You don’t say …

I always wished I had a beautiful voice and could play one or two instruments well.

I love music.

I love how music resonates in your soul. I love how it moves you either to the beat or to a thought or feeling.

I have had this playful fantasy for years that aliens land on the earth, undetected except by me, and point their ray gun at me. They shoot. I now have the imaginary voice I always wanted. It hasn’t happened.

But I do have a voice. All of us do. Our real voice that sometimes takes us years and years to find — the authentic voice. It may not be as melodic as that singing voice, but it is often far more powerful and important. Use it.

 

Having the tools to do what?

As I see our new JFS building going up, I realize the incredible importance of having the right tools.  These are often costly, but without them the job simply cannot be done.  Having the right tools also equates to making a living for all the folks who are working to erect our building.  So in a sense tools equal jobs.  The same is true for most aspects of life — you need the tools to do what needs to be done.  You need the tool of a good accessible education so you can be a productive member of our society.  You need the tool of health to build the kind of life most of us want.  You need the tool of affordable housing and food so that you are fed and secure in order to move on with all that life has in store.  You can see where this list can go … on and on and on.

So, as a country, do we provide the tools that are needed in the pursuit of life, liberty and   happiness?  Do we provide the tools we require so that a healthy, productive, safe society can be formed and maintained?
It takes more than one individual working alone to do this.  It requires a community that cares.  It requires a community that accepts its responsibilities, even embraces these responsibilities, and experiences joy and fulfillment when the tools are being well used to build something that is lasting and good.  I think we do far better with providing the tools for our armies and navy.  We build the tools so we can engage in endless wars.  We build battleships, each at a cost so great that we could have built hundreds of schools or numerous hospitals instead.  While our armies are equipped and trained and billion even trillions are spent, our school system is collapsing, our health care system is a source of national shame and food / housing are becoming out of reach to so many.

What are we creating now in America?  What tools are we providing so the “job” of a productive life with meaning and with a caring community can be accomplished?  I just don’t know.  Or possibly I do and I am afraid of the answer.

A Year of Building…

It’s like child birth. I know it’s always a little chutzpah for a man to claim he knows anything about childbirth. I do know it hurts. I know that the word “hurts” is a tremendous understatement. But in some ways I wanted to say seeing the JFS building going up is a little like child birth. I remember the decision to build and all that went into that. I remember there were tremendous doubts about where we should buy or build, how much parking we needed. And an almost endless discussion of the financial risks and benefits. There were constant doubts as to the viability of the project and I remember that all of this together made me feel that I would completely lose my mind. There were tense moments, or more like hours or days or months, that were very painful. But I really don’t remember them. Not really. It’s more like I know they happened but no longer feel the pain. I do know that this feeling is like childbirth. One remembers the joy, the satisfaction, the thrill, the love and it is these that are the overwhelming feelings. The pain recedes to another place in our minds. Look at our new building, even though it is not yet complete. It is a statement of hope in a hopeless time. It is a statement of commitment when commitment is hard to find. It is a statement of JFS’ endurance and confidence that it will be here to serve our community well into the future. It is a statement of strength and joy in a joyless time. We build in a time when so much is being torn down and torn apart. Not us. Not those who invest in JFS. Your investment is safe in a time when no investment is safe. Do we struggle? Of course. Do we worry? Sure. Do we understand that these are terribly difficult times and we are at the center of a whopper of a storm? Absolutely. Look at our building as we near completion. See it as it rises above our worries and touches confidence and hope. We know we will make it and we will help the thousands of people who turn to JFS for help in a place of dignity and respect. And perhaps we will all be lifted just a bit to a place where the pain is forgotten and replaced by hope. Drive or walk by and see what you are building. Make an appointment to be taken on a tour – still in hard hats!!

May this be a sweet and good year to you all. A year of building. A year of strength. A year of hope. Shana Tova

- Ken

Hang In There

The poverty rate in Washington State is 11.5%. News organizations report that there has been a staggering growth in the amount of poverty in our country since the endless Great Recession began a number of years ago. It’s bad enough to have growing poverty, high unemployment and a host of other serious human service issues. But what about hope, where is it to be found? Do you have some? Do you hear others talking about how serious things are but thank G-d they are hopeful? Do you hear people talking about how things will turn around soon, that all the signs are positive? Your answer to these questions is probably “no”– there is little hope and little sense that this will pass soon. Though we want most of these terrible things to pass, there is one thing we do want to last and thrive and it is JFS. We are here. Now. In the past. In the future.

