Saturday May 19 , 2012

Posts Tagged ‘Social Responsibility’

Young Professionals Take on Serious Family Responsibilities

DCBuppie

 1 Comment

Mar 29 |00:12

I’ll Be There – Young Professionals Take on Serious Family Responsibilities

VIA Clutch Magazine
Getting a ‘good job’ is something that most black parents want for their children, not necessarily because it is the child’s life dream, but because it means that they can provide a sense of security for the family. Managing expectations about what it means to support the family can be difficult for anyone, but young people who come from single parent homes or socioeconomically depressed situations can find this task especially daunting. For young black professionals this responsibility can be both a blessing and a burden.
As the oldest child of a single parent home I understand these challenges intimately. My mother is fighting cancer, which prohibits her from working. She requires a high level of care that my family back home works diligently to provide on a daily basis. I live about an hour and a half away from my hometown, which makes it easy to commute in the event of a serious emergency. My job is decent; I step in from time to time to help with bills or housework. Initially I thought I was the only person I knew in this situation, but upon further investigation found that I was not alone. A number of my upwardly mobile friends and colleagues are supporting their families in ways that are inspiring and challenging.

I spoke with my friend Jay* about his experiences being the oldest child and stepping up as the man of the house when his father passed away as a young man. “I had to take on responsibilities that I selfishly did not want to,” he says. “I learned how to be a man at a young age.” He has two degrees and well paying job at a large consulting firm, but sometimes struggles to find a balance when helping his family out. “I don’t know when they are in need until something happens and it’s too late. This bothers me a lot because I want to help but I don’t know how much and how often,” he says.

Many young people struggle to translate what their educational or professional achievements actually mean to their families. After I graduated from college my mom didn’t understand how my master’s degree would be beneficial to advancing my career. To her, it just stood in the way of getting a stable job with benefits. Jay says that his family thinks he’s a high-level executive. “They think I have all this disposable income and it’s hard to explain that it’s really not like that. Yes I love going out and traveling but I budget for things like that and they don’t see it that way.” Sometimes the family’s perceptions of having “made it” don’t match the young professional’s reality of what can and can’t be done financially.

Stepping up the plate is not without some level of sacrifice. It can mean forgoing nonessential (but desired) purchases to help out with a car payment, food, or rent. Jay considered dropping out of college when his mother was laid off his sophomore year, but decided to stay enrolled. Envying other people with easier home lives isn’t uncommon either. “Sometimes I wish I could help my mom get her dream house, and sometimes I compare myself to others,” Jay says. However, he knows this type of thinking is not productive, and instead chooses to focus on what he has the capacity to do.

While this type of responsibility can be challenge for young people like me and Jay, providing for family can bring a sense of pride that is unmatched. Jays says that he is thankful for his family, and that they support him in a number of ways other than financially. I’m glad that I can be there for my family in a way that really matters, and I’m thankful that I am even in a position to help out. Nothing beats the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing your part to ensure that your family is taken care of. To me it’s the least I can do to show my appreciation.

*Named changed for privacy

 

Don’t be Greedy give to the Needy

DCBuppie

 0 Comments

Sep 8 |00:02

Hello Bups! Please meet THoughts! A fellow Bup who has a passion for Non- Profit. I think it is good to share the importance of giving back.

Natural disasters always cause me to think and ultimately realize how fortunate I am.  How blessed I am.  And thankful I didn’t have to experience such a painful and indelible hardship.

Five years post-Katrina has me thinking once again about the importance of giving back.  Given there are 6 billion people on this planet, we can become consumed by our busy lives and the drive to move ahead, forgetting that the human soul and humanity at its core is deeply and truly interconnected.  Watching the citizens of New Orleans and across the South beg for “help” in a country of plenty literally ripped at my spirit and soul.  I watched their struggle for hope and survival from my comfortable, and dry, living room in Wisconsin unsure how and when their struggle would end.  What could I do to help someone affected by Katrina?  Five years later, what could I be doing today?

I say all of this to encourage each and every one of us to give, to give back, to be charitable – whatever you choose to call it.  Hunger knows no season, natural disasters occur year round across the globe, kids always need school supplies, and the elderly and youth can always use our support.  Giving back doesn’t have to take the form of money (of course money is always ideal).  If you have little or no money to give I am sure you have a little extra time to mentor a child or converse with an elderly parent, grand-parent or neighbor.  I have found that in many cases it is human contact needed to inspire hope and motivation.

Most importantly, do what feels good to you.  Give back in a way that represents who you are and what you can do.  I can guarantee that whatever you give will be appreciated — No judgments here.

“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”  Anais Nin

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Medical Marijuana?!

DCBuppie

 4 Comments

Mar 31 |10:07


Do not even fake! Everyone knows somebody who is a functional a$$ weed head. In fact, these folks tend to be the most outstanding N!GGAS sometimes.That s$%t boggles my mind how one can smoke weed 8 hours a day and still manage to have intellectual conversation with relevant information to contribute in a team meeting.

On the other hand, we all have seen weed turn a buppie bad. Those are the saddest moments, because it can kill the potential and drive we all love.

15 jurisdictions in the U.S have opened medical marijuana joints. DC is now considering to join them.

I cannot help but think about the excuses people will come up with to get a prescription?! Shooot. We got Universal Healthcare coming too???! This will be the first time people will be happy to go to the clinic!

 

2010 and I am Still BLACKER Than You!

DCBuppie

 2 Comments

Jan 12 |10:06

Blagojevich: ‘I’m blacker than Obama’

So is this what ousted Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich really thinks of the black experience?

