Ray Hoskins Blog

Personal Life Coaching, Youth Development, General Youth Advocacy

Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Filed under: Human Advocacy

"Every life on the planet has the same value." Melinda Gates

I missed the Sixty Minutes interview with Melinda and Bill Gates Sunday, but found it online yesterday.  I was absolutely blown away with the wonderful ambition imbedded in their goals, and the frame that all lives are equally important.  For me, this is a baseline spiritual principle but one which isn't observed in our society, or our political structure.  I was both inspired by Melinda's work (I have a new hero) and by the couple's leadership.  I was also envious that I hadn't made enough money in my life to do something on a similar scale.  

Most foundations, especially foundation leaders, try to get other people to do the work of their organizations while interacting with donors, governmental leaders, and others.  This leads to their being as out of touch with the true needs as those with which they interact.  Foundations would be much more effective if the leader's followed Melinda's example.

More importantly, we all could be more effective community members, and human beings, if we held to the belief that all our lives have the same value.  The life of a child in inner city Detroit inherently has the same value as the life of a child in Carmel Indiana.  If we accept that, and let that drive more of our community actions, faith based strategies and governmental policies, perhaps we all could be more effective in improving the lives of others, and of our own lives.

Of course, if we believed this, we would have to stop ranting about illegal immigrants, freeloading welfare mothers, lazy parents and others we scapegoat for our societal failures.  Instead, we would have to see each of these people as having spiritual, even economic, value and find ways to join with them in improving the lives of all of us.

Thoughts on Excellence, Systems of Care, and the Recession

This morning I was chatting with a friend who runs an excellent youth program and she was sharing that they were looking at a new building for their program today.  This is the second time since the recession has started that this program is looking at expanding.  I, personally, find that incredible.  The program is a rare one, focusing on urban youth in foster and relative care, and producing incredible results.  Over 95% of the youth in their program graduate from high school!  They have a situation in which two extremely caring, competent and dynamic people have built a program, hired and trained good staff, and worked very hard for years to serve the youth in their community.  The program is individualized, and uses group activities where they contribute to their goals.

Contrast this with discussions I had yesterday about a friend's attempt to get services at a local mental health agency.  My friend has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, which means that group therapy isn't the best choice, as groups overwhelm her.  However, the agency staff said they offer groups because that is what they can afford to offer and it helps 95% of the clients they have.  The truth is, the agency offers groups to people several diagnoses which groups don't help because the recession has led to budget cuts and they are making decisions which aren't based on the needs of those walking through their doors.  The irony to me is that they are part of a Systems of Care process.  I also heard that our state Medicaid office has decided not to cover Asperger's for services even though they are required to do so under the January standards for equal treatment for mental health.  

As I thought about it this morning, it reminded me that systems don't care, but people do.  Where large bureaucracies become reactive to recessions and mandated budget cuts people who need caring relationships with providers get told, "tough luck".  For the mental health center I suggest they remember to "do no harm", and putting autistic people in groups can be harmful.  

For the rest of us, we are facing major challenges in the recession, including proposed health care overhaul.  Do we want to be like my proactive friends who keep caring, keep pushing and find a way to succeed as a culture.  Or do we want to give up, blame the recession and say we can't afford to care for our neighbors?