Hope is here at Jewish Family Service. We can’t cure the ills of the world or of this country or even this state or city. But we can and do help. A lot. Try us when you are in need. We are not fair weather friends; we are your caring family. Hang in there and know you are not alone.

What Do They Mean?

I wonder sometimes when people say “shrink government” exactly what do they mean?

Do they mean the over loaded bureaucracy, or the pork that various congress people in Washington manage to secure?  Do they want to shrink governmental loopholes for corporations?  Do they want to shrink the unfair taxation rules we have where private jets get a free ride?  Do they want to shrink the power of lobbyists and their capacity to buy votes?

Last week my brother told me a joke that he made up: “You know the economy is getting bad when Exxon Mobil has to lay off 50 congressmen.”  Not a bad joke, but a little too true.

I received an email from a friend saying that they heard of a couple in need who phoned JFS and were told that we had no more resources available for rent or utilities.  My friend felt that this was a terrible message to give out.  I think it’s a terrible truth to have to tell people.  We don’t have infinite capacity to take care of the ever growing poor in our community.  Sometimes we either run low or out of resources.

We usually recover and replenish some of our capacity.  We count on the generosity of individuals. People have been generous.  But needs grow faster than support.  I guess you can’t have everything.  Either government that spends its resources on the welfare of its citizens or endless, senseless wars with no tax increases to pay for them.  I guess we made our choice.

I just tacked a powerful quote by FDR above my desk.  It reads, “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself.  That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group.”  Is it only our government that could use some shrinking ?

The Myth Will Not Save Us.

Yesterday, Washington D.C. was struck by an earthquake, slightly less than six on the Richter Scale.   Is this G-D telling us something?  I don’t believe this is how G-d actually works, however it seems like someone or something needs to shake them up badly.  Unfortunately, I don’t think any amount of shaking will have the desired effect.

I wonder when President Obama makes a speech and he says, “something has to be done in Washington,” does he fully realize where he lives?  Who exactly is he talking about?  Why not tell us?  Too easy to say look at the others and see how inept and selfish they are and exclude one’s self.

Everyone is to blame.  Everyone… that includes me and you and all the folks who live in a country whose mythology about itself far exceeds the reality.  Americans love our children.  Really? 40 million are below the poverty level ; there isn’t even a policy that guarantees paid parental leave .  Everyone should have enough to eat?  Really?  Tens of millions of our citizens are on food stamps which are now being threatened with cutbacks.  (Food stamps, from the get go, were never enough to adequately feed all who are hungry in this mythological country of ours.)  Millions are without medical care.  Millions falling into poverty while the super rich become the super duper richer.

Who are we really?  A caring nation led by caring people?  A nation owned by a few whose lives are unaffected by the growing poverty, a collapsing educational system, an unavailable and unaffordable medical system?  Let’s stop the pretense, let’s stop the crowd pleasing political speeches and deal with our reality. The myth will not save us.

I just saw the movie The Conspirator.   Excellent, see it.  It tells me that when we are threatened and afraid we are more than willing to suspend constitutional rights.  With the tenth anniversary of September 11^th occurring soon, let’s face our real country and attend to its profound shortcomings.

We must become the people and country we have pretended to be for far too long.

P.S.  The $10 million Kardashian wedding (the band alone reportedly cost over $200,000) is a lovely example of money well spent in a value system that is not myth nor make-believe, but actual reality.  In other words, obscene.

“Me” vs. “We”

Rioting in London.

The Market falls more than 600 points in just one day.

The largest demonstrations in Israel in decades because of the disparity between the rich and everyone else — the people want affordable housing and food.

I wish our people would demonstrate for housing, food and jobs.

A theme is coming across loud and clear.  You cannot ignore the needs of your citizens forever.  You cannot count on Wall Street or Washington DC for fairness or even common decency.

Selfishness, a “me” vs. “we” mentality, will not lift all the boats sitting in the harbor –  only the largest of the yachts.  Ultimately that will not work.  The other boats must rise too.

JFS is here to help all in our community rise and meet the challenges they face.  We are going to get very, very busy and we already were.