Madeline Albright would probably agree with Caitie Whelan, whose booming voice echoed through the GWU hall on Thursday night at our self-created Truman Public Service Symposium. A few Trumans created the Symposium as a place to reflect on our own experiences in public service, and an as opportunity to explore the winding roads and gray matter between our talents and the accomplishments with which people associate us. Reflecting on the ways in which she has pulled herself out of tough times, Caitie evoked one’s individual potential to climb out of rock bottom situations by exercising three “muscles”: inspiration, creativity, and connection. “The thing I LOVE about muscle,” proclaimed our slender speaker, “Is that no one was born with big muscles, but everyone has the capacity to strengthen them.”
Just one night prior, our group had the honor of hearing from and speaking with former Secretary of State and President of the Truman Foundation, Dr. Madeline Albright. I believe Dr. Albright would have enjoyed Caitie’s Symposium presentation, because in addition to serving as the first woman Secretary of State, managing issues of ethnic cleansing, democracy, human rights, and nuclear proliferation, it turns out that Madam Secretary also loves muscles – she can leg-press up to 400 pounds! Seriously! Dr. Albright offered the expected stateswomanly analysis of the Karadzic arrest (‘a watershed event’), the future of the UN (‘too much nepotism’), and Zimbabwe (‘the South African response is a tragedy’), however she also threw in a few provocative comments, one in response to the wonderful Whelan herself. Caitie asked about the role of empathy in American foreign policy, and Dr, Albright replied that “Americans are the most generous people in the world, with the shortest attention spans.”
She described the difficulty of transforming empathy and intention into deliverable services, because although empathy exists, our current public service delivery systems makes it difficult for people to believe that anything greater than short-term relationships are possible. The ‘systems’ are more specifically national governments and the ‘relationships’ are our international interactions, be they military-, trade-, or relief- focused. It does seem, oftentimes, that our foreign policies are lacking the muscles for which Caitie advocates – destruction leaves us uninspired, bureaucracy sucks away creativity, and corruption creates mistrust and disconnection.
Dr. Albright’s words and Caities's philosophy made my mind immediately zip back to earlier in the week, Monday morning. Stretching out my tired muscles, hearing my bones cracking with every exaggerated twist, I rose at 5:30 am to spend a few hours at Miriam’s Kitchen, conducting research for my second and final Street Sense article. The Deputy Director the Kitchen had worked for many years with HIV/AIDS services. In addition to allowing me an interview as she buzzed across the room, addressing every client by full name and with a smile, she also graciously identified four HIV + homeless men willing to speak anonymously with me about their experiences with social services in DC.
There is a certain disappointment that pulls on one’s heart when you look into a human face and see it become a statistic; another HIV+ person dies, the counter ticks up. But it is a very different feeling, a sudden and disturbing shock, when you look at a statistic and see it morph into a human face. As each man shared with me his story, I forced my eyes not to widen, and my jaw not to drop. These were human voices, scrunching wrinkles around their eyes, rough palmskin inside tightly clasped hands, and deep gazes from behind their eyes into my brain. I sat and listened to the stories I only normally know though the statistics:
• African Americans represent 13% of the US population, yet nearly 50% of the HIV+ US population.
• AIDS is the leading cause of death in black women aged 25 to 34.
• Almost 60% of people receiving their drugs through the federal AIDS Drugs Assistance Program (ADAP) are from an ethnic minority, predominantly African American, yet insufficient funding for ADAP means many states are seeing long waiting lists for treatment.
Statistics sound controlled, specific, aloof, numerical and lifeless. Voices, whether you like it or not, involve you in the issue and commit you to the pursuit of a solution. But Caitie’s metaphor now challenges me. These voices were telling me that even if we all have the same capacity to build muscle, everyone does not have access to the same equipment.
With atrophied muscles it can be impossible to drag ourselves out of rock bottom. Within this one population, the HIV+ and homeless, there are obstacles so high as to completely overshadow inspiration, there are environments that even the most creative mind cannot overcome, and there is a lack of support that rules out the power of connection.
