I have been doing so since 20 years ago - each year to give my time. Pro Bono as Grisham would say but I am not fighting in the court of opinion. Rather I simply give my time. To plant flower beds or clean a sidewalk; to fix a house (rather than destroy it with limited knowledge of tools) or to sort an errant computer problem or two or sit and chat with errant kids that need diserranting. Foster kids or kids with no money - things like that.
That is by far most rewarding than any job I have done in corporate America. Or any corporate for that matter. It does not pay but that is not expected. The joys of sharing an intangible and to see the outcome that is very tangible does wonders to one's morale I say.
Through these events I have also met and developed some friendships with like minded yokels - at least in the giving arena (don't really know what their thoughts about corporates are).
As far as the last weekend (where in I was still recovering from an arduous trip to the isle of Hawaii and all that hiking that followed) I was able to spend time working to clean and replant some flower gardens in Union Square in the city of San Francisco. It is amazing to discover what secrets a public park holds even in the middle of a thriving metro in a developed country.
From the usual cig butts to butt wipes to an assortment of broken glass and in one instance an IV needle were amongst the detritus cleared away from the flower and tree planters. It was a group of around 20 people from work who had given their mornings to pitch in and carve a clean square in the middle of the city. I think we accomplished said objective and left a few thousand square feet cleaner than we found it.
I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language. Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds. The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic. Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'. This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
I wonder how many millennia it would require to clean up Mumbai...or Delhi.
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