The Kenyan Stride

I was out for my morning walk today, headed up 16th Street, when I noticed a small group of runners gaining on me. From a distance I figured it was Mayor Fenty and his team, as he is out in the neighborhood every morning for a 6:00 run…but as they passed, I saw that they were a group on Kenyans.

Have you ever seen serious Kenyan runners? Their stride is a thing of wonder and beauty.

As a kid who loved watching the Olympics and the Wide World of Sports…I remember seeing runners like Jim Ryan, Dave Woddle and Steve Prefontaine and others dominate the field, until 1968, when Kipchoge ("Kip") Keinom (pictured above, in all his glory) burst onto the scene and changed everything.

Trained on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro, in altitudes that would make most buckle, he was an amazing new force. He ushered in a dynasty of sorts, as he inspired his fellow Kenyans, men and women alike to compete in the international arena…although compete is hardy the word—they owned it, which brings me back to this morning.

Have you ever wondered, in the absence of knowledge or direct experience, about speed, as in “how fast could it really be?” I use to watch cars go around the Indy 500 track on TV and think—they don’t seem to be going that fast. Then you see them in person, and it’s like—ohhhh, that is seriously fast. Same thing for a flash flood…I use to really be puzzled over how somebody could be swept away by a flood…then I saw my first one.

Anyway…I remember the first time, as a tested runner, that I ran in a 10 mile race with Kenyans. Seriously…by the time I hit mile 3, they were on the plane home, drinking champagne, and counting the money and laughing out loud. In short---the pace they set is mind boggling—but the grace of their stride is a wonder of training and conditioning. And they could do that for a full marathon.

I bring this up because I hear over and over about the pace I have proposed for the sector to shift—to leave behind the in-fighting and the sub-sector division, to forge a unified effort and to engage ourselves in the political process at every level of our society. People say that it can’t happen that fast. It can.

More importantly, it must….as those aren’t runners behind us…slowly, but steadily gaining….that’s time, Brothers and Sisters. And with it comes 80 millions folks getting older, and an economy that IS going to shift and go international, leaving us more and more dependent on a shrinking pool of resources.

How fast must we be prepared to go? Kenyan fast!!!

Let’s pick up the pace, Friends.

Egger vs. Eisenberg - The Debate is ON!!!

For those of you who read the Chronicle of Philanthropy, or who read my missives, you may have noticed that my recent op-ed, “Charities Must Challenge Politicians” did just what I hoped it would do—get a conversation going about the sector, our voice and our role as America looks to the future.

The cards and letters poured in…and there was absolutely NO shortage of folks who either dug what I had to say, or who wanted to dig a hole and put me in it for having the “chutzpah” to suggest that we are a silenced sector that should stand up and become involved in national politics, with an eye towards a debate on the laws that limit our role.

The most vocal of the ‘are you nuts!?!?!?” contingent was my friend Pablo Eisenberg, over at Georgetown University.

Long story short---I wrote him (as I do anybody who says I’m full of shit) and suggested that while we share numerous ideas, maybe we should meet up and debate the issue in public, so that the sector could have a clear cut set of ideas that could frame a larger discussion—locally and nationally, from small lunchrooms to oak lined board rooms, about the direction we need to go.

He agreed…and we have scheduled the main event for August 9th over at the Hudson Institute, thanks to another cool customer, William Schambra, who runs their Bradley Center for Philanthropy and Civic Renewal (who will host the debate) and Stacy Palmer, our mutual friend and editor over at the Chronicle who will moderate.

For more info, or to register to attend, check out http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=hudson_upcoming_events&id=421. You can also find transcripts of our dueling op-eds there.

Following the event, transcripts will be available…and I hope that we can also have it filmed so you can also watch it.

While me and P may disagree---I so dig that we are doing this. A debate—an open exchange of ideas—is SO rare in our sector. The stakes are so huge….and with the election coming up, the need for a robust discussion has never been more essential.

Be there or be square.