Being prime for inspiration, can seem impossible when one is shackled down – literally into a prison or hospital, or metaphorically stuck in the cycle of drug abuse. A 55 year old black man, an ex-coke addict from south Florida, sighed that, “Being an addict will wear you out. You’ve gotta deal with a lot of low-life people. And you live a lonely lifestyle...it can stress you out! And stress is not good for anyone on medication."
Being creative, or seeing beyond one perspective, goes against the very “rule of the street”, said one 53 year old black man. “You mind your business and don’t ever bother with anyone else’s”, he spoke vehemently, “If you know someone’s HIV + and still having unprotected sex or sharing drugs, you don’t tell anybody.”
Being connected is also difficult if no one will reciprocate your asks with answers. The same man explained to me that in the 1980’s, before services were widely available, “Government and religious leaders were not involved, but should have gotten involved, much earlier on.” He chastised the institutions, that “a great deal of mistrust now exists because of what took place from the offset. The Churches only opened their doors when the grants started coming to them. Or when their family members were dying. Politicians? They helped during election years. That’s the reality of it all. They come around when they want your vote.”
The system is indeed debilitated, and indeed empathy then seems naïve and foolish, as it cannot possibly transform itself into deliverable services. As my interviewees commented on, when the system is weak, people take advantage of what is offered. Those who may not need it as much as others - the asymptomatic HIV+ person compared to someone with full blown AIDS - compete for scarce resources and diminish the available pool of goods. No one is secure that the opportunity to get help will always be available, so with a logical and rational short-term mindset, they take what they can now.
When will the short-term system shift? How will the lifestyles of insecure time horizons change?
Perhaps the least mentally stable man I spoke with had the wisest suggestion – economics. “Smoking crack-cocaine kept me calm,” he said, exasperated, “But it kept me broke! I had to stop using.” But playing out the logic reveals that a market solution is still short-term, temporary, and subject to relapse. This man was clearly still using drugs, and even if he were to stop completely, what next? Where will his income come from? His social support? Any sense of stability and security? How do we make sure that short term successes sustain?
Another man confessed that he took up drugs to deal with his mother’s death, at age 17, and it was not until he had his own son that he had another opportunity to feel unconditional love for someone else, to feel that someone was expecting something of him. His son, he said, changed his life. Not only is he now clean, but he is running the HIV/AIDS programs at a local faith based organization that have changed the lives of many more men in his shoes. When I asked how he references those who come to access services (Guests? Clients? Customers?), he said, “I just call them my friends. That’s what they are.” And so it is human relationships that emerge as a manner of allowing empathy to become effective services.
Problems emerge when there are no stable systems – the homeless have no home, the sick have no health insurance, those looking for a job never had access to quality education – but systems remain unstable because of our inability to form meaningful human relationships within systems. Albright calls the inabilities of our foreign policy a “Rubik's Cube situation”, but ultimately, what does it take to build that muscle?
Any body builder will tell you the same: you need weights or equipment, a disciplined schedule of exercise, repetition of one action again and again, restating old and making new goals each week, having a work-out partner – a coach - to whom you will feel accountable to succeed. Similarly, the HIV + need drugs, a schedule to which they must adhere, a counselor or family member to help make sure adherence is achieved. Checking T-cells and viral loads every week or every three months. On this regimen we have seen The Lazarus Effect, people moving literally from deathbeds to vibrant life again. What will the muscle-building regimen of improving our public service-delivery systems look like?
It will undoubtedly take our inspired, creative, and connected energy. Adam Schmidt, fellow Truman, put it best at our Symposium by claiming that “We have more to offer than is being asked of us.” Among my peers there are any who have grown tired of the ‘systems’ not asking enough, and chosen instead to start their own nonprofits and social enterprises. This is necessary, but Caitie and Dr. Albright now push me to hope that we must also change the systems by working from within. We must start our systems on a long-term regimen, and although Albright set a high bar as a public servant by leg-pressing 400 lbs, I believe my generation’s muscle will be able to bear and lighten the heavy load ahead.
