Over the past three years, I have
attended a number of meetings that focused on the growing list of issues and
challenges that are so real in Milwaukee as well as in other cities across
America. The sure volume of the issues
being discussed has been surreal, to say the least. This mixture of meaningful conversations has
included me attending a number of conferences, special presentations, seminars and
workshops. In addition I have been
invited to be a part of workgroups and planning teams as well as to listen to
subject matter experts, guest speakers, writing proposals and O yes, my favorite...webinars.
As you can imagine, I have lost track of what I participated in and
of course there have been so many that I could not attend them all.
Everywhere you go; people are talking
about the “hot” issues of the day,
how to make the city better, neighborhoods safer, better housing, economic development,
job creation, mental health, gun
violence and who is doing what. This is
all good to some degree and certainly there are times in which we must make time
to have a healthy discussion about what we are dealing with. But what is interesting to me in my observations
is that certain events which highlight a particular issue also serve as a time in
which to celebrate what has been done, give out some awards, shake a few hands,
pats on the back, a decent meal, a high five here and there.
However, at the end of the day, the event
only scratched the surface of a particular problem and like the “wind”... the focus moves on to
something else. I was still looking for
the next steps in the program, the process, down the road solutions and some
closure. In the end, I guess and hope
that someone had been helped... I
believe? Maybe I am missing the
whole aim of these kinds of activities, is it to only talk about it? Or is it
to find some kind of solution? It seems like that there is a revolving door to
these kinds of events, one day they are here and the next they are gone. And if you miss out on one, perhaps something
like it will come again, real soon.
The real tragedy of all this “active engagement” of mine is the fact
that a lot of people become frustrated by the process, they don’t get involved
at all, it has become too much or they simply just walk away. The challenges and hurdles become so many
that you get a sense that no one really cares how things go, the people and the
outcomes. This stuff gets so bad
sometimes that it makes you wonder, how in the world does anyone really qualifies
for anything. In the midst of it all,
people and the communities in which they live in, bear the full brunt of the
decisions that are made and sadly the people making all the decisions do not
live there and are paid to do this kind of work. Unless you know your “why,” the true reason you get involve, then nothing else
matters. What do you think?
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