Being Sick

I think I have the flu. I have been laying low the last 2 days. A week ago we had our Intercommunity Novitiate Party which was fun. It was a party with Sisters of Calabrini, Holy Cross Sisters, Sisters of Casmir, Mary Knoll Sisters, Augustinians, Sacred Heart Fathers, Mary Knoll Fathers and Brothers and Sisters of St. Joseph. We had a potluck with food and dance. It was neat seeing the different ethnicities doing there singing and dancing. I got up and danced with the Africans.
There is a reading from Ronald Rolhieser that is really sticking to me the past few weeks. "Faith isn't where your head is or where your heart is. Faith is where your ass is at".  That seems to make sense to me. Some days I wake up and think where are you God. I don't feel your presences at all. Do you even exist. Then there are days where I wake up and know the presence of God in me and in my life. So do I have faith some days and not other days. I guess it is trusting in where my ass is at. That is where I am suppose to be right now. I am learning to sit and just deal with whatever comes my way. If it is something bad to try and hold it and embrace it.
I know my brother has called me Peter Pan because I am always on the fly and never seem to grow up. I think there is a lot of truth in that. I hope I am learning how to be grounded and just sit with things. But it is very tempting to go on to the next adventure and just keep going from adventure to adventure. But does doing that mean I have a superficial life. A life that is not real with any substance ? Peter Pan was the life of the party always having fun always making people feel good. Does he really connect to people in a deep meaningful way. Is there real connectivity? Is Peter Pan just avoiding pain that he doesn't want to deal with? I don't know maybe I am thinking to much.
I am really looking forward to my short Christmas break and to get out of my head for a bit. Merry Christmas everyone.
The novices attended a videotaping mass here in Milwaukee that will be shown February 2nd at 9am on the Ion channel and I believe 5:30am on February 2nd on Fox. Supposedly. And it is nation wide. I am sitting in the front row so I am sure I will be visible with my mouse nest of a beard.

 Doing an african drum march around the room, Martha -uguanda, Marcel- Nigeria, Susan - Tanzania

 These are the Holy Cross Sisters who are from India and Bangladesh

 We hosted Thanksgiving we had 3 Colombian, 1 Venezuelen, 2 Uganda priests over to celebrate

This is Father Reed our Novice Master. 

This is Susan from Tanzania. She helps me brush up on my Kiswahili

I forgot to take pictures but my roommate from college Tierney visited me. We went to the Buck vs Nets game and went to the Pabst brewery

Poverty

Milwaukee supposedly gets 190 days without sun. That is depressing just to think about

I just watched 60 minutes and Diane went to Camden New Jersey where it is one of the most poverish cities yet New Jersey is the richest state in the USA. It seemed like all that was there were drugs, abandoned buildings and schools. No shops. Most of the drugs are being bought by kids from the suburbs. The murder rate is 7 times higher than the national average. 1/3 of the teens in the city have been caught with some sort of drug activity. The parents that are there mostly single have little education and there are no jobs in the city because most of the industries have pulled out due to violence. It is sad for the kids there. They have hope and lots of them said, "For Christmas I want a home, I want a room. "There only escape is going to school.  My initial reaction was New Jersey should bull doze the whole city. But then where are all these people going to go. I’m sure the other cities don’t want these people. A kindergartener was asked what are the three meals a day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He didn’t know that because he only eats when his mom finds food. Mom can’t read, single, two kids, no house, or an apartment, can’t get a job, has no skills. What do we do? How do we change the system? There has to be answers.

In Milwaukee the average homeless person has 7^th grade education.

Poverty has been on my mind a lot lately.

Grocery stores have to throw out most of their food to cover themselves legally. If they gave someone food or let them dumpster dive and they get sick they could sue. We have to change the system. We waste so much food here. I remember dumpster diving next to the Hostess story right by my High school because they were throwing out all the expired cupcakes and Twinkies and we thought what a waste we can’t let this happen. It takes years for a Twinkie to really expire.

Then I think about Tyson chicken in Pennsylvania how most of there workers were illegal immigrants working in barns packed with Chickens walking around in chicken shit and there job was to catch a 1,000 chickens a day and get them into a truck. They got paid by how much they did. Many got sick and now have wrist, back, arm, and leg problems. That is poverty to me. People have to work like that and get basically nothing.

I'm reading a book called Fire in the Ashes. This single mom with two kids who lives in the Bronx surrounded by the crack dealers and gangs gets an opportunity to move to Montana where a community has raised money to get them there and get them a place to stay until she can afford to find her own apartment. Everything was going well, Kids doing well in school except the son struggled in school, Mom got a job and is working hard and gets a bank account. It sounds like a success story. Then as the years go by the boy gets into drugs and stealing then kills himself in his mothers place. The mother goes into depression and becomes and alcoholic loses her job and goes back to living on well fair. The daughter was a success and broke through. Have a great job, husband and four kids making it in Atlanta. It sucks sometimes you try so hard to make a difference and you are expecting great results and then it can all turn. You do what you can but you have to let go of the results. That for me is really hard to swallow.

I guess it boils down to what am I going to do about it. Poverty is someone in need or deprived of necessity for life. This can be interpreted in many different ways. I know I can be present to people and try to have an awareness of the charitable things I can do and try to figure out how to have a voice in the change of the system. I guess one day at a time, one act at a time and one person at a time. I think that is what I can do right now until I figure out how to live for the life of others.

 Vikings vs Packers and an unhappy Packer fan at the time in the background.

 I volunteered at the Folk fair, This is a voyager. half French half Native American. I cleaned dishes at the Native American fry bread stand where they sold Indian Tacos

 Jo Jo at the bucks game excited as ever. His first professional basketball game.

On a positive note I went to a buck’s game with Dave Holton and his son JoJo who is 7 years old. He had the time of his life. Free cape because it was cape night. He got a t-shirt that they threw out and it fell under the bleachers but he was able to crawl down and get it. He also got a basketball because the same thing happened. I bought him popcorn and Mountain Dew. I think he had the greatest day ever and that was a real joy for me.

I guess with everything in life you witness the hardships and the joys.