Text 1:

“The research showed that, for every person we provide services we were saving the Medicaid budget $18,000 per year. If you multiply that by the 5,000 people who are currently being served at home, we are cutting the Medicaid program, which is a big budgetary issue in every state in this country, by millions of dollars.”

Response 1:

It is so incredible how much of a difference can be made by creating something that is the most helpful program yet the most financially efficient. It seems that when it comes to passing bills and approving budgets for programs, we (meaning government, Congress, whomever) assume that the options are one or the other. It reminds me of this commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oxmAsGIhIk

Text 2:

“Living in an orphanage taught me to identify with those less fortunate with their plight and needs. Ever since, I have not been able to face injustice and remain uninvolved.”

Response 2:

After reading these two sentences, the only thought that came to my head was: We all need an experience like that. I’m obviously not signing myself up to live in an orphanage, but I do think that I will be more willing to be put in uncomfortable situations that give me new perspective and help me face reality. Something that really angers me about Fordham students is that many of us never get to know the Bronx. Yes, the Bronx can really suck for everyone that lives here. We live too far from the subway and what is a 20 minute drive into midtown is an hour via public transit. We can’t really walk around at night with our iPhones glued to our faces. We might get whistled at more often than necessary. But these are really great problems to have, if you ask me. There is very little injustice in those things, especially because most of us have the ability to go to school/live elsewhere if we so desire. I challenge my classmates to go find something that makes them angry and do something about it. Find something that makes you say “I have not been able to face injustice and remain uninvolved.”

Text 1: "Integrating low-income seniors and disabled adults into the society as respected contributing members is our major goal. We work to bring back an environment where the elderly can continue to age in place with dignity and in good health. Our model includes changing lifestyles to a more healthy and active one."

Response 1: I really like the ideas presented in this passage. I have done a lot of work with people with development disabilities. I have volunteered at an organization in Chicago called Misericordia, which is an assisted living community for adults with development disabilities. What I like most about the work is how at Misericordia, the residents work real jobs and become functioning members of society. This particular topic of helping people, specifically adults, with disabilities is because I have personal experience with it and very much enjoy the work I do. Right when I started reading this passage I thought of Misericordia and I liked that I could make a connection between the two.

Text 2: "At age 14, I was flown to Miami as one of the 14,000 unaccompanied children who came into the United States from Cuba during the first years of the 1960s. This exodus of children was the result of a pronouncement made the the new military government that children should be taken away from their families and put into collective schools and communities. My parents were terrified of the possibility that my brother and I would be taken to one of these schools, which they believed were effectively military camps where children were being indoctrinated and brainwashed."

Response 2: I was shocked when I read this paragraph. Initially I thought, how inhumane can a government be to take away children from their families and send them off somewhere? However, after I read this, I did a little research of my own on the topic. According to an excerpt written by Maria Vizcanio called Postcards of Cuba, this was "The largest exodus of underage children in this hemisphere is known as Operation Pedro Pan. From December of 1960 to October of 1962, 14,048 children and adolescents up to 18 years of age were sent by their parents to the United States to safeguard them from the Communist system". I cannot fathom the idea such terror that would cause families to be forced to send their children off to another country. I am glad I looked further into Operation Peter Pan because I had previously never heard of it.

Actual Text

1.The first piece of text that stood out for me was the description of the elderly housing building in Fort Lauderdale. This housing was subsidized by public funding and destroyed in a fire yet people continued to live there because they had no place to go.

2. Another piece of text that really stood out to me was the last paragraph. Bretos discusses how altruism is a part of us and as social beings we are inherently compassionate.

Responses

1. When I first read this piece of text I had to go back and make sure I read the description correctly. The fact that this building was infested with rats and people were sleeping on beds of feces surrounded by worms is truly horrifying. I think that many people don't think twice about homes for the elderly because they assume everything is fine and taken care of. However, after reading this article it is clear that there are severe issues in homes for the elderly that are funded by the public. I think that there needs to be more awareness for elderly homes because I think Bretos is correct when he says that "we segregate the elderly to be neither seen nor heard."

