I started my day by hugging a Detroit police officer.
It’s too easy to forget the good. The great thing about my job is that I get to see the good more often than most. Today a multinational corporation brought volunteers to board-up abandoned houses in southwest Detroit. As one of the company’s group was working on a house a van pulls up with teens in work vests who jump out and immediately get to work. I didn’t know who they were and it turned out they were with Youth Build, an Americorps program that prepares them for apprenticeship in skilled trade.
A beat up truck passes by and stops. There were two white guys with shaved heads and tattoos all over their body up their neck and then some and, I’ll be honest, I was a little nervous. But I had a job to do so I chatted with them and it took a minute for my apprehensions to dissipate. They wanted to know about demo plans in the neighborhood and how they could buy a house. I was able to refer them to a program at our organization that works with people to buy homes.
At another stop there was another group of Americorps VISTAs (pictured above). I had time to speak with them and learn they are high school graduates who are going into trades and to college. They care about their city and want to stay in Detroit to make it better.
This is the kind of world I want to live in. Where we all do our best and work not only for ourselves but our communities. Where we have an open mind and don’t let appearances stop us from doing the right thing. Where everyone works together no matter what their skin color, native language/country, gender, economic status or education background. After all, we are all human.
CarrieDaway 