Sep 10 2008
An Apology is Due
I promised a post about community organizing by Monday – and here it is Wednesday and I’ve got nothin’!
It’s not for lack of trying – just that the weight of organizing a funeral fell on me entirely, and so I just couldn’t get to it. My dad was buried yesterday with military honors, and I’ve got to find a case for the flag, along with time to talk about the service he was more known for. I guess we give out flags for military service – but I didn’t even know if my father had served long enough to have earned such honor. Meanwhile my father’s community service was exceptional, and yet here we are today, with people claiming that community service is a responsibility-free task, and otherwise thoroughly dishonoring it. If Barack Obama is elected, I would like to see a death honor for community service. We don’t have to have national cemeteries, but maybe a service medal to be hung from the coffin, and then given to the family prior to interment. Something that genuinely recognizes the value of service outside of the military.
Anyway – the premise of my promise was that I had not done a community service post. That’s not entirely true. I had done one, here.
When life settles a bit, I hope to write more, and I hope everyone still peeks in from time to time.
Editing to add: I did a search on the term “community organizing” and came across this wonderful site – I think it is for community organizing in California – but it gives a great look at community organizing at a CAREER… and reading the page gives you a broader understanding of Barack Obama’s campaign:
http://www.marininstitute.org/action_packs/community_org.htm
QT
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