Friday Books: Nothing Today but a Broken Heart

No book report today! I'm reading two books simultaneously and am about halfway through both of them. I don't like reading this way. It slows me down on both books! Hopefully I'll have something to report next week.

Meanwhile, I want to tell you a sad story. About three weeks ago a young mother was driving her children and some nieces home from a fun event. No one knows exactly what happened. She probably hit some ice; somehow she lost control. (It has been a bad ice season.) Her car spun around and ended up slamming into a truck. Three little children died. They were 11, 5, and 5. They were cousins: each of them was the daughter of one of three grown sisters. The driver lost a daughter, and so did her two sisters. The driver was badly hurt and has been in the hospital in ICU for three weeks, unable to speak and barely moving.

Here's where the story circles around to my family. While sitting in the ICU waiting room this last week, waiting for Mother-in-Law to recover from a stroke, we realized that the family sharing our space was the family from the above tragedy. They had been camped out in ICU for a long time; we could see that from the boxes of food, blankets, pillows, and other supplies they had with them.

We spoke to various of the survivors: two children, one of whom survived the accident, the husband of the injured driver, and the grandmother.

I cannot begin to imagine their pain. Their lives are forever altered. I literally hurt inside my chest, thinking about what they are going through. While we were there the young mother was transferred from ICU into a rehab hospital, so we no longer shared waiting room space with that family. I am glad we were able to speak with them and give them our condolences.

I know people all over the world are hurting from some terrible things. This family has touched my heart because I saw them up close. If you are a praying person, please pray for the M/P families as well as for other families around the world who are touched by tragedy, loss, fear, and pain. I believe we can help each other through prayer and hope.

Some Thoughts on Goodwill

I just watched a clip at Facebook regarding Goodwill and the low wages they pay some of their workers, while the CEO and regional managers rake in high salaries.

First, I was not impressed with the CEO and his comments. He called his critics "elitists," a very patronizing attitude while trying to sound professional. And he spoke in gobbledy-gook without really answering some of the reporter's questions.

However, even though my experience with Goodwill is VERY limited, it has been positive: when I worked in a public school, we had training programs aligned with Goodwill. Our students would get training at Goodwill for various types of work, then they would do job try-outs. During this job trial period, they would get paid a stipend. It was very low... about $2.00/hour. BUT, it was for a limited time, and it was considered to be part of the training experience. First they would be trained, then they would be put into the job to learn hands-on; the bit of pay was considered part of their training -- how to earn paychecks, how to deposit into the bank, how absence or illness affects one's pay, etc. Because we were a non-profit, we did not have deep pockets for paying a full salary, and the stipend was an experiential learning tool.

I believe that SOME of what the reporter was looking at was a similar thing. I noticed the very low pay rates were listed as "under contract," which to me implied that they were in a training period similar to what I just described. It seems, however, that some Goodwill locations are taking advantage of this and paying skilled workers for too long at this lower pay.

Here in Minnesota I did not ever see or hear of workers being taken advantage of so blatantly. It could be happening, but I wasn't aware of it. Many of our students, after receiving training, were then hired as regular workers at a variety of places such as Target, Goodwill itself (at minimum wage or higher), and other retail locations. They also had a banking training program which led to excellent jobs in banks, a forklift training, and an auto detailing training. Every staff member I met at Goodwill was kind hearted and interested in helping people learn. The training programs were quite good and were important stepping stones for our students.

After watching the short clip on Facebook, some readers announced, "I will never donate to Goodwill again!" I don't think this is the right response. The people affected by a dip in inventory are guess who... the disabled workers you are trying to protect. Without supplies and donations, how would they keep people employed and continue to run their training programs? I agree that the CEOs (and their board of directors, if there is one) need to take a serious look at the problem, but I urge us regular folks to continue to support Goodwill (at least here in Minnesota where I think it appears to be working well). Take other steps to communicate your dislike of the low pay situation. Contact the National Federation of the Blind to see how you can jump on their bandwagon and help create change. Don't take a drastic step of hurting your local Goodwill stores which may be far removed from the problem you saw portrayed in the Facebook clip.

That's my take on the story. Remember that a reporter's story must be short and by nature leaves out a lot of the ins and outs of the real situation. What must be done is not always so clear-cut. Learn more about it before you abandon Goodwill entirely. And definitely, if a change is needed (which it appears to be, at least in some areas), work for that change while protecting the rights of the currently employed.

That's my two cents worth!

The Proust Questionnaire

Over at the blog, A Majority of Two (see link in my sidebar), Jo shares with us her answers to the Proust Questionnaire. I had never heard of this questionnaire before, but I thought it would be fun to give it a shot. Some of these answers are a bit personal. The bad things I've revealed about myself are things that I am working on. After you read this, I trust that you will still like me! Here goes:

What is your greatest fear?
being rejected

Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Jane Addams

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
the tendency to judge

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
know-it-all

What is your greatest extravagance?
spending money on gifts.. for people I know and people I don't know.

What is your favorite journey?
a road trip to anywhere with my husband; hopefully to include a state and/or national park

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
conformity

On what occasion do you lie?
to avoid conflict

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
weight

Which living person do you most despise?
Honestly, I try not to hate anyone, but George W. Bush would be close to the top of my list.

What is your greatest regret?
parenting mistakes

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
my wonderful husband

When and where were you happiest?
my current life situation

Which talent would you most like to have?
ability to draw well using pen and ink

What is your current state of mind?
happy

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
be a better listener

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
my generosity

What is your most treasured possession?
quilts

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
being completely alone

Where would you like to live?
Pacific Northwest

If not yourself, who would you be?
Kate DiCamillo

What is your most marked characteristic?
silliness

What do you most value in your friends?
intelligence

Who are your favorite writers?
Barbara Kingsolver, Kent Nerburn, Michael Dorris

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Scout (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Who are your heroes in real life?
Jane Addams, Eleanor Roosevelt, Dr. Kelley J. (friend), Voua X. (former student)

What is it that you most dislike?
stupidity

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
wind

How would you like to die?
pain-free

What is your motto?
Love is the answer to everything.