i'm hesitant to share this story because I want to respect this person's privacy, If I provide sufficient detail, you'll understand why. Anyway, the subject of this story has been coming to dinner for a number of months now. After a series of talks, he confided his real name and through Google I've confirmed who he is (by photographs) and that he was once, among other things, national press secretary for a member of the Cabinet (in the White House).
We've met to help me continue to develop a vision/mission state that I can implement into fund proposals and frankly, seeing him listen to me voicing thoughts off the top of my head and turn them into phrases such as:
creating an."environment in which people feel comfortable/safe to explore options without ridicule and within the parameter of mutual respect among its members (among a wide range of world/cultural viewpoints)"
"The organization will not act as an enabling body. Participants must demonstrate a strong willingness to effect positive change. The organization's output is a function of the participants' input. An underlying vision of the organization is to help participants realize their value and self-worth through a model of rewards and "exponential returns" to match and surpass participants efforts. Throughout the "process" it is the hope and goal of the organization to teach about the symbiotic benefits of host and organism (community?). Ultimately, through this organic process, new levels and achievements will be reached and realized with while teaching the inextricable-intertwined nature and virtues of "getting more" from "giving more."
"Organization strives to make funding and investment decisions that have immediate impacts while also paving the road to self-sustained living (participants not dependent upon a "hand-out" or organization's monetary distributions."
has got me feeling pretty excited. In particular, I'm hoping to see these goals realized in how we work together. As he continues to help me find my voice, perhaps this will galvanize him to re-find himself.
He currently fixes bicycles and calls himself 'rider'. But I've told him that I'm going to start calling him Strider, a reference from Tolkien: "All who wander are not lost."