2. I think that this piece of text is important because whenever there is a catastrophe such as Hurricane Katrina or the Tsunami in Thailand people are always willing to help. This a great quality that we as human beings have, but we need to be willing to help those in need at all times. Like Bretos states, we are all interconnected and it has come to the point where we need to realize that in order to survive, we need to connect with others and be more sympathetic. We cannot just donate money to victims of natural disasters and expect that that is enough. If we look around us there are poor people and elderly homes that need help as well right in our own backyards. As human beings we need to be more aware and replace apathy with empathy to eliminate global indifference

Stand out parts
1) First, the comment he makes about saving medicaid $18,000 a person through his program. He claims, and research suggests, that $18k is saved by medicaid due to elderly not going into medicaid funded operations or homes that require medicaid funding.
2) The second stand out area is that of dealing and working through failure and delinal. He says he was never a person to be afraid if rejection or failure and that is what helped him succeed.
Responses
1) I have an optimist and pessimist view on the first comment. The optimist in me says that this is great, and that this operation is a great way to show a private person finding a way to make the government fun more efficiently. We see that he groups some funding together and over all the systems save, so he claims. And that is where the pessimist in me comes out. The article says that Medicaid saves $18,000/ person. My question is does another agency HHS or HUD bare a higher cost due to this program. I would imagine that if people who need the housing are getting funding, then there is an increased cost to HUD. So for this to economically work, as he suggest, HUD would have to be paying less than Medicaid is saving for the whole system to be saved.
2) This comment on failure and not giving up really was something great to hear from someone who did something so great for the community. He did something that we can all recognize now but we did see the lost battles for 8 years with HHS and HUD and local medicaid systems or even local governments. These hard fought battles are ones that led to this outcome of an ecosystem sustaining itself. But he could have given up on this at any time because the fights were to difficult, but this really shows that hard work can pay off and honored.

“The pubic also mistrusts corporate America. The good news about this has been an increased motivation on the part of corporations to engage with social service organizations and show their commitment toward the communities in which they operate.”

When I began thinking about where I wanted my degree in Public Accounting to take me, I considered all of the things that were important to me. One of those things was the accessibility to community service. Being that my major was not directly helping those in need, I wanted to be able to give back in ways that I would enjoy. While living and working in a third world country is not really something I can picture myself doing, I can see myself running road races for charity, volunteering at local schools and soup kitchens and helping to organize clothing, toy and food drives in the office setting. Right or wrong, sufficient enough or taking the easy way out; these are acts of service to the community that I am able to give all of my heart. I was pleased to hear about the initiatives many companies are taking to offer service to the community. While companies may focus on increasing profits and expanding business, they really can be much greater.

“The world must not know about this, and I must be here for a reason. I think that I am the right person to change this.”

I think this quote can very much relate to our class. We have been fortunate enough to learn about the issues of Fair Trade and discuss them weekly. Moreover, some members from our class will even have the chance to experience these issues firsthand in just a few months. Very much like the woman from this article, we are in this class for a reason. Each and every one of us may have a million things going on but when we get to class, it is time to put them aside and focus on the issues in front of us. Can we do anything to change them? Can we dedicate a few more minutes to selling at the cart? Can we tell a friend about what Fair Trade means? Can we support Fair Trade in our everyday efforts? While we may not make as big of an impact as the author of this article, we are all certainly the right people to make small strides.

Text #1: The new revenues that the job projects create cover most of the capital expenses.

Response #1: With each new project, Conchy says that an average of 60 new full-time jobs are created. These projects have been able to create revenues that cover almost all of the capital expenses associated with Mia Senior Living Solutions. This reminds me of the community development programs that have been aided by Fair Trade throughout the years. Since 1998, over $114 million has been given to community development programs with the help of the premiums that are paid to the producers of fair trade products. This money has gone directly to the create of healthcare systems, education systems, parks, homes, and an overall better quality of life for the small communities that supply the world with fair trade products. The Mia Senior Living Solutions model is similar in that it is dedicated to helping the people in society that would have not been fortunate enough to reap the benefits that the many others do.

Text #2: She emphasized that timing was everything, especially when she traveled to Fort Lauderdale to visit an elderly housing building.

Response #2: Conchy always made it clear that timing was everything. After a sudden trip to Fort Lauderdale to visit an elderly housing building subsidized by public funding, which had been ravished by fire, she realized that she had been sent there for a reason. She witnessed rat infested apartments, rotten food, and people on beds that were covered in worms, just to name a few things. She felt that she had no option but to act out against this misfortune. She likes projects that are difficult and have no chance of success because the people that the project assists are usually in the most need. I agree with her theory that she needed to go where there is the most need because that is where others turn a blind eye. The moral obligation felt by Conchy was something that she could not forgive herself had she ignored the situation. This calling is important to recognize in any aspect of life. If there is a gut instinct that there needs to be change, usually that is correct and a situation needs to be improved. It only takes one person to jumpstart change, and Conchy felt that it was her moral obligation to do so.

Video #1: "Happiness can be synthesized."

Response #1: This is an interesting statement, it makes me think that happiness may be more than just a state of mind, it may be a self-defense mechanism. It also opens the door for people to find happiness within their own situations rather than just gloom. It goes on to show money is not the root of equality or fairness, happiness is.

Text #1: " The 12-hour blaze is another high-profile incident."

