(no subject)

[liralen]

Ruminations about values and what the changes to the world that make ones 'worth'... what are they? How much does it matter that I know what changes I have or have not wrought? Or is it something like "It's a Wonderful Life" and one never knows unless one is subtracted?

I dunno.

It's odd, sometimes, to wonder about my investments in the Heifer Project or the Grameen Foundation and wonder who they've actually helped, other than the glossy picture stories that they put in their brochures. Oddly enough, it seems too far removed, especially the multiplicative nature of the Grameen Foundation. What did my giving grow into? It's been interesting wondering about the girl that got the sweater I made her when I was in college, or the half a dozen ring shawls I'd given away when I made them and my hands were still good, or the people I taught lace shawls, or the research organization that took my research results nearly two decades ago, or the folks that I built core products for only a decade ago... where are they? Did my work mean something to them?

Odd thoughts, wisps of an idea, having something to do with faith/hope/determination having some connection to survival. That a being with hope will find a way where a being with only despair won't even look and, therefore, fall, fail, or die; therefore, perhaps, the evolution of spirituality, religions, belief systems, illogical and unscientific paths of emotion and experience, and the need to believe in anecdotal experience rather than the accumulation of a statistically meaningful body of data.

All of which is mixed in with all kinds of interesting emotional stuff from watching the Raiders get stomped all over by the Buc defense. I've always hated the Raiders, no matter their form, and it's interesting to see that even when it's a completely new team with some really respectable and cool people (I mean, hey, it's Jerry RICE for gosh sake in the silver and black!), I still am glad when they lose.

Comments

[marith.livejournal.com]

*nodnods re: the importance of hope, and paths of emotion and experience*

Needing to believe in anecdotal evidence rather than data... that's why stories are so powerful, aren't they? We latch onto them and remember long after the statistics and headlines melt away. One little girl in a well, one refugee who made it big in America, one prophet can move millions.

I hope you have the time to watch the rest of Utena someday
(and pipe down!, she says to the peanut gallery); the end of the story has a lot to say about those things, and it would be neat to discuss with you.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Yay! Utena! I hope I get to see the rest, too!

And, yeah, about the stories. They seem to hit something very fundimental in people.

It would be very fun to talk about this with you sometime. *grin* I'd really like that.

[rowanf.livejournal.com]

*nods* I guess I've heard enough Grameen stories that I have a feel for it. I don't do Heifer because of the little "Noah's Ark" aknowledgement cards (no non-Xtian alternative available) but I think I have a pretty good idea what wonderful changes their work makes in people's lives. I do like the more personal touches of Childreach where I get to watch the children/family/village change as the years go by.

I don't know that I manage to make as big a differnce in my own community. Interesting thoughts.c

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Cool about Childreach.

Hmm... I do local food bank stuff, work in the soup kitchen once a quarter, and stuff like that, but it really doesn't seem to have the same kinds of impact to me. I don't know why. Face to face with people that really need the food that I'm handing out seems very different from giving someone the opportunity to make their own way. The meal of the day has far less long-term impact, I think, than opportunity.

[rowanf.livejournal.com]

Yes, I think the local foodbank feels like the wrong side of give a person a fish and they eat today, teach a person to fish and they eat many days. But the stopgap of eating today is also valuable.

Cool about Childreach.

My first sponsored child graduated from the program last year and hopes to go on to a goverment job! I now have another Sri Lankan girl (but Tamil/Hindu rather than Sinhelese/Buddhist) and recently I started sponsoring a Christian girl in Uganda.

But in addition to the long-term sponsorships, Childreach has a number of other programs, one of which is "family grants". For $250 a family in Africa (I forget which country at the moment, but one with many refugees) could get a whole new start in life - land, seed, stock and building materials for a house. For a couple of years every time I got serious about a techie toy like a new cell phone I'd send off a family grant instead. A whole new start in life! It is really quite humbling.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Oooooh! That's very cool!

Thanks for telling me about that.