Action

All actions reflect upon my personal practice, and my personal practice should be evident in all my actions.

 

In 1988, I attended a national Buddhist convention in Worcester, Massachusetts. The Japanese organizers had chosen Worcester because it was a depressed industrial city at the time. Many of its factories were closed. Its few small colleges were keeping the city alive. A new convention center had been built to stimulate the city's economy. The organizers wanted to use their convention to promote good where it was needed.

 

I was very impressed with this approach to a national convention by and for people committed to creating good causes. I proudly participated. I volunteered  my services as a registered nurse in the convention infirmary. There was a remarkable lack of need of my services, I am happy to report. This was extraordinary because these Buddhists, being rooted in Japanese culture, staged some amazing group gymnastic activities during the convention as a method to build group cohesion and promote health as part of practice.

 

I observe the actions of non-profits here in the U.S. with a skeptical eye. From my experience in the AIDS service segment of society, I learned that many in non-profit corporations exploit them for luxury travel and personal networking at the expense client services. Conventions in luxury destinations within five-star hotels serve nobody other than the non-profiteers.

 

I understand the need to build organization to achieve goals. However, organizations which achieved the foundations of LGBT rights in the U.S. did this in dark church basements and dilapidated office buildings in marginal neighborhoods. The high-profile Washington lobbyists who now claim ownership of the LGBT cause simply parlayed those humble foundations into big business. After all, this country is now ruled by and through big business. Sadly.

 

There is a reason why my blog has no advertisements. I was recently urged by Facebook to pay them $10 a day to promote my blog's Facebook page. "To what end?" I thought. Does Facebook need my $10 a day? Hardly. I would do more good by distributing that $10 a day to homeless people on the street. My belief is that my words have value for me and my personal practice. I post them in a spirit of sharing and invitation to share if someone reads them. This action is evidence of and part of my personal practice. It is not a commodity or a performance, geared to achieve celebrity.