Peter Finch. Network.
Sounds good. Sounds powerful. Sounds like a rallying cry.
But Paddy Chayefsky wrote those words in 1976. Forty-two years later it’s clear we never got mad enough. And now the world has never been crazier.
There’s no leadership anywhere.
The people in power want to remain there and every single decision they make ensures they do.
So many people are living hungry that we had to invent the term “food insecurity” to make ourselves more comfortable with the fact that millions don’t have enough to eat!
But as we repeatedly say in this space, you don’t need us to point out all the things wrong with the world. AREENA is about positive, sustained and innovative change. We extol the virtue of those doing good, living the right way, identifying and addressing issues.
There are many examples.
– Andrew Pollack, who lost a daughter in the Parkland massacre, has spent every moment since fighting for common sense gun control to ensure other parents won’t have to experience what he did.
– Suburban community colleges in Chicago are ensuring their students, mostly from low-income families, never go a day without food.
– Teachers in West Virginia were tired of being paid less than teachers in nearly every other state and decided to do something about it. Teachers in Oklahoma have followed their lead, protesting a lack of funding for their students. America has one of the worst education systems in the developed world. And the teachers have hit their breaking point!
– Dairy farmers in the northeast are seeing a rise in depression and suicides as their industry takes financial hits every year. Agri-Mark, the northeast’s premier dairy farmer cooperative, is making it their priority to provide information and support to their members.
Don’t rely upon those in office to make things better. Make things better yourself. Encourage those around you who are trying to do the same. That’s why AREENA exists and why this blog exists. Not to just point out the issues we face but to applaud and encourage those who actively try to repair those issues.
Art Gurwitz
Author
