I am not the most patient person in the world. Age is helping me to get better at this virtue, but the word NOW is only second best to the word YESTERDAY to me. I have come to believe that part of the reason that my recovery has been slow is because I get depressed that this process is taking so long. I have to remind myself every day that even baby steps are still steps in the right direction. Read more…
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| 353rd Infantry near a church at Stenay, in France, wait for the end of hostilities. 10:58 a.m Nov 11, 1918, two minutes before the armistice ending World War |
Today is Veterans Day, and by my calculation, this is the 92nd year this day has been recognized in our country. Veterans Day was originally called Armistice Day, to commemorate the day that the actual fighting ended between the Allied nations and Germany during World War I. The thinking was that this “war to end all wars” would be the last of its kind, and the armistice would be remembered as the last instance of large-scale warfare between countries. With the wars that followed, the decision was made to honor the people who had served our country, and Armistice Day was renamed Veterans Day in 1954.
I share this because I am in the midst of beginning another step of my personal recovery back “home”. Through some very heartbreaking yet serendipitous circumstances, I find myself with a one-way plane ticket that is good for another eight months. That plane ticket is my literal ticket out of the city that I live in now, and it is my ticket to a brand new life. It will lead me to a life of my choice, and hopefully that life will include new friends, and new love. It will certainly lead me to a much needed change of scenery. And yet, although all of these aspects will be new to me, part of the completion of my homecoming is moving towards this new life that will reflect my deepest hopes and dreams.
My next series of blog posts will discuss how a formerly homeless single woman dares to muster the strength and the courage to move from surviving, to living and thriving. Thinking about life in general, I’ve come to realize that people (myself included) can become so stuck in the process of recovery that we forget that the end goal isn’t simply being in recovery, but the end goal is to come to a place of being recovered and re-claimed. I’m still on my journey. I’ve been in this hotel for a year and some change. I wish I could have left sooner, but part of me understands that it took a year and some change to get to this place that I’m at now mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Now, I have to give myself permission stop dragging my feet in the past with all of its horrible memories and trauma, and run towards my future with arms wide open.
The documentary ended with the pelican eventually figuring out what to do. It decided to join the other pelicans that were released back into the marshes of the Gulf. The pelicans then reclaimed their innate lifestyles. They formed a pattern in the sky, and they flew off into the sunset. It all turned out well for them at the end of the day, even after all the trauma that they were exposed to from the oil spill. They lost their home for a time, but they were able to literally and figuratively reclaim their home. I’m hoping for the same outcome.
My name is Terrah, and I will be sharing with you ways that my Community Voice Mail phone number has helped me, and I will be sharing tips on how it could help you as well. It might seem like a small thing, but having a phone number gives hope, and that hope can be the seed for so much growth in your life recovery. I hope you continue to read my post, and I wish you well in your journey. These lilies represent the fact that within the seeds of one form of life, rises the beauty of a new form of life.
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| “The isolation of poverty perpetuates it.” - Dr. Donna Beegle, Ed.D |
On September 13, the US Census reported that poverty in the United States has risen to the highest levels since 1993. How can we respond? How can we adjust the way we think about and communicate with people in poverty to help – really help?
Join Community Voice Mail National and Dr. Donna Beegle to learn how we can translate effective communication with people in poverty into our helping organizations and systems to expand our community’s capacity to care.
Donna is the only member of her family who has not been incarcerated. After growing up in generational migrant labor poverty, leaving school for marriage at 15, having two children and continuing to cope with poverty, she found herself, at 25, with no husband, little education, and no job skills. What followed in 10 short years were: self-confidence, a G.E.D., an A.A. in Journalism, a B.A. (with honors) in Communications, a Master’s Degree in Communication with a minor in Gender Studies (with honors), and completion of a Doctorate Degree.
Since rising out of poverty, Donna Beegle has studied and worked with educators, social service professionals, faith and community-based organizations, and health professionals to help large helping systems truly help by shifting ways of thinking and communicating with people in poverty. In 2006, Donna founded Poverty Bridge, a nonprofit which strives to reduce the isolation of poverty by connecting people in poverty to people who are not. Her publications, “See Poverty, Be the Difference,” and “An Action Approach to Educating Students in Poverty”, offer groundbreaking strategies for breaking poverty barriers.
This event is FREE and open to the public. Donations to Community Voice Mail National are gladly accepted.
“One day, I was taking the bus home from the grocery store. At one particular bus stop, a middle aged homeless man got on the bus. I recognized him from another bus stop. He was one of the street people that you might have seen around, or that you might know of, that doesn’t want to come inside. He doesn’t want to live in a shelter, because on some level, he thinks that living out of his shopping cart on the streets works for him.
I studied him for a bit. He had always perplexed me, and that day was no different. For example, although he was a street person, he had a pot belly. Then again, he always made his hang out post in front of restaurants on the better part of town. But one of the most interesting things about him is that he always kept a decent haircut. His clothes were never super dirty either. And, he never smelled bad, at least from a distance. And these things confused me; obviously he cared enough about himself to groom himself a bit at local places that groom the street people. He cared about washing his clothes every now and then. Yet, he chose to hang out with his bags and other rags, living out of a shopping cart.
I saw that he made his new hang-out post in front of a small Thai restaurant. I wondered to myself if his hanging out there was bringing down the property value a bit. I wondered how his hanging out there was affecting business. Then, I thought to myself that it was good that some of the local businesses were offering this man respite, or a place to rest himself, and his shopping cart. No matter what the reasons were that he chooses to stay outside to live, he had value as well. At one point, he had his health, and a normal lifestyle. He might have lost his valuable things, but there was a part of him inwardly that he was still holding on to.
Seemingly, he might have had very little worth to others, and to some, he might have been bringing down the value of the businesses in the area. But on the other hand, he seemed to be making a statement that worth is what you determine it to be.
I don’t know why he doesn’t go inside. Maybe he doesn’t think that navigating the system is an option, for all the problems he would go through at a shelter. There are others that might feel this way too. Community Voice Mail can help these people. They can assist with resources that can further add to one’s worth.”
My name is Terrah, and I will be sharing with you ways that my Community Voice Mail phone number has helped me, and I will be sharing tips on how it could help you as well. It might seem like a small thing, but having a phone number gives hope, and that hope can be the seed for so much growth in your life recovery. I hope you continue to read my post, and I wish you well in your journey. These lilies represent the fact that within the seeds of one form of life, rises the beauty of a new form of life.