Just one night prior, our group had the honor of hearing from and speaking with former Secretary of State and President of the Truman Foundation, Dr. Madeline Albright. I believe Dr. Albright would have enjoyed Caitie’s Symposium presentation, because in addition to serving as the first woman Secretary of State, managing issues of ethnic cleansing, democracy, human rights, and nuclear proliferation, it turns out that Madam Secretary also loves muscles – she can leg-press up to 400 pounds! Seriously! Dr. Albright offered the expected stateswomanly analysis of the Karadzic arrest (‘a watershed event’), the future of the UN (‘too much nepotism’), and Zimbabwe (‘the South African response is a tragedy’), however she also threw in a few provocative comments, one in response to the wonderful Whelan herself. Caitie asked about the role of empathy in American foreign policy, and Dr, Albright replied that “Americans are the most generous people in the world, with the shortest attention spans.”
She described the difficulty of transforming empathy and intention into deliverable services, because although empathy exists, our current public service delivery systems makes it difficult for people to believe that anything greater than short-term relationships are possible. The ‘systems’ are more specifically national governments and the ‘relationships’ are our international interactions, be they military-, trade-, or relief- focused. It does seem, oftentimes, that our foreign policies are lacking the muscles for which Caitie advocates – destruction leaves us uninspired, bureaucracy sucks away creativity, and corruption creates mistrust and disconnection.
Dr. Albright’s words and Caities's philosophy made my mind immediately zip back to earlier in the week, Monday morning. Stretching out my tired muscles, hearing my bones cracking with every exaggerated twist, I rose at 5:30 am to spend a few hours at Miriam’s Kitchen, conducting research for my second and final Street Sense article. The Deputy Director the Kitchen had worked for many years with HIV/AIDS services. In addition to allowing me an interview as she buzzed across the room, addressing every client by full name and with a smile, she also graciously identified four HIV + homeless men willing to speak anonymously with me about their experiences with social services in DC.
There is a certain disappointment that pulls on one’s heart when you look into a human face and see it become a statistic; another HIV+ person dies, the counter ticks up. But it is a very different feeling, a sudden and disturbing shock, when you look at a statistic and see it morph into a human face. As each man shared with me his story, I forced my eyes not to widen, and my jaw not to drop. These were human voices, scrunching wrinkles around their eyes, rough palmskin inside tightly clasped hands, and deep gazes from behind their eyes into my brain. I sat and listened to the stories I only normally know though the statistics:
• African Americans represent 13% of the US population, yet nearly 50% of the HIV+ US population.
• AIDS is the leading cause of death in black women aged 25 to 34.
• Almost 60% of people receiving their drugs through the federal AIDS Drugs Assistance Program (ADAP) are from an ethnic minority, predominantly African American, yet insufficient funding for ADAP means many states are seeing long waiting lists for treatment.
Statistics sound controlled, specific, aloof, numerical and lifeless. Voices, whether you like it or not, involve you in the issue and commit you to the pursuit of a solution. But Caitie’s metaphor now challenges me. These voices were telling me that even if we all have the same capacity to build muscle, everyone does not have access to the same equipment.
With atrophied muscles it can be impossible to drag ourselves out of rock bottom. Within this one population, the HIV+ and homeless, there are obstacles so high as to completely overshadow inspiration, there are environments that even the most creative mind cannot overcome, and there is a lack of support that rules out the power of connection.
Being prime for inspiration, can seem impossible when one is shackled down – literally into a prison or hospital, or metaphorically stuck in the cycle of drug abuse. A 55 year old black man, an ex-coke addict from south Florida, sighed that, “Being an addict will wear you out. You’ve gotta deal with a lot of low-life people. And you live a lonely lifestyle...it can stress you out! And stress is not good for anyone on medication."
Being creative, or seeing beyond one perspective, goes against the very “rule of the street”, said one 53 year old black man. “You mind your business and don’t ever bother with anyone else’s”, he spoke vehemently, “If you know someone’s HIV + and still having unprotected sex or sharing drugs, you don’t tell anybody.”
