It's good to be blogging again after such a long hiatus. I've been reading, researching on-line, checking my favorite blog (David Gilmour's Blog), and grant/report writing for my 9 to 5.... It's been a two month stretch that has been very trying on so many levels, but I'm plugging along...
The hard part has been balancing everything with my family life. It is impossible not to bring work home with me, but it has been impossible to want to do work at home. Then when I want to do work I can't get a moment to concentrate until 11:30pm!!! The end result is work that keeps piling up.
Trying to bring resources into an underserved community is nobel and satisfying work, but "doing more with less" has become tiresome to say the least. (I had to be born and persue a career in social services during the most fiscally conservative period in the field's history, didn't I...)
This is also a thankless job. No one in the community is ever satisfied with what they perceive you to be doing except for the kids and families you actually serve. I won't go into this here (just a rant now) but what has made these two months more difficult is having to deal with bad faith gestures, ego trips, and all kinds of mis-communication flying around me. Sometimes I wonder, "Why do I bother?", and then I see Noella and understand...
Below is a letter to the editor I sumbitted this week to a local paper.
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Dear Editor:
I find that more and more I am confronted with the question, “How does one build successful collaborations in a community where we either fail to listen or fail to speak out effectively?” As a social worker, it is in my blood to serve and motivate others to act to the best of my ability. Whatever the answer is to that question, I am propelled to act as my heart and mind tell me is right within the context of my knowledge and experience. The question I pose is a deeply personal one, for all around us is an insidious darkness that threatens to extinguish our better nature with mistrust, connivery, and blame. Mike Green of “ABCD Organizing” in Denver, Colorado says that building community “...begins with conversations.” Conversation is the engine that drives what people care about into action, but what about a community where people fail to listen or hear only what they want to, or speak at each other and not to each other, or speak far too much? When conversations breakdown relationships fall apart, and this community is rife with broken conversations. Last night at a community meeting I saw a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, “You must be the change you want to see in the world.” I will live by that truth and continue to serve and motivate through speaking and active listening despite the surrounding darkness that threatens. Is that the answer? I’m not sure, but I’ll keep shining my light and will let you know if I find one.
Angelo Ortiz
Inwood Community Services, Inc.
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