Michael Gaffley

The Winter Classic World Cup of Change: It is the Fashion to Make a Difference in 2010



Posted: Saturday, January 02, 2010

by
flatlinetochange

Today is a significant day. It is palindrome day, 01-02-2010. This is the day when we know how realistic our New Year's Resolution will prove to be. This is a great day for some. The news media is raving about the significant feat of Dexter Marquise McCluster , the running back of the Ole Miss Rebels. His 1000 yards rushing and 500 yards receiving in the same season is a stellar performance in the Southeastern Conference. The world is preparing for World Cup Soccer in South Africa, my homeland. We are entering the second decade of this century and the millenium goals have only begun to materialize.

I have a novel idea. We have World Cup Soccer fever. We have the cotton bowl, the orange bowl, the super bowl, the FA Cup and the World Series. Why don't we start The Winter Classic World Cup of Change. We can recognize and reward people and organizations for making a difference to the plight of children and youth in neighborhoods where it is a daily struggle to survive. The first year we can target poverty alleviation, next year, health, and then education. In fact if we change one aspect we will touch on other aspects of life and living. We can mobilize this movement for grass roots change. Come on, be a sport, join the effort and grow this idea. Every Winter we can feature our own social or human services outstanding achievements. In December we can highlight efforts in the northern hemisphere and in June the southern hemisphere. Remeber the focus is on the grass roots level. It is on what people are doing for people.

I am writing this article to remind us that this day and this year is not going to be a great year for all unless we do something about the plight of those children and young people who plight remains the same year in and year out. I refer to them as the people who have been flatlined in flatline neighborhoods. With sufficient, sustained frustration, their courage has been flatlined. The good news is that flatline neighborhoods can change. A flatline or inactivity on either an electrocardiogram or an electroencephalogram signifies death. A flatline is the opposite of change because a flatline is even direr than the maintenance of the status quo. A flatline is indicative of no energy, no movement, no pulse, no blood flow, no heartbeat, and an absence of resilience. A flatline is tantamount to being rigor mortis, rigid. A flatline can be averted through intervention, treatment and insightful involvement.

In flatline neighborhoods in South Africa, America, and around the world where there are almost no protective factors and almost no sense of community, those elements that can bring back life should be put in place. We need neighborhoods that are safe, healthy, vibrant and growth-producing. Flatline neighborhoods will come to life again when the risk factors are minimized. Policymakers, researchers, politicians, and civic leaders have a responsibility to lead rebuilding efforts in their neighborhoods.

Flatline neighborhoods must have proper infrastructure and resources. Far too many flatline neighborhoods are still without accessible schools, libraries and healthcare resources. Governments should not wait until people in flatline neighborhoods start to protest and revolt because there is a tipping point when people will say enough. How much further will you and I allow this exploitation of people to continue just because they are poor, and their color is not the same as ours, and they speak a different language?

All people in flatline neighborhoods need to know that we are all working together to cocreate a community worth living in for all in our neighborhood. The workplace is a special place where we can reconstruct our communities. We spend at least a third of our day at work. Why not spend it not only productively but also meaningfully? I have tried to create a model that can celebrate and convey meaning and purpose even in the workplace. Who said that working cannot be fun, joyous and passionate?

We will indeed know that meaningfulness has returned to life when we do for others what they need and not just what we want to. Life will have meaning when we can all enjoy the good things in life. We should all be able to enjoy a ball game, the smell of flowers, national parks, amusement parks, family outings, sunsets, freedom to worship, and participation in free and fair elections. The meaning of life should be a nonnegotiable value in life. Meaning should be a virtue. The meaning to life should be the umbrella that protects everyone from the vulnerability to and exploitation by others based on an ideology that favors people on the basis of race, creed and color. Without meaning, we will all stagnate at one point or another. Meaningfulness will be reinforced when we can all engage in service learning, corporate social responsibility, boys and girls clubs, big brothers, big sisters, and other worthwhile causes. Instead of long discussions and cheap talk about meaning, let us do something that will be meaningful. Will you? Will you?

I really want to mobilize people in organizations to make a difference in those neighborhoods where young people, children and families are struggling to survive while others waste so much and are delirious with abundance and exuberance. I want to connect with them because although their electrical time sequence measurement indicates activity and they may in fact be busy and active, their flatline is the result of a complete breakdown of their relationships and everything

that gives meaning to their lives. Mark Barton, Seung-Hui Cho, Robert Hawkins, Joseph Pallipurath, Terry Ratzmann, Norman Afzal Simons, Robert Stewart, Bryan Uyesugi, and Jeff Weise are not just names. These are the names of people whose flatline produced a flatline tragedy that devastated neighborhoods. We need to act fast in order to avert a repeat of these kind of preventable tragedies. Many of these people were disconnected from their neighborhood of origin. There was pain. The pain was unattended. The pain generated more pain. When will we debunk the myth that time heals or that time is a healer? Time in these instances was the producer of a tragic event. Each one's pain crafted and directed a plan that was enacted over time and suddenly the neighborhood realized that it ran out of time to identify and respond to flatline people.

Please get the dialogue to action energized. Let's make it the fashion and style of 2010 to help, be helpful and to lend a helping hand.

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