Social Movements

Ok, here’s the deal.  I started working for Habitat for Humanity because I wanted to make a difference in peoples’ lives:  concrete change for the better, in measurable ways.  My enthusiasm was quickly burned away by the day to day drugery of maintaining an office and a sales & fundraising environment.  I forgot what I was about and I forgot what Habitat is all about.  This isn’t a job.  I’m a footsoldier in an epic war against poverty.  While the statistics in Athens are staggering (we’re the 5th poorest county in the country), there’s a large and enthusiastic base of people willing to work for positive change.  My problem centers around tapping into this potential energy and unleashing it on the community.

 

Millard Fuller started Habitat and it was revolutionary.  The energy surrounding that needs to be rekindled.  People need to be empowered to affect the change they desire to see.

 

All of this was inspired by a series of conversations I had over the weekend with my friend Daniel Wright.  He recently spoke with Spike Jones, a leading proponent of word of mouth and social media networking, and member of the Brains on Fire company.  Anyhow, Briains on Fire is all about creating “movements” rather than “campaigns,”  i.e. John McCain had a campaign while Obama had a movement.  Movements can set a whole nation on fire starting with nothing but passion and hope.  That’s what Habitat needs right now.

I’m developing a plan.  This morning I made a couple graphics to get the juices flowing.  Here’s one:

 

the caption reads “nex ut paupertas” which translates “death to poverty”

Bill Ayers on NPR today

 Click to listen ->

On NPR’s Tell Me More, Michelle Martin interviewed Bill Ayers today.  Agree or disagree with the man, it alleviates some of the madness surrounding his “relationship” with Obama.  As far as I’m concerned, allegations of him being a terrorist are far fetched, and connecting his actions during Vietnam to the intentions of Obama are ridiculous.

 

Also, the historical context is very interesting to me.  I disagree with his tactics, but to me such action isn’t far from the events of the American Revolution.  If Bill Ayers is a terrorist, then our country was founded by terrorists.

This doesn’t happen often…

I read a news story that made me feel great today. I love the ideas and attitude behind Obama’s plan to increase service in the United States. Read the story here.

My whole job centers around working with volunteers, and I can tell you right now that America isn’t the awful bag of consumers our current foreign policy has led the world to believe. There are so many awesome folks out there who want to lend a hand that I have to turn people away all the time due to overbooking. Finding funding is ten times the problem finding volunteers is. The economy is not the government’s only responsibility. Empowering and inspiring citizens to do the right thing is huge (and I have my suspicions that the economy may benefit in return anyway).

I believe that this is a great plan, and I’d love to see these programs strengthened and given the respect they deserve.

That’s ten points for Obama in my book.