Take Heart, and Get the Right Bench

I was inspired by this quote Michael posted on Orange Crate Art to look up its author, Jacqueline Novogratz. (Thank you, Michael.)
Novogratz said:

"I think if there’s one thing I’ve learned in thirty-five years, it’s the opposite of poverty isn’t wealth.
The opposite of poverty is dignity.”

Michael found it on an episode of Alan Alda's podcast, Clear + Vivid:
omny.fm/shows/clear-vivid-with-alan-alda/jacqueline-novogratz-more-than-money-alone#description

I. Change the Engineering

At work, I'm always trying to say something like that about dignity. Like, for two-plus years, I kept saying,
"Hey, everybody, let's not leave free food for people ON THE GROUND, like  animal feed."

But what's most effective isn't inspiring speeches and insights:
more often, it's about supplying the RIGHT TOOL to hand, making it easy to do the right thing.

I was putting boxes of free food on plastic milk crates; the crates would get taken; the food went back on the floor. 
Tired of scrounging for a crate, sometimes I'd put food boxes on the floor too, even though I hate that.

Then a few months ago, my coworker Jesse cut down a long, heavy (donated) bench to fit in our vestibule.
It was my suggestion, but it was his elbow grease--he put in a lot of work, and it was optional.
Now everyone puts the free food up on the bench.

A public health teacher years ago taught me something that changed my life:
The best way to make change is to change the engineering of the situation. People will take a different, better path, if the path exists.

II. Despair Management

I need more encouraging examples like Novogratz.

I don't find them very often at work.
We are doing good, just by making thrift happen.
And Big Boss says the right things---he's an amazing, inspiring speaker, and he addresses a wide range of audiences around town--so I trust he does good that way.
But at work he's almost a non-starter at changing the engineering. He trusts in prayer. I kinda don't, beyond its role in despair management, which is, of course, crucial, if that works for you.

I'm sorry to say, though, a lot of my coworkers are so discouraged by the overwhelming needs we face, they sometimes (often?) blame the people in need.

I get it. If I let myself feel, really feel, what life is like for just one of the people living outside the store, I would curl up and die.
Or I would condemn myself for not giving my entire life away.

I know this is partly behind my mother's suicide--her not being able to cope with the suffering of the world.
Despair means "loss of hope". (From Latin: de- ‘down from’ + sperare ‘to hope’.)
Despair kills.

So, you gotta watch out for that, the overwhelm that makes you useless not only to others but even to your own self.
I've got to watch for that, and not condemn myself for only doing little things. If I can keep doing those little things, they add up.
And importantly, they are a shield against cynicism and despair.

III. I take heart:

"Your job is not to be perfect, your job is only to be human."
Reminders like this give me permission to keep on doing the little things I can do.

Such as tidying, displaying, and adding books to the Community Library at George Floyd Square.
(Visitors come from all over the country, and beyond. Good books get taken within the same day I put them out.)

I have a small hope that since the library is on wheels (it's like a garden shed), it will survive whatever wreckage the City has planned for the quare in September.
But I tell ya, I am not counting on it.

Whatever a person does, they have to be able to weather the effects, which likely includes as much (or more) failure as success.

Krista reminded me (thanks, Krista) of a favorite quote from Capt Picard of Star Trek:

"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not a weakness. That is life."

IV. The Blue Sweater Effect

Nvogorand's personal story involves thrift stores!
Here's a little more about her, adapted from a Guardian article:

"When Jacqueline Novograd was 12 years old, she donated a favorite blue sweater* to Goodwill.
Years later, she saw the sweater on a little boy she met in Kigali, Rwanda. It even still had her name on it.

"It really demonstrated how interconnected we are as people and how much our actions and inactions can impact others," she said.

"Inspired by this, she started Acumen, a  nonprofit social venture fund that invests in global businesses that serve the poor.

"Dignity is one of Novogratz's key investment criteria.
Dignity is more important to the human spirit than wealth, she says, adding that, ultimately, dignity is connected to opportunity and choice."

 *She titled her book after the epiphany:
The Blue Sweater: Bridging the Gap Between Rich and Poor in an Interconnected World