TOMMY T'S FREEDOM TOUR IDEA FOR THE "YOUTH OF OUR NATION"

TOMMY T’S FREEDOM TOUR IDEA FOR THE YOUTH OF OUR NATION—
Barack? you getting this?--just making sure now that you have Bruce's endorsement!!!!

OKAY, I CUT AND PASTED THE LAST POST BECAUSE I'VE GOTTEN SOME NICE FEEDBACK AND THE "IDEA" IS SOMETHING THAT RESONATED WITH PEOPLE WHO FEEL OUR COUNTRY'S MORAL FIBER NEEDS SOMETHING TO ADDRESS OUR ILLS--
SO, HERE IT IS SEPARATED OUT FOR YOU

Not sure you remember I talked about going to New Orleans in December to help some folks move back into their homes for XMas? I never really elaborated (believe it or not I missed some details!!!) on that trip, on the fact that ONE Wall Street firm paid the expenses of the 50 volunteers with a donation for that trip??? The name of that firm??? BEAR STEARNS!!!!!!!

well, during my trip to New Orleans with "H.E.A.R.T. 911" the WTC rescue workers group,( http://www.heart911.org/ ) to learn more about this great org)....I met a great group of people that were in our "Camp Hope" barracks who had volunteered as part of AmeriCorps youth volunteers team and had been assigned to New Orleans for 1 or 2 years. These kids were 18-24 years old, some were in college and some weren't, but ALL were working and helping as part of an engaged community (very much like my Community of Pilgrims!!!), and of course bunk beds were part of the territory. ALL made the choice to volunteer--

Ready??? I'm READY, as Tracy Chapman sings--I'm not sure how we "teach" the pure old fashioned American Dream, and I know the "RIGHTS" people wouldn't want me to “impose” things on people-- BUT we do have TO DO something!!!!! Don't we??

What do I propose????I propose we attempt to transform, TRANSFORM our NATION's YOUTH---

Pretty bold sounding, eh????

Let me continue, and finish all in one---

The "YOUTH of THE NATION"

Except this time we tell people if you WANT to live here, in the USofA, then you've got to do just ONE THING, ONE TIME in your life as a citizen, and we'll PAY YOU for it too!!!

We need to give our youth, more than anything else, the HOPE and the LOVE--- and unfortunately we need to face up to the fact that we need to do a better job teaching THE HOPE and THE LOVE IN THIS CURRENT DAY IN AGE???, don't we???--- the only way one LEARNS HOPE and LOVE is by experiencing it through GIVING, and GETTING, HOPE and LOVE---

One needs to get away from the internet, cable, TV, and just DO SOMETHING---

So I propose that we REQUIRE 18 year-old students finishing high school in our country to enlist in AmeriCorps--- REQUIRED---ENLISTMENT--- DRAFT THEM!!!!!! If they don't have anything to do well then guess what?? problem solved-- and if they do well then they can choose when to take a breath and take a walk and give of themselves a little >>>

WELL<<>>>>>…….WELL<<>YOUTH ONENESS!!!!!!!!!, as I like to call it---

When someone asks you what you're doing after high school, EVERYONE will have AT LEAST one answer, and that answer, I'm highly confident, will lead to others--- and somewhere in all the MANURE they walk through-- GUESS WHAT---- my BET is they will FIND THEIR PONY-

--And it is very clear to me that we need to start doing something more to give our nations’ youth that HOPE and LOVE and CONFIDENCE in their futures-- not just the smart ones, or the rich ones, or the middle ones, but "ALL" THE ONES---and it is also very clear that today's programs, the ones your taxes are paying for, are falling far short of their goal and therefore we are wasting money on unproductive and unsuccessful attempts—

It’s a different age, and we need a DIFFERENT PROGRAM----and we MIGHT need a NEW LEADER to LEAD us with it---

I've seen money thrown in vast amounts in directions that reap no dividends in the name of opportunity???? And they have largely FAILED to TRANSFORM--At least they, all our youth, will know they are ALL CONNECTED by this LOVE, this common mission that they know they and their fellow schoolmates will be experiencing at some point after high school, --and perhaps it will calm the psycho A student who can't take not getting into Harvard, and perhaps it will give the directionless kid in south city center a new purpose and choice in a road mired with poverty and no hope.

And perhaps the whole youth of the Nation will connect as one, in ONENESS!!!!!!!, on this one project----

We formerly had military enlistment, through the draft---Now, let's DRAFT our youth into a 9 month volunteer program where we feed them (some of them aren't getting that in this country, by the way!!!), we teach them, we mentor them, and somewhere in all this I'm sure we will LOVE them too---

Yeah, I know, PARENTS are suppose to do this??? Well, the Florida girls assault story aside, I don't think the country should stand idly by while the erosion of our moral fiber weighs in the balance.

WE need to find this path now, while people are young, and touch them in a way most of them will never experience—

...and dream, and hope, in this land of ours—this land of hope and dreams!!!!!!!!


New Idea, New Time, New ROAD, NEW Path, NEW CAMINO, for us------

so i'll send this little missive along and see where this lands in DC-

TO LOVE, because Love is truly the greatest power we have in this world, and it is our bridge that survives us into the next. It is, and it will be, our legacy. Yours and Mine.

On the end of one journey, and the beginning of a new one,

Knowing that I know little, but I understand more than I did before this sabbatical started,

I leave you, and my sabbatical behind, with this prayer from St. Therese of Lisieux –

--Saint Therese is known as the "Saint of the Little Ways"

Saint Therese's Prayer

May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be confident knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.


Nuff said-music and joy and dance and love—trusting that you are exactly where you are meant to be-

Peace
TT

THE END—really!!!!!