Band Aids

So I’m Annie, 22, all-too-recently graduated from college, ready to take my first steps into the “real” world. Why society suggests the first twenty-odd years of our lives are mere simulation is beyond me, but it sure doesn’t inspire hope for what lies ahead. I am however quite optimistic. I have finally conned myself into thinking that starting this blog is a good idea (a little help from friends and insistence from concerned family members). So each week I’ll briefly chronicle my latest adventure, and smolder it with personal philosophies and the mental predicaments I tend to find myself in.

For starters, I leave tomorrow for Guatemala where I will be helping establish a new chapter of the organization for which I have volunteered somewhat tirelessly for the last four years. I am quite honored and thrilled to help. It’s called Manna Project International and I am in love with it; however, upon re-reading an old journal entry of mine, I found that I once referred to it as a Band Aid. What?

“Manna is a Band Aid, not a solution.” Ouch (no pun intended). Rather harsh criticism of an organization that believes in the power of asset-based development and services some of the poorest communities with its time, energy, spirit, and knowledge. Harsh, but arguably valid. Band Aids are temporary. But necessary… we can’t just abandon the wound while we wait for larger solutions. Band Aids have nothing to be ashamed of. They serve their due purpose. But has being a Band Aid hindered our foresight into the much larger, long-term movement to help these communities and individuals change their lives for the better?

Band Aids don’t get any of the glory, but somebody’s got to do it… right? In starting a new Manna chapter I take pride in being a Band Aid, but I’m not satisfied. We can do more and we’ve got a clean slate on which to do so. Perhaps more like a Band Aid with built-in Neosporin. One step at a time.

Oh, and go blackhawks