Response #2: I found this article in the newspaper about another fire in a sweatshop in Bangladesh. I'm writing about it because I think it holds real relevance to our class and what fair trade can offer. In this fire, 10 people died. That's 10 people that could have been safer and making more, living more comfortably, had they ben working for a fair trade company instead of being forced to work in shabby sweatshops. It just made me really put a value on what fair trade has to offer in terms of literally saving lives.

Quote 1: Religious Values and Corporate Decision Making: The Economy of Communion Project” by Luigino Bruni
"Over the years, what emerged from their lifestyle was not only a more equal distribution of goods, but also a profound cultural intuition- that the essence of human experience is to be "in communion.""

Response to Quote 1:
I really liked this quote because it describes fair trade perfectly, especially considering the "spirituality" portion of our class. Communion is of course a sacrament, but also something that is an inherent need in all of us. The need to be in communion with one another is something that everyone strives for, and is the basis of many advertisements. However, they call to our emotional need to belong by making us feel insecure. "We are not pretty enough, skinny enough, stylish enough to fit into society without product X." From a business standpoint, looking at fair trade as a sense of community appeals to that emotion without the negative qualities. It really is a "sellable" idea from a marketing standpoint. Bruni also is able to appeal to the spirituality portion with this phrase as well, which I think is a major intention because there are some bible quotes in the text, which I don't respond to as much as the appeal to the business and making money side.

Quote 2: "Those who receive help are not considered "assisted" or "beneficiaries". Rather they are regarded as active participants in the project, all part of the same community, who also live the culture of giving. The emphasis is not on philanthropy, but on sharing, in that each person gives with equal dignity."

Response to Quote 2:
Isn't this the core belief of fair trade? "Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime." Sometimes I get frustrated with fair trade because I feel like a lot of it is making consumers feel guilted into buying something just because it is "fair trade." But fair trade shouldn't be just about that it should be able making a product that is genuinely better than the competitors whether that's because it is more sturdy or beautiful or whatever. Fair trade should be (and I think is for the most part) about giving people in impoverished nations a chance to sell something great and be credited for it. It's an opportunity, and not everyone can be (or should be!) able to succeed if they aren't willing to work hard. They should be able to work as equals with everyone involved in the process. I think that being able to have a sense that they had to do something to get what they have makes everyone exponentially more excited to grow and prosper a business and get others involved as well.

“Religious Values and Corporate Decision Making: The Economy of Communion Project” by Luigino Bruni
Actual Text 1: “The profits could be divided in three equal parts and used for direct aid for the poor, educational projects which could help further a cultural of communion, and development of the business”(649-650).

Response 1: This part of the “Fordham Journal of Corporate and Financial Law” really spoke to me. The following text says that in only a matter of 15 years, more than 700 businesses followed this type of business practice. The businesses were described as being mostly small in size, some having no more than 100 employees. This reminded me of the business practices affiliated with fair trade because they are smaller and have a purpose for selling the product. There is a deeper goal here other than to simply make money. Chiara Lubich said that after visiting Brazil her eyes opened to the different possibilities for employees and creating profit with a purpose. I hope by going to India will enlighten me into thinking outside the box when it comes to creating an effective business practice.

“The Wound and the Blessing” by Michael Brennen
Actual Text 2: “The bias for a common life cannot be love but fear… for love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the bareness of men, if broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by dread of punishment which never fails” (Chapter 1, pp. 4)

Response 2: This quote intrigued me greatly due to the fact that Brennen says love is almost obligatory and nearly always broken. This is a pretty dismal outlook on life to think that all men will do whatever they can to get one step ahead, even if this requires man to break love. He continues to say that fear is our primary driver because we are afraid of the outcome if we fail. We are driven by the fear of failure and don’t want to deal with the aftermath of failure. Brennen has a point in one aspect that our fears drive us but I believe love does as well. The common life should definitely include more love than fear. We cannot always expect others to break trust and therefore break love, we must find the right people to love and trust.

Actual Text 1
"For Machiavelli, and later for Thomas Hobbes, the individual person is wicked, fearful, brutish,and cunning, words which became the anthropological vocabulary of modernism."

Response:
I think that due to the events witnessed this view of the individual was formed. However, it goes hand in hand with no one being perfect, and humanity as a whole flawed. But, this is not applicable to all persons and I think that is often the case. Just because the events in Italy were bad for Machiavelli there is still always a positive choice, it may be the harder of the two but it does exist. People are intrinsically good in my opinion, ad those who have bad can learn to be good. I do not believe that everyone has bad intentions but that sometimes the situations they are forced in makes them behave accordingly which is unfortunate. But if you look around there are good people everywhere.

Text 2:"The businesses foster communion with employees by paying particular attention to their health, well-being, and development."

