service

There is no official post today because of the holiday. I’ll be doing one tomorrow on nonprofit leadership (I think!).

Because this weekend is a ceIebration of our independence, I did want to say “thank you” to all the people who defend our freedom. In particular, THANKS to my two former students, Michael Rivera and Anthony Howell, both serving in the USMC. These two young men joined the Corps as teenagers so that they could grow and serve. Thank you also to Lt. Col. Ridenhour, currently deployed to Afghanistan. I am also proud of the fact that they allow me to call them “friend.”

I have worked with too many “men without chests” (C.S. Lewis) so it’s good to know that there are those capable and willing to do the work that liberty requires.

“We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.”
— Winston S. Churchill

Laid off or forced to quit (like me)? This is well worth the half hour.

I’ll be talking about health, lawyers, and such in future posts but this one will be some news/observations about schooling and family. An interesting event took place in New Hampshire recently where a small group of legislators sought to cut back on homeschooling. They were trying to institute what were described by homeschool supporters as “draconian measures.” The legislation was resoundingly defeated by the state’s organized homeschool movement. I was heartened by the homeschool victory and amused by the fact that the proposed “draconian measures” would actually have made New Hampshire law scarily like that of New York’s.

My respect for options like homeschooling and the democratic school movement continues to grow. The growth has been helped as I read the reflections of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, W.E.B. Dubois, Frederick Douglass, Henry Adams, Abraham Lincoln, and others on their own educational paths.

I look back on my own education and increasingly realize the gaps. The gaps are not evidenced by lack of prestige or professional attainment. My realization focuses on the question (and the disappointing answer) of how useful my formal education has made me to those around me. My new freedom will hopefully allow me to do something about that. I look forward to scheduling training as an EMT; getting licensed as a Ham Radio operator; becoming an NRA firearms instructor; teaching English to people intent on becoming citizens; and teaching adults and children how to crack the code so that they can begin to read.

In my perfect world, I would be able to share the lessons I have learned with children who have no families – my wife and I would love to run an orphanage. Newt Gingrich caused an uproar when he suggested that a number of poor children would be better off in orphanages. There are studies to show that he was not far from the truth for many children. I have my own experience in dealing with foster parents who seem to look at this arrangement as solely a way to make money.

My orphanage would ideally be in a remote rural area where the children would work hard, be raised in a non-denominational Christian setting, eat lots of healthy food, be raised with a lot of love, learn in a natural way that made sense for each child, engage in combative sports, and learn wilderness and social survival skills – children growing up to be decent AND strong. We wouldn’t have the best of anything but we would have an abundance of the most important things.

My former board members at Boys & Girls Harbor (you didn’t think I would leave you out of a weekend post, did you?), the foolish statements, of those being questioned by the Financial Crisis Inquiry Committee, and the proven and growing resolve of this country’s enemies show me that education has to train and develop character. Young people must be educated to become useful. Their education should prepare them to change someone else’s life and to “pay it forward.” We’ve already seen what happens when people get stuck at lower stages of moral development. The country (and the voiceless of the world) cannot continue to survive our lack of focus.

How to survive when you quit your six-figure job

This new chapter is exciting for me. I will need to learn a lot in a short period of time. This isn’t about pressure but about challenge. I am going to be putting up a video diary (click on the link above) every now and then as an experiment. I hope that people who read this will take the opportunity to share their own approaches to living in this new age.

My drama with the Harbor will continue and I will provide updates. Legal and PR paths may dictate some of this content.

“The rich are not like you and me.” F. Scott Fitzgerald had it right! For my fellow servant leaders (without the benefit of a trust fund) make sure you develop your own network, stay in touch with them and print out your contact info every six months! Don’t ever think that the Masters of the Universe will let you into the club and fear for your soul if you desire entry!

When I became the subject of the story instead of the object of some people’s philanthropic fantasies – no longer a prop – I became a problem. “Huh? Who are you? Where did you come from and how dare you disturb my reverie?!” As I said, to be continued.

I once again get to discover those people who believed in my title (attorney, chief counsel, Executive Director, Head of School) rather than me. I get to begin the ironic journey of seeking my freedom through interdependence and eagerly await my new work with another harvest.

Thanks to those of you who have already shown your support and provided your advice. I promise this won’t be boring.

What do you want to be new for you in 2010?

Tomorrow will be my last day as the Executive Director of Boys & Girls Harbor and as the Head of School for the Emily N. Carey High School(which I founded). I will be joined by the Director of Development, the Assistant Director of Development, and the Deputy Director/CFO, who have also submitted their resignations in protest. With responsibility for children in college and private school, and a school that I started and support for poor girls in India, I will definitely miss my six-figure salary. I will not miss the false bonhomie, the air kisses, or the careful commitment to mediocrity from so many members of the Harbor’s board of directors.

I will be able to breathe easier now that I will no longer be surrounded by the collective wisdom of Masters of the Universe who packaged mortgages for Bear Stearns, counseled Lehman Brothers and the Boys Choir of Harlem into failure, invested with Bernie Madoff and Marc Dreier,and who had the leadership insight to promote people like E. Stanley O’Neil to positions where they could work their “magic.” These were people who were confident in providing me with their opinions on human capital and business efficiency.

These are the people who expected me to remain silent while they planned their “investments” in the youth of my community-the community where I have spent over half a century. We were supposed to be happy with the crumbs that fell from their table and to compliment them on their generosity. They talked up the value of Midnight Basketball and dance programs and rejected a school that was positively effecting dozens of teens who had dropped out of their public high schools. The lives of all those young people from the high school who are now in college or serving their country, give lie to the value that others placed on their lives.

Well, I have turned my back on the “bread and circus” initiatives. It will be a tough financial go but I know whatever happens, my children will not be embarrassed by my path. I have learned a lot about friendship and people of action and the quicksand of “process.” I will continue to speak out about entitlement from wealth and the conveyor belt of education that poor children are relegated to by people in positions of power and wealth. My anger comes from a familial place of faith and history.

I thank all those individuals and foundations who really “got it.” I hope to work with you in the future.

“Cowardice asks the question, ‘Is it safe?’ Expediency asks the question, ‘Is it politic?’ But conscience asks the question, ‘Is it right?’ And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.” – Dr. Martin Luther King

In the end, I am left with pity for those who will never feel the pull of that conscience.

The forum will be different but the discussion will continue.