The Forum on Poverty was tonight at the Callaway Public Library. About thirty people including all the speakers were in there. It was nicely said and done. The speakers on Poverty were Cynthia Kramer, Lawyer and professor at William Woods University, Robin Acree of Grass Roots Organizing, and Brenda Rose of Central Missouri Community Action each spoke about their personal and professional experiences in with poverty. Then five people responded with respect to poverty as it relates to their belief system. There was a Humanist, a Buddist, a Catholic, a Moslem and a Pagan. The director of the Fulton Housing Authority aslo gave his perspective.
The consensus seemed to be that we each need to listen better and strive to do better for others. We need to try to see how issues look from the other person's point of view. And then we need to create a government that is more responsive to the needs of the poor. There was consensus that any faith or ethical way of living including caring for others directly and in asking ourselves, 'How will this action improve the lives of others?' each time we do anything.
Speakers each quoted their own favorites. Three stand out now, though others were just as good.
That person is not a perfect Muslim who eateth his fill, and leaveth his neighbors hungry.-Prophet Muhammed
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me." Jesus
The personal is political.

Today I did flu shots at my small college. I gave shots to 75 people in an hour and a half. The whole basketball team came and got them at once. There was a line most of the time. It is good work. It is nice to be able to say I did this number. So much of what I do is not quantifiable.

I am working with a group which is organizing a forum on Poverty in America. This is described on a separate blog. There are about 12 different people invited to speak and it should be interesting. Here is a link to a blog with details:

Poverty in America Forum

I have been a facilitator with the Alternatives to Violence Project for just over a year. I go with another facilitator into a nearby prison and do a three day intensive workshop with inmates to get them thinking about their lives and how they can easily make their lives less violent. Some are amazing and really ready to change. All those attending are doing so voluntarily, so if they don't like it they can go back to what they are usually doing. We can only do workshops on weekends as they can't miss their routines Monday through Thursday. I created a web site for the Mid Missouri Alternatives to Violence Project Council and that's why I'm blogging now. I want to link this blog to the Mid MO AVP website.:
http://avp.missouri.org

No complaints, 21 days. I'm trying.

No Coplaints, 21 days.
A preacher named Bowen at a Kansas City Unity Church came up with this idea. Don't complain for 21 days. Why? Well, my life should get better if I don't complain. I will reframe the way I think and then be a happier person. And 21 days is the magic number as it has been shown to some psychologist (name not remembered) that it takes 21 days to develop a new habit.

If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it, change your attitude.
Don't Complain. -Maya Angelou

I love quotes and this one from Maya Angelou is great.

Here's the website:

http://ccunitykc.org/

So, why don't I try this?
I have actually been quite a critical person in my life. I was denied a raise a number of years ago because of my verbal complaints. My supervisor felt that my attitude affected the attitude of others around me and that if I stopped it, others would follow suit. I reallly don't know if it worked at that place. But I do have experience with cutting down my complaining.
I became much more selective about my complaining.
I didn't change the workplace environment, but I really tried. I tried making positive comments to people every day. Now several years after choosing to quit (perhaps taking May's advice-changing it) I am certain I am a happier person. I feel like I was scapegoated in that situation. I am still sad about what went on at that work place though. I felt we all had the best interests of our patients in mind but were not able to care for them to the best of our ability related to the environment created by management. So, my thoughts in this regard were not appreciated and I moved on. I left some hard working sincere friends and co workers. Most have also moved on as well though. Most of the patients who I really cared about were understanding, too. Retention was not high at that place.
I just re read the above paragraph and don't find any complaints. I was just explaining. If you disagree, please tell me.
I am trying this thing. I have a blue wrist band that says 'peace'. I've already moved it from one side to the other a few times. I will keep it up, though. I will try and see how long it takes.
This is one concern that I haven't seen raised in the things I have read:
What would Gandhi do? I mean if he hadn't asked the Bristish to go back home, where would the peaceful revolution that got India it's independance be? Was he complaining?
What I mean is: Can problems be righted without complaining?
If they can; I'm all for it.
Maybe I'm approaching this from a 'let's think this through' attitude and I need a 'let's do it.'
I'm a little skeptical about that number 21, too. How was that figured out? Who did the study that proved this? Did this researcher use good methods? Really, any number would be OK, but is this reason more valid that saying that the number 21 is mystical?
I think about the first time I took statistics (a few decades ago) and learned that one needed 32 subjects or items to study. Being in nursing, I would need to interview 32 people or have 32 pieces of data from people. Someone else could have data from 32 bugs or from 32 trees or 32 cars depending on their area of interest. Anyway, when I took statistics for graduate school 10 years ago; the magic number 32 (or was it 31, it could have been 31) had disappeared. One of the advances in statistics was that you could make statistics with any number of subjects. So that changed. How long before '21 days to develop a new habit' changes?
I gave up sucking my thumb when I was 11 years old in one week. That would be a different blog, though.
I just re read the whole thing. I don't see any complaints. If you see one, let me know, then move your wristband to the other wrist.
More soon on how this is going.