language

A continuing theme of this blog is to challenge us to build a new language as a tool for creating change. One way of helping us to do that is to think about what our legacy might be.

How will we look back on our work?  How can we know for sure that our contributions actually helped to create a better future?

The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions is currently experimenting with a legacy statement:

“Workers were empowered to deliver health care at a lower cost and higher quality.

Everyone looks back on their early formative years with strained memories as we grow older. 

Most of us would agree that children need certain things in order for later life to be meaningful.  Children need to be protected from the elements, both natural and environmental; they need nourishment that will grow strong bones and bodies; time to play in safety with others their age; immunizations; they need to learn social skills, to read, to count, to function both alone and in groups so that they are confident, to become something we call well-rounded.  Each family choo

I had the good fortune this Thanksgiving holiday to spend time with family, enjoy a traditional holiday meal and rest. I hope you did as well.

I also had the good fortune to see the film, Precious.

On November 16, the US Department of Agriculture reported that 49 million people in 2008 “lacked access to adequate nutrition.” That’s 13 million more people than in the previous year, and the most ever since the US began reporting this data 14 years ago.