Puzzles

I recently met a man who creates puzzles. It got me thinking. Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles. They are all around us. I'm constantly trying to figure things out, answer the why, understand how the puzzle works. So I thought I'd let you be privy to some things I find puzzling (in no particular order):

• How the richest nation in the world can have 24% of its children living in poverty
• How Texas can be ok being the 2nd highest state in the union for families at risk of hunger
• How advocates of abstinence only education can actually think it works
• How this country can allow 41,000,000 people to be without health insurance
• Why 6,000 teens run away every year in Dallas
• How we can spend a billion dollars on a new football stadium and let thousands of our neighbors remain hungry and homeless
• Why the Dallas Morning News puts the Cowboys on the front page
• How to get you to recognize, advocate for, and help homeless and runaway teens
• How to change your perspective about teens
• Why a 17 year old with a child would get pregnant again (I think I know how)
• Why some kids make it out of their horrible situations and some don't
• How one PH teen can do great in the program and another totally bomb out
• How a listening ear can change a young person's life

These are just a few of the puzzles I ruminate over. There are probably as many more that I could add as there are minutes in a day. But, I don't want your eyes to glaze over.

If you have any answers, let me know.

Texas is second-worst in hunger risk, U.S. says | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Texas Regional News

Texas is second-worst in hunger risk, U.S. says News for Dallas, Texas Dallas Morning News Texas Regional News

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So, I hadn't been blogging very much and was feeling kinda guilty about it. But man, oh man, am I hot today. I found the above article on page 6 of the Metro section of the Dallas Morning News. Now some of you know that I have been griping about the newsworthiness of putting the outcome of Cowboys' games on the front page. My question was, "Surely there are more important stories than that!"

Well, here is one. As a Texan, I am appalled and embarrassed that number one, this article was stuffed back in the metro section, and number two that it seems to continue to be ok with our citizens and legislature that Texas cares very little about its most vulnerable citizens. We are SECOND WORST in the United States for hunger risk. That means that we have the second highest number of individuals, families, and children who are at risk of being hungry TODAY.

GEEZ, how can we sleep at night???

On EVERY indicator of social services and safety net services offered to Texas citizens, we are either DEAD LAST or very near the bottom of the ranking of all of the United States. Pitiful.

This article should be plastered all over the front page of the paper. And, along with that, there should many, many columnists, editors, and whoever else has a voice decrying the fact that we are so pathetic in our care of the people who need it the most.

HOW IS IT that we can spends literally billions of dollars on things like new football stadiums, arenas, shopping malls, etc., while our neighbors go hungry?

I challenge the Dallas Morning News to take the lead in making these kinds of stories front page news. I challenge you, the Editorial Board, to consider people going hungry a little more important than who won the Cowboys game.

WAKE UP TEXAS! Do we really want to continue to wear the badge of one of the least caring states in these United States?

5 teens charged in fatal beating of Wylie man | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News

Stories like this are heart-breaking to me. Not only do they reinforce already bad feelings towards teens, but they remind us that we can't save all of the ones who need help so desperately. What ever would possess these guys????


5 teens charged in fatal beating of Wylie man News for Dallas, Texas Dallas Morning News Latest News

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www.advocatemag.com Oak Cliff Magazine - LAUNCH: Q&A With Judy Wright

Great article interviewing my fabulous V.P. of External Affairs about Promise House:


http://www.advocatemag.com/oak-cliff/magazine/QA_With_Judy_Wright.html?c=y

Hunger

Many of you know that I sing with Resounding Harmony, a philanthropic chorus conducted by Dr. Timothy Seeling. We are working on our fall concert (which is Sunday, November 22 at the Myerson—which should be re-named Heaven—at 8:00 p.m.—I have tickets if you want to go!). This concert is benefitting the North Texas Food Bank; and one of the pieces was commissioned and written specifically for this concert. The title is “Hunger” and tells the story of a boy who is forced to grow up very fast and care for his siblings while his mother works three jobs trying to keep food on the table (sounds just like a lot of our kids!).

Well, last night at rehearsal, when it came time to practice this piece, one of the male chorus members went up to the mic and told his story of being hungry as a child, having to fend for himself and his siblings while his parent disappeared for days at a time. Needless to say, it was quite moving, especially since this young man has become quite an accomplished musician and is doing very well in his life.

The reason I bring this up is this: 99% of our teens have gone hungry at some point in their lives. They are the boy in the song, they are his sister, they are his brother. They could be my fellow chorus member. If you’ve never been around PH during the holiday season and watched HOW MUCH food our teens consume, you have really missed something. They can’t believe they can have as much as they want, whenever they want it.

As Tim said last night: For those of us who have been privileged enough to be able to decide WHAT to eat, not IF we are going to eat, it is difficult to wrap our heads around a 10-year old boy trying to save his sister from being hungry. But we see it every day at PH.

And thank goodness, we are able to provide these kids with all the food they need and want whenever they want it—fittingly, in partnership with the North Texas Food Bank.