I’ve been thinking a lot about how to help. And reading many people and pieces that point in various ways to the problems caused (or just not solved) by the provision of services. Meanwhile, the service providers are screaming that only they know how to do it right. It seems that little people taking direct care of other little people in need, in all their messy and creative little ways, is confusing for professionals following Plans and Procedures. I hope David Brin is right about the coming Age of Amateurs, when we will all reclaim our right, responsibility and regular practice of providing for ourselves, and each other, things like grief counseling and disaster support.
When the floods came to NOLA, I suggested to my mom that she ask around for friends of friends who might need help. Within just a few hours, two different neighbors happened to mention having people down there. It turns out that one of them had already given to the Red Cross. She’s got a brother-in-law down in NOLA, but the conditioned response was to give to the anonymous agency rather than give to family. I’d like to see us reclaim for ourselves our own abilities to do good. Not buy or hire or lend or deliver good. To actually do it, feel it, see it happening, for ourselves and others.
Mulling too many pieces of community research, policy debate and current events to link it all here, but this from Ram Dass via Chris and Nipun sums it well:
As chaos increases – and there’s a lot of inertia in the system that seems to suggest that is the direction we’re going in – it behooves us to prepare ourselves to ride the changes. If, in the face of uncertainty, people are busy holding onto something, the fear increases, then the contraction increases, and prejudice increases. The question is, what are you adding to the system to shift the balance? What you’re adding is yourself, and what yourself has to be is somebody who can handle uncertainty and chaos without contracting… I’ve gotten over the feeling of being somebody special… I help people as a work on myself and I work on myself to help people.
What more can I say? How can I help?