Normally, during the 120 days of possible good weather in Wisconsin, we get the buffet version of climate variations. You know? I little of this and a little of that. This week while Florida got its backside handed to it, we sat in our short shirt sleeves and watched our Green Bay Packers hammer the Seattle Seahawks. In a game that demonstrated the value of linemen on both sides of the ball, we prevailed.
The short shirt sleeve weather we experienced at Lambeau is hanging in for the entire week. WhoHah!
Report on the pile of boxes that mocks us every time we try to relax.
Maria and unpacked and were predictably surprised at what we found in the boxes. We rearranged. We went out for breakfast. We paid to sit in a theater to watch a Rom-Com, (Home Again, with Reese Witherspoon). And when all is said and done, we created enough room for the car in the garage. WhoHah!
Note:
For Rom Com, Home Again wasn't that bad. It was kind of like putting down my copy of the Atlantic and picking up the latest People Magazine. There is always some way to find value if you open your mind.
Challenges this week.
Mow the lawn again this month. There are more boxes to unpack. We are unraveling the pleasure dome in the backyard.
Heightened Awareness
In my wandering around the internet, I've found an interesting public problem. Homelessness. I know we hear about this problem all of the time and some of us see people afflicted. Few of us ever interact with homeless people, unless we aren't aware that they are homeless.
I've seen stories of people who are employed but can't afford shelter. Next time you see someone working in a big brick store, cleaning in a hotel, hospital or office building or cooking in the kitchen of your favorite restaurant. You may be looking at someone living in the car, couch surfing with friends or sleeping in the open.
I could divert and cover the minimum wage problem, but I won't. This time.
No, what I urge you to do is look at the problem around you. Find out how it impacts your area and how the community is working to solve the problem.
What's is obvious is that these people need shelter. Yes a dormitory style shelter to get people under a roof, as opposed to sleeping in the open, is a good bandage.
However, providing a bed sit or permanent tiny home have proved to be more an aid to moving the problem toward a better solution. The goal is moving a person or family from dependency to self-sufficiency.
If we have a permanent shelter to use, we can bath regularly, store and prepare food for meals, sleep, without worry and keep our possessions safe. To those of us who live in our own dwelling, these are benefits we assume we have and don't often have to worry about.
Think about this. What if the only possessions you had, are the things you could put in a backpack? What if you woke up one morning sleeping under a bridge? You don't know what your next meal is going to be. You need to bath. You discover your backpack has been stolen while you slept.
That room maid, the short order cook, gardener, roofer or warehouse worker could face that possibility every morning. You want to double down on the problem, add kids to the equation.
There are many solutions being tested, but by far, providing an individual safe shelter to the homeless population gets more of them moving on to self-dependency has been the most successful.
Some of the people in this population just need boost economically to move on. Many of them have drug and alcohol dependency problems that need counseling and treatment programs. Others have mental issues that are easier to treat if they have shelter, that is their residence.
Homelessness isn't a political problem. It is a social problem. We can argue about the causes, but we can also try to solve it block by block, town by town, county by county, state by state until we find a solution that works for us. We can learn from each other.
We can reduce the population in prisions. (Many people in prison are there because they have untreated mental problems.)
We can eliminate begging on the streets. We should be able to provide shelter for families in need.
We should live up to the professed belief of most religions and our evaluation of human rights. We must take care of those in need.
The short shirt sleeve weather we experienced at Lambeau is hanging in for the entire week. WhoHah!
Report on the pile of boxes that mocks us every time we try to relax.
Maria and unpacked and were predictably surprised at what we found in the boxes. We rearranged. We went out for breakfast. We paid to sit in a theater to watch a Rom-Com, (Home Again, with Reese Witherspoon). And when all is said and done, we created enough room for the car in the garage. WhoHah!
Note:
For Rom Com, Home Again wasn't that bad. It was kind of like putting down my copy of the Atlantic and picking up the latest People Magazine. There is always some way to find value if you open your mind.
Challenges this week.
Mow the lawn again this month. There are more boxes to unpack. We are unraveling the pleasure dome in the backyard.
- First, we have store the patio furniture. My worry here is this might mean we won't have room in the garage for the car (See above)
- Next, deflate the kiddie pool and access the extent of damage to the lawn.
- Finally drain, coil and store the hose. We can put that under the car if necessary. We tried putting the gas grill under the car. Nope!
Heightened Awareness
In my wandering around the internet, I've found an interesting public problem. Homelessness. I know we hear about this problem all of the time and some of us see people afflicted. Few of us ever interact with homeless people, unless we aren't aware that they are homeless.
I've seen stories of people who are employed but can't afford shelter. Next time you see someone working in a big brick store, cleaning in a hotel, hospital or office building or cooking in the kitchen of your favorite restaurant. You may be looking at someone living in the car, couch surfing with friends or sleeping in the open.
I could divert and cover the minimum wage problem, but I won't. This time.
No, what I urge you to do is look at the problem around you. Find out how it impacts your area and how the community is working to solve the problem.
What's is obvious is that these people need shelter. Yes a dormitory style shelter to get people under a roof, as opposed to sleeping in the open, is a good bandage.
However, providing a bed sit or permanent tiny home have proved to be more an aid to moving the problem toward a better solution. The goal is moving a person or family from dependency to self-sufficiency.
If we have a permanent shelter to use, we can bath regularly, store and prepare food for meals, sleep, without worry and keep our possessions safe. To those of us who live in our own dwelling, these are benefits we assume we have and don't often have to worry about.
Think about this. What if the only possessions you had, are the things you could put in a backpack? What if you woke up one morning sleeping under a bridge? You don't know what your next meal is going to be. You need to bath. You discover your backpack has been stolen while you slept.
That room maid, the short order cook, gardener, roofer or warehouse worker could face that possibility every morning. You want to double down on the problem, add kids to the equation.
There are many solutions being tested, but by far, providing an individual safe shelter to the homeless population gets more of them moving on to self-dependency has been the most successful.
Some of the people in this population just need boost economically to move on. Many of them have drug and alcohol dependency problems that need counseling and treatment programs. Others have mental issues that are easier to treat if they have shelter, that is their residence.
Homelessness isn't a political problem. It is a social problem. We can argue about the causes, but we can also try to solve it block by block, town by town, county by county, state by state until we find a solution that works for us. We can learn from each other.
We can reduce the population in prisions. (Many people in prison are there because they have untreated mental problems.)
We can eliminate begging on the streets. We should be able to provide shelter for families in need.
We should live up to the professed belief of most religions and our evaluation of human rights. We must take care of those in need.
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