A Nearly Perfect Day

"Almost like heaven on earth." That is how I often describe the days when my Downtown Teens and our friends work and play and break bread together. I heard a Jesuit friend of mine died over the weekend. His legacy to me was his famous words: "It's a good life". My family and friends often hear me say those two things: "Like heaven on earth" and "I have a great life".

I have been writing about Volunteer Days at Little House. We have had two great weekends of working with friends, the Downtown Teens and residents of Little House to make our Little House a little homier.

This 130 year-old home is fraught with many items of routine maintenance along with the deferred maintenance necessary due to age. The battle is constantly to make the Little House feel warmer, homier and cozier to the residents who share housing in our four-family. We hope to instill a family atmosphere for our residents and for our Teens. Like with every family, even the best occasions can be marred by a single incident. In this case, after a long day of fixing and painting, it was discovered that one of our friend's had been the victim of a crime--the loss of money from her purse.

How does one deal with the sour note struck at the end of a beautiful symphony? Does it ruin the whole symphony for you? If I let it, it does for me. I am trying to contemplate all of the good of the weekend and put the sour incident in that context. I can't ignore the perpetrator. I want to make the next performance perfect, so I must address the incident. But how? I want to give an opportunity for the one or ones who marred an otherwise perfect day, to do the right thing. I want to find a way to make it easier for them to do the right thing.

It is not the first time that I have dealt with the darker side of human behavior. I certainly have to deal with it in my own life. I recognize many mitigating factors for those who feel they have less, to want more. I don't rationalize the behavior on my part (not for long anyway) and don't want to rationalize or excuse bad behavior on the part of those with whom I share my life.

Many scenarios leap to mind.These scenarios range from denial to acceptance. I try to convince myself, that the victim was wrong about the loss of money, or that they will discover it soon. I think that perhaps someone I don't know, slipped in and committed the crime. I think about who has motive. Who had opportunity? Who would do such a thing? Who is still so disconnected from me, that they would show that kind of disrespect for my friend? I have rehearsed several homilies on the topic of honesty in my head. I share my heartache over the event with those whom I respect and try to gain from their insights. I speculate as to who might have done this crime. My feelings take me from hurt to angry to disappointed to sad, back to hurt. My response to my feelings range from revenge to avoidance of conflict--shutting down. In my desire for revenge, I want to "fire" all of the Teens and evict my neighbors. To avoid conflict I want to withhold trust and not put myself in that situation again.

I am reminded that I am a parental/teacher figure in the life of our Teens. I am also a neighbor/landlord to those who live with us. How do I manage these different roles to the benefit of those who I am here to serve? As any parent will tell you, it is more fun to be a friend rather than authority figure. I struggle to maintain a balance. I fail miserably.

I mentioned breaking bread. When I use that phrase, it puts me in remembrance of the oft quoted Dorothy Day, founder of the Catholic Worker movement. Dorothy said in various words and ways:

"The most significant thing about The Catholic Worker is poverty, some say. The most significant thing is community, others say. We are not alone anymore. But the final word is love. At times it has been, in the words of Father Zossima [a character in The Brothers Karamozov], a harsh and dreadful thing, and our very faith in love has been tried through fire. We cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other. We know Him in the breaking of the bread, and we know each other in the breaking of the bread, and we are not alone anymore. Heaven is a banquet and life is a banquet, too, even with a crust, where there is companionship."

Help me know. Help me not be alone. Help me to let others know they are not alone. Help me share that Heavenly banquet on earth.

I welcome your insights and responses to help me relate this to my Teens and neighbors this coming weekend for our last "Volunteer Day" at Little House. Please join us if you can. 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to know, to love and to banquet together, even with the crust.

Volunteer Days At Little House

3 Days, 4 Opportunities to help Little House.


Just a reminder to you. We have 3 Saturdays of volunteer opportunity. President Barak Obama has asked us to observe the anniversary of 9/11 with days of service. 

A donation in any amount to help defray costs of materials would also be welcome. Checks made to Karen House with a memo to Little House can be sent to 1538-A N 17th Street, Saint Louis, MO 63106

I posted a few days back, an article From Little House.
http://innostrumviadomus.blogspot.com/2009/08/from-little-house.html Now a Volunteer opportunity is available to you at Little House. If you can join us, please do. Please spread the word. Here is the letter and invitation:

We, at Little House, will be in the process of prepping an apartment for a new resident at Little House. In conjunction with the work going on downstairs, some repairs to our unit will be made to the plumbing and flooring and stairs. Sometime over the past few years, the shower had been leaking undetected into the floor and ceiling below and rotting portions of the floor. To repair the bathroom shower and floor, the ceiling under the floor will need be removed in order to access the plumbing. As long as the first floor unit is vacant we will also take some time to fix our stairs, which have become wobbly, by removing the ceiling under them and making the needed repairs. We will be patching, painting, sanding floors, fixing doors and windows and generally trying to accomplish other deferred maintenance tasks while the unit is unoccupied.

In order to get all of this work done in a timely manner, we have arranged three volunteer workdays in September. Saturdays in September, from nine in the morning until one in the afternoon we will be working with our Downtown Teens followed by a cookout/picnic. In addition, I will be working most weekdays as my schedule permits. You are welcome to join me on those days as well. Just let me know when you are available.

• We need volunteer workers.

o We have projects for all skill levels from caulking, patching and painting to tuck-pointing, carpentry and drywall hanging and finishing.

• We need financial donations (about $10,000) to cover the cost of fixtures, materials and labor—Teens and sub-contractors.

• We could also use two refrigerators, a microwave and a gas stove.

• In addition, we need meals for volunteers and Teens each Saturday (or donations to purchase meal items).

If you can help Little House, please let me know by responding to this post, email me or RSVP on Facebook.

Thanks,
Mike Baldwin
Official Invitation below:

Please come join Mike and Teka and the Downtown Teens

for any or all of our volunteer work days at Little House.

Saturdays September 12, 19, 26 from

9a.m. until 1 p.m. followed by lunch in the back yard.

Projects include but are not limited to:

gardening, wall and ceiling repairs, plumbing,

painting, construction, reconstruction, tuck-pointing,

basement clean-out, tree planting and winterizing.

All skill levels welcome, donations for materials gratefully accepted.

Check the facebook invitation http://www.facebook.com/home.php?ref=home#/event.php?eid=265129990227&ref=mf
or email me mbroute66@charter.net for more info