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The late Michael Novak, a Templeton Prize recipient and philosopher, quipped, “Marriage, the family unit, was the original Department of Health, Education and Welfare.”
When did parents decide the government knew how to raise children? Shifts in values and beliefs happen in the slow slide. Parents are frustrated and need help because the extended family and neighborhoods are declining. College degrees are a very expensive process and are sold as the best “way to get ahead in America.” After paying a lot of money for a degree, we need to find someone to listen to what we’ve learned, creating an unconscious bias that the trained professional has more skills and knowledge than the average parent.
Whoa…slow down; let’s take a deeper look and see how the professional is not to supplant the parent but to support the parent. It is critical for the parent to respect and rely on scientific/medical knowledge in areas of public health, but the first step in helping people is respecting them and seeing how we can learn together. Do we respect innate common sense? Do we encourage common sense? Those are important questions we need to ponder.
Over 200 years ago, De Tocqueville observed that what makes America different and great are the volunteers. We forget that our founding fathers were indeed volunteers and most had no college degree. Do we respect their innate wisdom, knowledge and skill?
Let’s learn to blend volunteerism into the daily fabric of life because it is needed in today’s crazy world.
Red Ribbon Week, Oct. 23-31, is a good time to bring back and recognize volunteerism. All across America we estimate 80 million people participate in Red Ribbon. Volunteerism is not dead but certainly under recognized. Red Ribbon recognizes and appreciate what each person does, from the kids who sell snow cones and contribute their earnings to NFP, to people who light their buildings RED. It is in the participation that people find meaning, focus, and purpose: a sense of community and others who care about us and our work.
Want to get involved? Here’s four easy ways to make a difference:
• Sign up to watch LISTEN: The Movie streaming free Oct. 21-27;
• Decorate your front door, mailbox, etc to celebrate Red Ribbon Week Oct. 23-31;
• Enter the Red Ribbon Photo Contest for a chance to win an iPad and $1,000 for your school, and
• Take the Red Ribbon Pledge.
