If I Am Only For Myself

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am only for myself, who am I? If not now, when?"

A fairly well-known quote from Rabbi Hillel highlights our own responsibility for caring for ourselves, and each other, and the urgency with which we must act. In every way, this quote captures the essence of “good neighborliness.”

However, I find myself considering these questions from a slightly different perspective. I recently returned from a company trip to New Orleans, where we had the privilege of rebuilding houses with an organization called the St. Bernard Project, named for the parish (akin to a county) immediately adjacent to the city of New Orleans. For many Americans, Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath were little more than pictures on a television screen, posts on a Facebook page, or fodder for talk radio. The reality of what happened here has sadly been missed, misrepresented, or misconstrued. So here are a few facts:

• The population was 67,000 and the Parish had 27,000 homes and 14,000 businesses
• Unemployment rate was 4%
• Home ownership rate was greater than 70%
• Median family income was $36K
• Many residents worked as fishermen, in the trades, and at refineries
• Nine in ten residents of the Parish were white

After Katrina, ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of those homes were rendered unlivable. EVERY SINGLE HOME WAS DESTROYED. For those who left prior to the storm, there was simply nothing to come back to. All of their possessions were destroyed, their homes, their jobs – all gone.

It might be hard for people who have no experience with hurricanes to understand the mindset of the people who lived in New Orleans. Many people stayed as Katrina approached; this was a hurricane, like many others before, and nothing more. What happened to these people happened AFTER the hurricane hit – the failure of the levee system, far from a “natural disaster,” is what did the most damage in New Orleans. I won’t spend any time here debating who or what should be blamed for what happened, but the immutable fact is that thousands of our neighbors were left homeless and destitute by Hurricane Katrina – and five years later, many still are.

Which brings me back to Hillel. After my experience in New Orleans, I found myself asking a slightly different set of questions: If someone cannot be for themselves, who will be for them? And after so long, why still is no one there for them? And what or where am I?

The St. Bernard Project is just one of many organizations that exist to help us help others. I urge you to learn more about them; not because they are any better or worse than any of the other organizations out there, but because it is the one I now know, and admire. As we turn the corner on 2010, let each of us resolve to make 2011 the answer to Hillel’s final question: If not now, WHEN?

Misinterpreting Our Desire for Change

The 2010 Congressional elections are in our rear view mirrors, but I thought I'd revisit the results. While tax cuts are front and center and conversations are turning to 2011 and beyond, I contend that our leaders remain squarely on a road of misinterpretation.

In each of the past two elections, citizens have sent a message. (I say “citizens” because many of those who choose not to vote, regardless of the overall turnout numbers, are sending a message as well.) But, today’s politicians are prone to misinterpretation, even if they say they are listening.

It is too easy to say that the electorate wants “change,” especially given the stark pendulum swings we’ve witnessed in the past two election cycles. In a two-party system, the idea of change is all too enticing to the victor. Yet, in truth, change is nebulous, change is complicated, and the victorious party is eager to define change as a rejection of the other side (as opposed to really listening to what the electorate wants to see in its leaders.)

This is where our elected officials miss the boat.

In my view, the change the electorate wants is real compromise…to roll up sleeves, regardless if you are red or blue, and find some answers to the nation’s problems because guess what, we’ve got some big ones to solve. (The No Labels effort epitomizes this sentimet as well.)

But, when elections pit “me vs. thee,” voters have few options except vacillating between red and blue candidates to try to get the change they want, the change that “works.” How else can you explain a 17-point swing in Independent voters in two years!

Yes, 2010 was another election for change, but given the tone of the debate across the country this election season, I am not optimistic that newly elected officials will answer the electorate’s true call for change.

Security Screening, Safety and Spinal Tap

Well, the Thanksgiving holiday season has come and gone, and one of the biggest stories stemming from the weekend was the invasive security checks at airports. People viewed the fondling and groping to be a bit excessive (especially if it did not lead to impending membership into the Mile High Club). And, of course, there were the all-to-anatomically correct X-ray pictures that not only indicate if passengers are carrying weapons, but they “deliver” more packages than UPS during the holidays. Just imagine Nigel Tufnel’s reaction if the whole terminal, not to mention the other members of Spinal Tap could see his cucumber…yet I digress.

Despite my thinly-veiled sarcasm, these stories truly made me reflect on how much our country has changed in the past nine years. I was on one of the first few flights that was allowed to leave Chicago after 9-11. I was flying from Midway to DC, and even though I have probably flown hundreds of times since that day, I will never forget that flight and the many others I took within a few months of 9-11. We all remember the dogs in the airports, the first time we saw the locked door to the cockpit, and who could forget that no one could leave their seats 30 minutes after takeoff or 30 minutes before landing into our nation’s capital?

But, what I remember most are the conversations passengers had with each other on their flights. Regardless of whether or not a US Marshal was on board, people discussed, half kidding, who would “deal with” any threat, if heaven forbid, there was one on the flight. People would smile at these comments, but the concerns (and the needs to look out for each other) were mutual.

While I would love to believe that we lost those feelings of camaraderie only recently, I don’t believe that to be the case. Our willingness to look out for each other has waned considerably since 9-11.

But, let’s think again about the grand complaint…privacy vs. safety. I am certainly not for safety at the expense of all personal freedom, but I do find it interesting that we can’t seem to figure out how to keep those darn X-ray results private enough for passengers, yet referees go to a curtain so no one in a football stadium can see the video replay the ref sees before potentially overturning a call. This one just does not seem to be a hard call for me. Doctors, nurses, X-ray technicians all work under a veil of privacy. I’d think we could develop a system so that our TSA professionals could do the same, without broadcasting the results to the bulk of O’Hare airport.