Today I was speaking to a small business adviser regarding some upcoming plans I will inform you about over time, they are BIG plans. Knowing my interest in kindness and community the adviser shared with me tales of two Native American Reservation.
One Native American reservation featured church work camp helpers coming to the reservation and building things on a periodic basis. A different reservation featured a native who once joined the military and came back as a police officer on the reservation, with a particular aim to steer young people away from alcohol and towards school.
Reports by the work camp helpers were that they received little help for their projects intended to improve life on the reservation. The other reservation had decreased alcoholism and better school attendance as a result from the favorite son, er daughter, returning home.
This anecdotal evidence does not rule out the good that can be done by outsiders, while many communities have no “insiders” willing to step up. Yet as a general principle: Something FOR the community is also best OF the community and BY the community.
