Veterans Day

First, a bit of history:

World War I hostilities between Allied nations and Germany ceased on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. On that anniversary the following year, President Wilson proclaimed November 11 the first commemoration of Armistice Day. Armistice Day wasn’t a legal holiday until 19 years later.

In the coming years American servicemen and women would serve in World War II and the Korean War. At the urging of veterans service organizations, the Act of 1938 was amended, the word “Armistice” struck and replaced with “Veterans.” On October 8, 1954, President Eisenhower delivered the first “Veterans Day Proclamation,” and we’ve observed it ever since. I won’t go into the Veterans Day 1971-1977 three-day-holiday stint except to say it was confusing, diminished significance for some, and the November 11th observance was restored.

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Veterans have their days. If at all, many of us, myself included, observe those days by posting a flag pic/call to remembrance on social media. Some attend an annual parade, year over year crowds diminishing in tandem with numbers of those honored. A few place flags or wreaths at the graves of the loved and lost.

1 in 4 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans are food insecure. I wonder how many of that 25% feels honored this Veterans Day. 

The good news is organizations like Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger are paying attention. In just the last few days, Members of Congress, too, expressed concern over high rates of food insecurity among veterans. In a letter dated November 8, 2017, to Veterans Affairs Sec. David Shulkin, US Representative Al Lawson (FL) asked the department for a 2018 report of data collected re: food insecurity among veterans. Rep. Lawson wants to expand SNAP for veterans. The following MOCs signed that letter.

Al Lawson

Michelle Lujan Grisham

Seth Moulton

Tim Walz

Peter A. DeFazio

Dwight Evans

Denny Heck

Chellie Pingree

David Scott

Kirsten Gillibrand

James P. McGovern

Tim Ryan

J. Luis Correa

Julia Brownley

John Garamendi

Jimmy Panetta

Jacky Rosen

Tom O’Halleran

Each of these MOCs has at least one thing in common. (Hint: it's a letter.) I do not know who was asked to sign.

On March 4, 1865, in his second inaugural address, President Lincoln exhorted our nation (soon to see his assassination and the Civil War’s end) to the following:

“…let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

This Veterans Day, don’t “wave a flag.” Call your MOCs (800-826-3688) and urge them to reject H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, a bill that provides massive tax cuts for the wealthy paid for by cuts to low-income programs and the safety net—programs benefitting veterans. Determine whether your MOCs are in fact patriotic, heeding Lincoln’s call to care and a "just and lasting peace." If not, next time do your patriotic duty and vote them out. 

On Zinn and Career Development

 “Small acts when multiplied by millions can transform the world.” That quote is attributed to Howard Zinn, an American historian, playwright, professor, and social activist probably best known for his A People’s History of the United States, (a book I highly recommend). When I built this website, LFPs were already multiplying. Thinking the quote appropriate, I put it at the bottom of the What We Do page. (That page needs work, BTW.) A year and a half later, I have a much better idea what it means.

Having graduated from a small liberal arts college with a degree in “English,” I enrolled in a master program to “study Faulkner” under the guise of becoming a teacher. After two years’ graduate assistance teaching Freshman Composition I and II, I went to law school (for a semester). “Teaching is a calling,” I said. “I can count the number of truly inspirational teachers I’ve had on one hand.” I wasn’t hearing the call. University of LaVerne’s website offers this: “50% – 70% of students change their majors at least once. Most will change majors at least 3 times before they graduate. Students should choose a major based on current job trends.” Many of us (me) are still trying to figure out what we want to be when we grow up.

Years later through the LFP Project I learned I love working with kids. Last week I worked with two Springdale Public Schools 4th and 5th grade EAST Initiative Program groups. The kids plan to map all NWA-area services from LFPs to LFLs to bricks and mortar pantries. They’d already mapped food deserts and hope their continued work will provide location guidance to potential pantry stewards/emergency food organizations. They’re considering the merits of website development over app development. A student asked about data. I explained because anonymity and discretion are conceptually critical, collecting data is difficult. One of the schools decided to connect with a local engineering firm about a solution.

Also last week, City of Charleston Vegan Club, Charleston Veggies & Vegans, and City of Charleston Faculty for Compassionate & Sustainable Living celebrated World Vegan Day with a potluck and party. Admission to that event was a vegan donation to the Lowcountry Blessing Box Project.

This Saturday, Algiers Point Free Lil Pantry will host a Free Lil Thanksgiving planning meeting at The Crown and Anchor English Pub.

A small act multiplied by millions does transform the world because it inspires others, whether to the same or tangential action. A small act’s greatest potential to transform the world, though, is that it creates unpredictable and diverse opportunities for connection among those in its orbit—from EAST Initiative Program students, to engineers, to vegans, to pub-goers--those connections influencing unpredictable and diverse action across disciplines. So much complexity may be found within an empty box, a small act.

Often what mediates that complexity is our simple human need to serve others--a community’s impoverished, someone at the bar. What are the current job trends? Is it any wonder we don't know what to do with ourselves? Better guidance for those of all ages might be, How will you serve?

Logistics

All day yesterday, I was a logistics manager.

Before LFP, I was a Thrivent Financial Associate. I made my own schedule, which came in handy when LFP took off since almost immediately I was working full-time on LFP-related stuff.  I maintain my securities license and affiliation with Thrivent but stepped back from a role with expectations. This means I still do some Thrivent work.

Task one: Coordinating a local poultry producer’s donation of Thanksgiving turkeys to two area churches, a task once handled by Thrivent volunteers. (It’s complicated.) On November 17th I’ll pick up and deliver 52 raw birds.

Task two: Coordinating an Indianapolis newspaper’s donation of 50 plastic newspaper boxes to LFP. I am in Fayetteville, AR, but because of the work I do (LFP) when I’m not doing my actual work (Thrivent), I have connections to Indianapolis-area groups. They’re taking it from here. 50 new projects!

Task three: Creation of a spreadsheet of Northwest Arkansas area LFPs, made for a large local corporation who will use it do community service. (26; another five unconfirmed.)

And so on until 8:15.

Poverty and distribution are the leading causes of hunger, and I spent all day yesterday on the distribution side. I'm ready to get to work on poverty. I anticipate that work, too, will have lots to do with the logistics of mobilizing people to act.