Radical

 

You’ve most likely heard of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But, what about Giving Tuesday?

GivingTuesday was created in 2012 as a simple idea: a day that encourages people to do good. - - Giving Tuesday website

“Oh, yeah. It’s all about charitable donations, right?”

GivingTuesday is a Movement that Unleashes the Power of Radical Generosity Around the World.

“Radical generosity. That sounds messy. Maybe even dangerous.”

Not really.

Radical Generosity: The concept that the suffering of others should be as intolerable to us as our own suffering.

Somehow it brings to mind the HuffPost essay by Kayla Chadwick, “I Don’t Know How to Explain to You That You Should Care About Other People.”

Giving Tuesday is not merely about writing a check or clicking “Donate” on a website. 

From the Giving Tuesday website:

On GivingTuesday, millions of people all around the world, use their power of radical generosity to change the world. They volunteer at homeless shelters, organize food drives, fill their community fridges, donate to mutual aid funds, spread messages of solidarity and hope.

Here are some ideas you might consider:

• Share kindness with your neighbors.
• Volunteer virtually or share your talents
• Give your voice to a cause that matters to you
• Discover a local fundraiser, community drive or coordinated event to join others in your area or with your same interests in giving back — they need your help. Search for opportunities here
• Give to your favorite cause or a fundraiser to help those in need.

Talk about giving and generosity using the hashtag #GivingTuesday

I thought this was a fun and manageable challenge for today:

1. Follow a new nonprofit. 2. Donate to a Giving Tuesday Campaign. 3. Sign up to volunteer locally. 4. Invite a friend to support a Giving Tuesday Campaign.

Howard County is home to some amazing nonprofits. Here are just a few for your consideration today:

AOK Mentoring and Tutoring 

Bridges to Housing Stability

Columbia Community Care

Community Ecology Institute 

Friends and Foundation of Howard County Library

HopeWorks 

Howard County Conservancy

Inner Arbor Trust - - Merriweather Park at Symphony Woods

Just Living Advocacy 

Luminus Network

Ohana of Howard County 

Sobar Maryland 

Upcycled 

Women’s Giving Circle of Howard County

If you’d like to add to this list, let me know.

Radical generosity creates a world in which the collective recognition of humanity fundamentally respects what each of us can give, receive, and learn from one another.

Village Green/Town² Comments

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Today in Local HoCo - - Columbia’s newest indie bookstore, Queen Takes Book, is partnering with HopeWorks to generate donations and raise the visibility of their mission. Visit them today and add a donation to HopeWorks to your book purchase. The store will give you a five dollar store credit to use during December.

Positive Yet Premature?

Today I commend to you an article at the Maryland Matters website.

A tale of two counties, a tale of two cultures, David Plymyer, Maryland Matters

Writer David Plymyer, the (retired) Anne Arundel County attorney, compares Howard and Baltimore Counties in a look at how each pursued the institution of an independent Inspector General. He gives Howard County high marks.

Role models and good examples can be hard to find in state and local government. That is why it is worthwhile to highlight the constructive manner in which elected officials in Howard County worked with county residents to craft a charter amendment establishing a new, independent Office of Inspector General (OIG). Howard County voters overwhelmingly approved the amendment on Nov. 5.

For me the most educational part of the article was the focus on where Baltimore County leadership had waffled in supporting an independent OIG and why. Plymyer uses term Soft Corruption. 

The term “soft corruption” refers to actions that, while not illegal, are intended to gain political power or personal benefit rather than to advance the public interest. It is influence-peddling every bit as harmful as the cash-in-white-envelopes criminal corruption for which Baltimore County once was known.

He posits the theory that:

The more soft corruption there is, the higher the index and the greater the resistance by elected officials to good government measures.

That’s interesting to me in light of all the hocolocal types who agitated in favor of an OIG precisely because they believe that there’s corruption behind every tree in County Government. If Plymyer’s theory holds, we would have seen a much more fraught and combative process in establishing an OIG here. Put simply: the more you have to hide, the more you would resist independent oversight.

Hmm.

To be fair, the article is comparing apples and oranges. I kind of hate to admit it since Howard County is coming off so well here. But Plymyer is comparing an episode concerning the Baltimore County Executive after the OIG was established with the process of creating that role here in Howard County. Not the same thing. Perhaps we all say we’re in support of good government measures until someone starts poking around in places that make us uncomfortable.

No, I don’t for one minute think there’s a hotbed of corruption to be found in HoCo - - soft or otherwise - - but let’s be honest. How we deal with this new office is yet untested. The Council has laid the groundwork, the voters have approved the measure, but we haven’t actually driven the car off the lot yet.

While it’s nice to read such positive words over at Maryland Matters, I’m not sure we can pat ourselves on the back just yet. 

Village Green/Town² Comments