Being connected is also difficult if no one will reciprocate your asks with answers. The same man explained to me that in the 1980’s, before services were widely available, “Government and religious leaders were not involved, but should have gotten involved, much earlier on.” He chastised the institutions, that “a great deal of mistrust now exists because of what took place from the offset. The Churches only opened their doors when the grants started coming to them. Or when their family members were dying. Politicians? They helped during election years. That’s the reality of it all. They come around when they want your vote.”
The system is indeed debilitated, and indeed empathy then seems naïve and foolish, as it cannot possibly transform itself into deliverable services. As my interviewees commented on, when the system is weak, people take advantage of what is offered. Those who may not need it as much as others - the asymptomatic HIV+ person compared to someone with full blown AIDS - compete for scarce resources and diminish the available pool of goods. No one is secure that the opportunity to get help will always be available, so with a logical and rational short-term mindset, they take what they can now.
When will the short-term system shift? How will the lifestyles of insecure time horizons change?
Perhaps the least mentally stable man I spoke with had the wisest suggestion – economics. “Smoking crack-cocaine kept me calm,” he said, exasperated, “But it kept me broke! I had to stop using.” But playing out the logic reveals that a market solution is still short-term, temporary, and subject to relapse. This man was clearly still using drugs, and even if he were to stop completely, what next? Where will his income come from? His social support? Any sense of stability and security? How do we make sure that short term successes sustain?
Another man confessed that he took up drugs to deal with his mother’s death, at age 17, and it was not until he had his own son that he had another opportunity to feel unconditional love for someone else, to feel that someone was expecting something of him. His son, he said, changed his life. Not only is he now clean, but he is running the HIV/AIDS programs at a local faith based organization that have changed the lives of many more men in his shoes. When I asked how he references those who come to access services (Guests? Clients? Customers?), he said, “I just call them my friends. That’s what they are.” And so it is human relationships that emerge as a manner of allowing empathy to become effective services.
Problems emerge when there are no stable systems – the homeless have no home, the sick have no health insurance, those looking for a job never had access to quality education – but systems remain unstable because of our inability to form meaningful human relationships within systems. Albright calls the inabilities of our foreign policy a “Rubik's Cube situation”, but ultimately, what does it take to build that muscle?
Any body builder will tell you the same: you need weights or equipment, a disciplined schedule of exercise, repetition of one action again and again, restating old and making new goals each week, having a work-out partner – a coach - to whom you will feel accountable to succeed. Similarly, the HIV + need drugs, a schedule to which they must adhere, a counselor or family member to help make sure adherence is achieved. Checking T-cells and viral loads every week or every three months. On this regimen we have seen The Lazarus Effect, people moving literally from deathbeds to vibrant life again. What will the muscle-building regimen of improving our public service-delivery systems look like?
It will undoubtedly take our inspired, creative, and connected energy. Adam Schmidt, fellow Truman, put it best at our Symposium by claiming that “We have more to offer than is being asked of us.” Among my peers there are any who have grown tired of the ‘systems’ not asking enough, and chosen instead to start their own nonprofits and social enterprises. This is necessary, but Caitie and Dr. Albright now push me to hope that we must also change the systems by working from within. We must start our systems on a long-term regimen, and although Albright set a high bar as a public servant by leg-pressing 400 lbs, I believe my generation’s muscle will be able to bear and lighten the heavy load ahead.
1 comment:
Sooo.... Once again I'm going to take something you've said about HIV/AIDS and transfer the logic to education. I love the portion about the birth of the man's son and the role that had in reshaping his attitude toward life. Middle school students in the United States often suffer from the same sort ambivalence toward their lives as this man does. They are unengaged and often have to struggle to form some coherent identity for themselves in an unforgiving social climate. A few innovative schools are taking a new approach to the problem - force 7th graders to hang out with an assigned 3rd grader for a set time each week. This is giving the 7th graders, as you say, the feeling "that someone was expecting something of [them]," because every 3rd grader automatically respects every 7th grader. Those types of relationships often seem to be more powerful than any well-designed program could ever be.
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