If I were starting Gifthub all over again, I might call it, "Citizens Choose: Blogging Existential Choice in a Mad World." Whether you are a giver, or whether you consider yourself a philanthropist or not, we all have to answer these two questions. They were given to me by a Jesuit friend who asks these questions of his students:
- What kind of person do you want to be?
- In what kind of world?
These are the questions we will be asked by St Peter when he goes through our permanent file (via Homeland Security probably) and admits or denies our application for Eternal Life. What kind of person did you turn out to be in the end? Did you leave the world in at least as good condition as you found it?
A good answer might involve fidelity to commitments to God and Neighbor. Good answers might include a life devoted to teaching, to public service (not just being a politician), a life devoted to the arts and culture, a life devoted to nonprofit service, a career in nursing, the ministry, as fireman, soldier or cop, or a life devoted to a business enterprise that steers an honest course, taking into account stakeholders as well as stockholders. Philanthropy might come into it too. Each of us will answer for our existential choices, even if our minds were elsewhere when we made them, as we multitasked, compromised, and slid through life with divided attention. By eternal life I don't mean to prejudge the possibility of an afterlife. "Eternity," as Blake said, "is in love with the productions of time." You have enough eternity between two heart beats to make a choice that could change the verdict.
The nature of the second question is that we cannot leave a better world all by ourselves. We can only do so in concert with others. That gets us into the arts, the media, poetry and prophecy, into keeping alive ethical traditions, into giving in all senses, and into activism, organizing, and political action. Those are the subjects I try to treat here.
I guess I'm sort of a philanthropist. I cashed in every penny of savings to start my organization. I'm working seven days a week and currently not taking a salary--living on air and waiting on 501c3 determination with hope. I don't know where the motivation to do this really came from, but part of it was to have good answers to those two questions you present. Now that we can see that what we're doing is really making a difference, when I get chills seeing the power of our idea, I will live in a box and work nights at WalMart to keep this project going. What I really love is watching people get sucked in the vortex of giving with me. People walk out of a day teaching music at Hill Elementary overwhelmed with the challenge, commenting that they can't possibly do that again. Then they call the next day and ask when they can come back. I saw one young man tentatively stepping in--until he found out his student's name was 'Heaven'. I saw his eyes light up and now he's hooked. How can I not give everything to this project?
Posted by: Jeane Goforth | April 17, 2008 at 05:49 AM
Hurrah for you, Jean. You are a hero in my book. What a pleasure to hear from you. Thank you for stopping by and for all you do for those children.
Posted by: Phil | April 17, 2008 at 09:00 AM