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.
Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry. Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while. Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...
I wonder how many millennia it would require to clean up Mumbai...or Delhi.
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