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Practical and Compassionate

A Civil War story:

A woman journeys to a hospital in order to advocate for better care for her son, who is wounded. Day after day she ask nurses to assist in his care. Finally, an exasperated hospital worker says,

"Madam, your son is not the only one in the hospital."

She replies,

"He is the only son of mine in the hospital."

I begin in this manner to say that, when I write about Oakland Mills in the context of CA assessment share, I am keenly aware of my own bias. I cannot pretend to have a disinterested view. I am engaging in the discussion as a resident of Oakland Mills.

Trying to find the most equitable distribution of CA assessment share is a highly complex issue and it has been going on for quite some time. There are some Villages, Long Reach, for example, which feel they have been chronically underfunded. (I think it is probably safe to say that no one ever thinks that their Village is overfunded.)

All this being taken into consideration I can't help but have the following reaction to Jonathan Edelson's presentation to the Columbia Association. It is a thorough accounting of both the practical and compassionate work of a village. I don't know how anyone can hear that and say, "Yeah, we're going to cut you back $57,000.00."

You know that story from the New Testament? We haven't exactly been burying our talents in the ground over here in Oakland Mills.

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