Assignment: Ukiah - From helping hands
by Tommy-Wayne Kraemer, ukiahdailyjournal.com
April 19th 2011 9:08 AM to helping themselves
You can't read the Daily Journal for more than a few days and not see a
bunch of stories about a bunch of local organizations doing nice things for
worthy causes. I see these kinds of articles all the time and in almost
every instance the people doing the nice things are older folks who are
members of antiquated organizations.
There's just no end to the good deeds being done around here by groups with
old-fashioned names like Elks and Moose and Masons and Soroptimists and
Rotary and Lions. They pitch in every chance they get to help kids with
scholarships or help build a new playground or arrange for medical services
for someone in need.
Most of these organizations go back a long, long time. I would guess that
here in Ukiah their membership is composed almost exclusively of older
folks. Maybe the average age is 70 or so. These are our neighbors who go
about the quiet work of helping others without any need to call much
attention to themselves as individuals.
Self promotion isn't the point. There might indeed be a story in the
newspaper about how the Rotary Club is donating some new benches for a park,
or how the Lions Club is going to help fix up the old Rocket Ship at Todd
Grove Park, but rarely will you find anyone jumping up to take credit.
That's typical from the older generation that volunteers. These are the same
folks who have sacrificed for their country and their community and their
family so that the world they leave
behind will be a better one.
Contrast their motives and behavior with that of the follow-up generation
right here in Ukiah or all across the country. Members of the '60s
generation have never given up anything unless they were getting paid for
it, and preferably in advance. It's a generation that has taken far, far
more than it has given, and it ain't done yet.
In the early years, the baby boomers took foodstamps and free college
tuition and unemployment benefits. This wasn't enough. Not even close. The
world was put on notice that the new generation was insufficiently pleased
with what they'd been given. They demanded more.
So they staged demonstrations and riots and broke windows and burned down
cities. They said they were doing it for "peace."
I'm a former hippie and I well remember when we were bursting with
(imaginary) idealism, most of which was focused on the supposed hypocrisies
of our parents' generation. We had a self-righteous and smug attitude,
convinced we were the finest and most highly evolved people to have ever
walked the planet. It was all just a monstrous load of twattle, of course,
but we believed it as sure as we believed we were in the Age of Aquarius.
Those were the early days. The Love Generation next looked around and
realized it needed a way to make money off the Establishment while (a) not
having to work and (b) maintaining a rebellious lifestyle.
The answer? Grants. Grants make free money available for nebulous programs
with catchy titles to provide useless services for undeserving clients. So
they solicited money from people who had too much of it to care where it
went (governments, foundations) and began extracting cash in massive
amounts.
Presto! Let a million programs bloom!
Look around Ukiah (or the country) all you want, for as long as you want,
and you won't be able to find a single baby boomer contributing a single
thing unless he's on the payroll. There's no end to all the proud do-gooders
running things like Plowshares and the Food Bank and the Ukiah Community
Center and Project Sanctuary and the Ford Street Project and First Five, and
every single one of them gets paid quite handsomely. They'll talk first and
foremost, of course, about how much they care and contribute and if you want
to believe it, go right ahead.
The county itself is overstuffed with ex-hippies on its payroll, the people
who spent the first half of their lives accusing others of selling out, and
the second half of their lives cashing in. Every one of these people came to
Ukiah from somewhere else, elbowed out the locals and burrowed in like
parasites. Which they are.
You'll find mobs of them in every single "community service" organization,
and at every one of the local nonprofits groups where they infest the boards
of directors so they can hire each other and each others' spouses to squat
right down in the trough of public service. It's all a nice, merry inside
job and you, dear reader, are not invited. Your job is to pay the bills.
So don't look for any of these people to be on hand if there's actual work
to be done because nobody from North Coast Opportunities or the Community
Development Commission are going to show up. They don't do the Little League
thing and they don't dig the Pop Warner scene. If there's a volunteer group
getting together next weekend at fix up the BMX track don't wait for a
social worker or anyone from AODP to show up.
Those people will all be at the Farmer's Market where they'll be talking
(and talking and talking and talking) about their "commitment to community"
and their passion for the arts and their latest insights into the real
estate market.
Tom Hine wants to remind everyone that council member Phil Baldwin calls
Tommy Wayne Kramer "the bravest man in Ukiah."
Original Page: http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/opinion/ci_17881372%3E
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