A Prodigal Generation

"“These days, it seems like they need a little more riding and a little less bull.”
-Jim Shoulders



It’s been over a month since I put pen to keyboard and spoke of the journey…and while MUCH has happened (we temporarily moved out of the Kitchen while its being renovated, I got some cool recognition from my peers in the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, we’ve had a great crew from Japanese TV doing a prime time thing on us, I was back up in NH to officially kick off the Primary Project, I met some righteous folks while speaking out in Waukesha, Wisconsin who totally are ON FIRE with good work, I turned 49, etc, etc, etc…) but before I leap back into the proverbial saddle, I wanted to acknowledge the passing of a uniquely, unique American, Jim Shoulders, the “Babe Ruth” of rodeo, the “man with no pain quotient” and a fella who, like me, thought talk was cheap. His quote above is exactly the way I feel about much of the nonprofit debate these days…but we’ll talk more about that later.

For today….I wanted to speak of a speech I gave yesterday, out in Chi-Town, at the 2nd gathering of the State Associations of Addiction Services.

As you can tell from their name, this was a group of folks who deal with hard core addiction issues at every level of society. I could have talked about nutrition and addiction, ageing and addiction, rural versus urban addiction, inter-generational addiction—the list goes on and on and on….but here’s the cool part. While they are VERY early on in the evolution of their new association’s history, they asked me to come out and talk about big picture change and the role they could play. Righteous…more riding and less bull.

And while I went to town about the Nonprofit Congress, our role as a positive economic force in America and all my other causes and concerns—I took the time to toss out a theory I’ve been working on, to get their feedback. Ready? Here we go…

We often think of addicts as the folks who have slid ALL the way down the slide. But after years and years of working with addicts and trying to understand the “dope fiend mentality,” I began to look around and think about other manifestations of this behavior.

What got me thinking about it was a conversation I had with a relative who felt that all addicts need to do is “get their shit together.” I tried to explain that, for many addicts (and many folks suffering from mental illnesses), alcohol, crack, heroin, etc…these are self prescribed medicines, designed to dull a pain that will not go away.

Anyway…this got me to thinking about addictive behavior and I began to look at my generation—the boomers. I have long felt (and written) about the psychic/social wound that our country suffered in 1968, when both Dr. King and Senator Kennedy were assassinated within two months of each other. With the death of President Kennedy still fresh in our collective hearts, this, for many of our fellow countrymen and women was a deep, profound wound.

As I thought about it…I began to wonder if, as a generation, the boomers weren’t betraying addictive behavior—a desire to dull the pain of this shared loss, through consumerism…or, in the vernacular of the late 70’s, the pursuit of “sex and drugs and rock and roll.” It sounded oh so “clever and classless and free” (as John Lennon sang in Working Class Hero) back then…but as almost 40 years have passed, and we see the effects of all this pursuit of “stuff” I asked the attendees if they shared my sense that what we were seeing was, in effect, a generation wandering in the wilderness, trying to find a collective moment of clarity—a day when they could sober up and get clean. By the nods I got…I knew that I was on to something…so I pushed it a touch further.

A time is coming, when the first of the 80 million boomers will look in the mirror and, in seeing their ageing reflection, wonder—“what do I have to show for my life?” “Why do I feel like I have a hole in my soul?” “I know I shouldn’t because I have all this stuff, and they told me if I bought it I’d feel good about myself….but I don’t?!?!?!”

And that is the moment when, like every addict, they will have that moment of clarity…that amazing opening where they are willing to step forward and grab control of their lives.

(Editors note…I know this sounds like some crazy shit, but I got to tell you….in person--this was a good speech, and it was resonating BIGTIME with the audience)

And they will turn to the nonprofit sector and come running to us, like Scrooge on Christmas morning, saying, in effect…help me, in these graying years, to find meaning in my life. Let me volunteer; let me serve; LET ME IN!!!

So…I asked these great, brave, concerned professionals if they would, on top of ALL the other things they had to do, help the sector prepare to help these recovering addicts find REAL cleanliness…not one of those 5 day detox programs that, more often than not, fail….NO, I asked if they would help train the sector to be real practitioners, to help them rearrange their entire understanding of volunteerism to reflect this greater need, to be ready for this predictably huge wave of folks who, in their redemption could usher in a profoundly new era of politics, commerce and cultural cohesion.

(Editors note…this is why I’m going to start video blogging).

Anyway….by the questions I got, and the dialogues I had following my time at the podium, I know I struck a chord. There is MUCH to be done…to set the table for this prodigal generation. But before you blow me off, or shrug your shoulders at the though…think of this. The richest, most educated and free-est generation in history is coming….are you ready? WE should be.

And that is SO why I hit the road as often as I do. Sometimes, it hits back.

More soon