He told Esquire magazine, for its February issue: “I’m blacker than Barack Obama. I shined shoes. I grew up in a five-room apartment. My father had a little laundromat in a black community not far from where we lived. I saw it all growing up.” (Click here to read more.)

Perhaps Blagojevich thought he was saying something positive about himself by presenting his “bona fides,” but the statement simply is insulting. Not that we should expect anything else from the governor who was removed from office last year, accused of trying to sell Obama’s U.S. Senate seat.

Or maybe Blagojevich just said what a lot people believe: that the black experience is extraordinarily narrow and most African Americans are simply cut from the same cloth.

In the interview, Blagojevich, referring to the president as “this guy,” says Obama was elected based simply on hope. “What the (expletive)? Everything he’s saying’s on the teleprompter.” The White House refused to comment.

Early Monday morning, Blagojevich apologized, adding that what he said was “stupid, stupid, stupid.”

For the record—I would venture to say many blacks have not shined anyone’s shoes, except their own.

Blagojevich continues to prove that he’s certainly cruder than, well, most people.

Before I go any further, “I grew up in the ‘burbs. In a 6 bedroom house. My parents owned 2 cars, and I ate a square meal every night.’ Does this mean my black card will be revoked? You tell me.

Moving on.

Can you believe the audacity of this ish coming out of people mouth’s these days? Add this too.

Sen. Harry Reid “believed that the country was ready to embrace a black presidential candidate, especially one such as Obama – a ‘light-skinned’ African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one” – NEGRO DIALECT? Seriously. 2010!!!

How dare folks question folks authenticity and act like their upbringing allows them to trump the President or anyone, by pulling the race card?

Blagojevich is wild, and in the words of Paul Mooney, “Everyone wants to be a nigga but nobody wants to be a nigga.”

I know we all have on deep rooted thoughts and prejudices, but in 2010 I just hoped people would think before they say such things.

 

In 2010, is it still important to support Black businesses?

Dr J

 4 Comments

Nov 26 |13:25

Several times in life you will be called upon to answer blanket general questions for your entire race. Questions like, why is it OK for Black people to call one another the “n” word, but not white people? The answer is pretty much the same for every Black person, “It just is.” For the record, don’t ever ask me how I feel about that word, you just won’t get a straight answer out of me. And it just so happens I tend to piss more Black people off than white. However, in year of Obama, two-thousand and nine, it’s time that we start revisiting some of these questions and start updating our answers. The subject of supporting Black businesses has been around for just about as long as there have been free Black people in America.

In order to build a nation, the nation must produce a commodity worth trading. It’s essential in proving one’s worth to the other nations, and important in sustaining a nation, because it is impossible to produce everything for one’s self. This is why it’s important that Black businesses exist; they create products that help Blacks exchange commodities with other races to create “civilization.” However, has our decision to support Black business sometimes come at the sacrifice of the common decision factors we use when deciding what to purchase? Cost, quality and innovation are my main decision factors. Is it a crime to say that my main decision factors do not include race?

The predisposed notion that I must support Black businesses makes fundamentally no sense and sounds like some type of quota system that I want no parts of. And also, take for example, if I’m Jewish, and so I only do my grocery shopping at a Jewish grocery store. The reason why I’m there is really two-fold, 1) because it’s someone I feel comfortable doing business with, and 2) because they offer the foods that I can’t find elsewhere. The harsh reality for me is that I don’t feel that by supporting Black business they offer products that I can’t find elsewhere. And I’m not always comfortable with doing business on the basis of color because people have a tendency to lean on that relationship.

I have two more examples that I’m going to lay out on the table for this conversation. The Black owned Soul Food spot and Carol’s Daughter.

The Soul Food spot around my way is the spot where you can get your fried chicken, collard greens, and candied yams that we all grew up on. My issue with this place is, the service is horrible and the cost is sky high. I get my meal on a plastic plate, a quarter of piece of dark meat, one spoon each of greens and yams, and the total cost is $12. Meanwhile, just a short distance down the block is the carryout where I can get basically the same food, larger portions, quicker service and the total cost is $7. Because I know that both of these places have knowledge that the other exists, the only reason why the Soul Food spot keeps its prices that high is because they lean on the strength of Black support. I do not tolerate the argument that they have higher costs because if that was the case they could simply find out where the carryout was shopping for their food and supplies. In this case, I rebuke all that say I should support the Soul Food spot “off the strength.”

Carol’s Daughter is a line of beauty products that appeal to everyone not just one race of people. You can find them in malls and you can also order online. They compete with stores like, Bath & Body Works, and Bed, Bath and Beyond. Here’s the thing about Carol’s Daughter, their products are better quality, the service is superb, and although the cost is a bit more, they sustain that cost by producing a superior product. In this case, I never buy beauty products from anywhere else but Carol’s Daughter. The consolation prize, oh yeah, I’m actually supporting a Black business.

I hope I was able to shed some light on an issue that bugs me. I do not have a problem supporting Black business, but I also don’t have a problem supporting white business either. I’d like to take race off of commerce, because my money is green, not Black or white. I realize that there is a need to sustain a Black economy, and overall I believe we do a good job of that. However, the predisposed notion that I purchase Black owned goods regardless of cost, quality or innovation is absurd. I can’t do it, and won’t do it.

While, I’m here talking about food. I just want to give a shoutout to Catfish Fridays in DC. My dude, Chris runs a great business over there and people should try and support as much as possible.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! Dr. J is slowly coming back to the BlogWorld.

As always follow me, @DrJayJack – I appreciate your comments here, but I’d love to follow some of you and get good conversation more frequently.

 

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