OPPORTUNITY CAFE

We seek prosperity, better lives for ourselves and for our children.  We access opportunity and measure success by the degree of escalation we have achieved from the point at which we started.   Yet in pursuit of  success,  too many find an endless seeking that is never satisfied.
Is it a disease of America or a disease of Man- this desire for more?  Or is the quest for “more” chiseled into the nature of our existence,  embedded in our DNA- the road map of life?  Ironically, true success and the quenching …

It is a new world.  Countries and people are interconnected in ways our parents could not have imagined.  We are interdependent. And out of the web of technology that has connected us has come new possibilities for each and every individual on the planet.  We each have the power to be super-humans- super self-actualized- achieving a worldwide impact by our own actions that never before could have been possible. With the internet, we each are free to touch millions of other individuals.  We can express our views, and be heard. …

You are Invited to the 2009 Spring Concert of Hope!

A BENEFIT CONCERT BEING HELD FOR AMERICAN AND IRAQI CHILDREN WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN IMPACTED BY THE IRAQI WAR. JOIN US FOR A COMMUNITY CELEBRATION OF MUSIC, HEALING AND HOPE.

News reports today stated that a law effected in Texas in 2008, eliminating the right of seasonal workers to obtain drivers’ licenses, has been overturned by a judge.   Hallelujah for the democratic process, which most often results in justice.
News reports today also presented an update to the recent serving of justice in the case of an immigrant college student from Florida, originally from Egypt, who was accused of engaging in terrorism, after what may or may not have been pipe bombs were found in the trunk of a car …

A dog wags its tail when it is happy.  A cat wags its tail when it is angry or upset.   Is it any wonder they don’t get along?
Most of us assume we are understood, that we understand others-  that when words are communicated carefully, accurate meaning is conveyed.  Most of us further believe that our actions speak as plainly as words.   But actions can be fuzzy.
Cultural differences impact actions.  And actions are understood in the context of cultural norms.  Unlike the translation of words, the cultural norms supporting actions are …

In third world countries, it is the natural response of international humanitarian workers to want to increase the pay of impoverished local workers as much as possible. Compassion kicks into action when confronted by the harsh realities of families of ten subsisting on the equivalent of two U.S. dollars a day.  The individual in a position able to provide a pay raise feels compelled to do so.  Aid workers have learned the hard way, though, of the unintended consequences of such actions.
When groups of local persons working for international …

Two parents make the hard decision to leave their own country for a land of opportunity for their children. The warmth and security of their tribe and customs behind them, the look ahead to the potential for prosperity in a place of strange and fast activity.  As the years pass, they make their way:  educating their children in a language that is not their own, endeavoring to instill the values of their home culture and religion in a place where their children encounter daily influences contrary to their native expectations.  …

I have trouble trusting people who don’t believe in God. Where is their frame of reference?  To whom are they accountable?
Returning from a road trip to Atlanta, I could not help contemplating with perplexity the fact that a new friend is an Atheist.  Enrico is a physician from Argentina who does not believe in God.   His faith (lack thereof) had come to light during a discussion of views of God and the “afterlife” by people from several different countries.  Perspectives of the form of god ranged from “Creator God to …

My friend Cello is an immigrant from Nigeria.  She came to the USA 15 years ago with her husband to begin a new life in a place she truly believed had streets paved of gold.  What she found was a place without gold streets, but with tremendous opportunity- only for those willing to do tremendously hard work.
“Immigrants need to know how hard they will have to work!  There is no safety net here!” she says on the rough days.  On the good days, she looks proudly at the beautiful family …

So many things in life are insidious. They creep up, unnoticed.  In the beginning: normalcy.  A range of “acceptable” that is generally agreed by the majority of a society or culture.   Then, as the boundaries of normalcy are pushed, ever so slowly, the centering point for what is “normal” shifts, with motion barely perceptible, till one day the recollection of “what used to be” creates a sense of aghast over the extremity of the change.  Like shifts in acceptable hemlines over time (one day the knees must not show and …