Hugh Hollowell

OK, my friend Bill asked a legitimate (if somewhat ambitious) question: Practically speaking, what can we do to help the poor and the oppressed in our communities?

This is a question I have given a lot of thought to. In fact, as a follower of Jesus, I think I have to give a lot of thought to this. It is one of those Moral Issues.

First, let me say I do not have all the answers, and any answers I would give you, dear reader, would be dismissed as unrealistic. I will say the reason there are no easy answers is often because we are not asking the right questions.

So, you ask me, what are the right questions? Don’t ask me; ask them. Or better yet, live their life and figure it out for yourself.

Take the bus EVERYWHERE for a month; it will change your perspective on poverty and its causes. No big deal, you say? How will you get the kids from school? Groceries are now limited to what you can carry by yourself. Plot out an hour of commute time. Better hope it does not rain… This is life for thousands in your city, everyday.

Leave your wallet and all your ID at home, then have someone drop you Downtown and leave you all day. No big deal, right? Where will you use the bathroom? Get water to drink? Blow your nose, for crying out loud? The folks at that friendly coffee shop are not so friendly when you are not buying anything. What is an inconvenience to you is a lifestyle for many, everyday.

That neighborhood that you do not feel safe driving through after dark? Try sleeping there for a night. I bet for $20 someone would be glad to put you up for the night. Now imagine sleeping there every night.

This is your life now: No car, dependent upon an arbitrary bus schedule, no place to piss and unwelcome anywhere you could, limiting your grocery shopping to what you can personally carry on the bus (and from the bus to your house), standing in the rain waiting to give someone you do not know a dollar to take you to work. Think you might have a better perspective on poverty now? Hey, quit your bitching; you still have your nice (not to mention adequate) clothes, your cable TV, your air conditioning, your well nourished children.

While you are doing this, you may find you come up with the questions.

Questions like: Why did the city of Raleigh made the entire population that uses the bus [that would be the working poor] walk three blocks out of their way so some rich guys could park their customized motorcycles in Moore Square Station a few weeks ago? Why not close the “covered parking” at Moore’s Square and let the buses run? I would tell you why, but if you had walked those three blocks, you would have no doubt why.

Do all that and then try not to get mad when some well meaning “Christian” tries to give you a meal but not until they have preached to you for half an hour about how you are probably going to hell anyway. Going? Hell, you have been living it.

To answer Bill’s question; Nothing. Nothing, that is, until we can understand their problems, until we can understand that to love our neighbor means wanting the same thing for that dark skinned single mother on the bus that we want for ourselves.

Before we can ever talk about answers, we need to make sure we really understand the questions. It is not hard to figure out what the questions are; you just have to be open to hearing them.

Boy, am I busy. I am writing, writing, writing. In the last week, I have written about cellphones, about Bollywood actresses, about hockey stars, tutorials for Microsoft products, internet marketing articles and articles on business finance.

But… I am writing. And getting paid.

However, all my personal projects are falling to the wayside. So, be patient with me if I owe you an email or a call back. I will get to you… just as soon as I finish this article about the new Sony Erricson video phone…

Apparently, there was some confusion over the last post I put up, so I guess I have to explain. It seems Matt W (whoever he is) thought that Langston and I have broken up, and that this was a love poem of some sort I have written.

Wrong on two camps, Matt W, my anonymous friend; I am firmly in the heterosexual camp and the poem was written by that genius of the Harlem Renaissance, Mr. Langston Hughes. (Who, incidentally, was NOT firmly in the heterosexual camp… not that there is anything wrong with that.) The name of the poem is Still Here, and if he had never written another thing, you still could have called the man a genius.

The reason I put it up is because it summed up, far more succinctly than I am able, exactly what I am feeling right now.  Because he said it all, when asked how I am, I am able to just reply, “Still Here!”.

A quick post today, as I am  still trying to recover from my moving across the country last month, sell some books and post on about 6 blogs, but this one was too good to pass up.

The unstoppable Joyce Godsey over at the bullpen shared some very cool conservation links on her blog yesterday. There are instructions for encapsulation enclosures,  false spines, full blown recasing and more. Highly recomended you check them out.

(Tell her Hugh said hi while you are over there!)

I been scared and battered.
My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,

Looks like between ‘em they done
Tried to make me

Stop laughin’, stop lovin’, stop livin’–
But I don’t care!
I’m still here!

(with thanks to Ace, for sharing him with me)

Life has a way of changing. It was John Lennon who said that life is what happens while we make other plans, and the older I get, the more I think John was right. As I look back across the winding road that has led me to this point, I see many places where had I done just one thing different, my entire life would have changed. Sometimes, I think life all comes down to a handful of choices we make.

About 2 and a half years ago, I took up blogging for the first time. I was about to do a major change in the way my store I owned at the time operated and I thought that a blog would be a way to keep customers updated on the progress.

A good friend was a problogger, so I had some exposure to the field, but to be honest, I did not have high expectations. I went over to blogger, put my fingers to the keys…and fell in love. I liked the cathartic experience of getting it out there, I liked the feedback from readers, I liked the community of people I met and got to talk to.

Fast forward a few years (and a few blogs, to be honest), and we come to spring of this year. I had some ideas for an edgy, in your face sort of business blog, one where we did not truck with bullsh*t, one where we spoke the truth. In this blog I envisioned, it would be no place for sissies. Here people would hear about how hard business is, what it takes to persevere and how to take control of their lives.

Dear reader, I want to apologize to you, for I have failed you. Let me explain.
Over the last 4 weeks, I have thought a lot. Some of you know, but I am going through huge life changes right now. I closed a business, moved across the country and am in the middle of starting another. My life is a bit nuts, to say the least.

I find that it is in these times that we look inside ourselves, that we become more introspective, that we take stock of how things are working out, that we look inside ourselves for insight, for answers. Well, I did, and when it came to this blog, I felt like I was coming up short.

Not counting this one, I have exactly 87 posts on this blog. There are only 25 that are worth anything, and less than 6 or 7 I am actually proud of. The rest is filler: blog memes, writing contests, admin stuff…filler. I have failed with the promise I made all of you when I started this blog, and for that, I am sorry. All of that is about to change.

What does the future hold? Well, I have some plans that will be unveiled next week, but for now, let me just say that big things are underway. For me, Very. Big. Things. Stay tuned and hold on.