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.
This autumn the weather gods cooperated as we took a family trip in the northeast to see six states that qualify or makeup what is known colloquially in America as New England. Mass, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island (tiniest state in the union). The outing helped tally up the states we either lived in, visited or have worked in to 47. Guess which three have eluded this intrepid traveling family. Any rate the drive was all in about 1,800 miles and included some memorable geographic wonders or points of interest. Easternmost part of state of Massachusetts being one. Furthest drivable road east in Mass being another. Visit to all Ivy League schools (term harkens to a collegiate athletics conference and generally regarded as elite academic institutes of some repute worldwide) is another random bucket list item of which this trip afforded the chance to knock two more of the list. Dartmouth in Hanover, NH and Brown (and its sister institute the RISD - school f
I wonder how many millennia it would require to clean up Mumbai...or Delhi.
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