Response 2:
This stood out to me because one of the biggest lessons you learn in GSB is that fair treatment of employees is crucial. Any successful business case study we have done has had a business that not only pays their employees the fair wage, but also has amazing packages for vacation, child accommodations, understanding absences. This reason is because a happy employee is a good employee. By showing that you as an employer genuinely care about what is going on in your employees life, and their well-being you are creating a connection of loyalty that they will notice and thus they will not only have incentive to work but they will have a valuable reason to stay with your company.

Text 1: "Over the years, what emerged from their lifestyle was not only a more equal distribution of goods, but also a profound cultural intuition - that the essence of human experience is to be 'in communion.' When I read this quote I thought of the radical nature of this idea. Big business today is not even concerned with an equal distribution of goods, but rather the unequal distribution of profit that favors men over women and CEO's over staff. I believe this quote summarizes the entire reading. How is it that back in the time of World War II in Italy this radical idea was proven and still today we cannot achieve it in the modern day business world?

Response 1: This idea is so radical because it is a change from within. A building or headquarters or business is an objective entity with no capacity to reason or feel or express human emotion. The problem in today's economy is that the employers of a business fall subject to emulating the building they work in. Rather than de-humanize employees into people who cannot feel human emotion other than the joy they receive from achieving a higher profit, this idea suggests to change from within. With a change from within, each employee starts displaying affection towards their neighbor, which in turn can make the business have a reputation of equality and compassion. It is our duty to get the business to emulate our human selves rather than get assimilate the objectified nature of the business into its human employees.

Text 2: The idea of public happiness intrigues me. Public happiness describes the reciprocal nature of happiness. The text cites an example that "I can be rich myself, but to be happy I need others." This is crucial because again it provides a radical idea. Public happiness acts as an end goal that can be achieved by the means of the economy of communion.

Response 2: Public happiness is so radical because it eliminates the singularity of wealth. For so many people, money buys happiness. The mere accumulation of wealth directly relates to the amount of happiness that a hedonistic personality maintains. Public happiness is the evolution of happiness from a singular sensation to a duality between the initial, transitory happiness wealth brings, and the resulting substantial sensation that is only achieved through being in communion with others. This is public happiness.

Actual Text:

1. The managers who work in these business environments handle daily operations much different. If an employee makes a mistake or there is a problem with production the manager uses the word of God to help him solve the problem. Instead of firing the employee or finding a new way to export goods the manager decided "to love each neighbor in a real way". He took the time to learn about the problem and then worked from there.

2. The economy of Communion is looked at as a reciprocity as appose to hierarchy. Those who can give give what they can. Little contributions by many people make a big difference on a lot of people. It is not only about giving money, but about sharing experiences and relationships with God.

Responses:

1. The approach used by these managers have benefitted them in many different ways. In many modern businesses employees are given strikes which limit the amount of mistakes they are permitted to make before getting fired. These business structures encourage managers to look at their employs with love and respect as they would anyone else. They view humans as human beings and not just integral parts of businesses. BY doing so many businesses have thrived. This shows that relationships between managers and employees definitely has an impact on how the business does.

2. I think that an important aspect of the Economy of Communion is the relationships that they have with each other. The experiences that they have and the relationships they form are what keeps them involved in such an institution. These people seem to really believe and wish the best for each other. They help out others with all they can and because of this they feel the grace of God. If you can not contribute anything they share their relationships and presence which is also an integral part of the experience.

"Those who receive help are not considered 'assisted' or 'beneficiaries' ... they are regarded as active participants in the project, all part of the same community, who also live in the culture of giving."

I liked that the focus of the project was not charity but sharing and caring for others and conserving their dignity because everybody gives as well as receives. It removes the victim role from the project and allows people to feel empowered and actively improve their lives. The project set off a chain reaction in which people who received help turned around and helped others in need. By having many people from different backgrounds helping out, the people receiving help receive all kinds of help along with simple material aid. Receiving help such as genuine love and care helps a community just as much, if not more, than receiving material goods. This project was able to show that and make it very clear that those who are helped properly will help others in turn.


"The businesses foster communion with employees by paying particular attention to their health, well-being, and development."

Communion is defined as sharing thoughts and feelings on an intimate level or on a mental or spiritual level. The fact that these businesses, including Google, would go out of their way to foster a level of communion in their employees at all is amazing and commendable. By concerning itself with the "health, well-being, and development" of employees, a company makes itself socially responsible. Companies should strive to become more socially responsible and foster better environments for their employees not only because it is the right thing to do but also because it, strictly on a profit based level, increases productivity and could financially benefit the company. Companies should strive to put employees and their needs as people first because employees are first and foremost people not pawns.

Actual Text

1. One of the sections in this article that really caught my attention was the definition of the "culture of gratuitousness" (665). It is no synonymous with philanthropy or social assistance, but rather it is the understanding that "one cannot be happy alone, others are necessary for one's happiness" (665).

2. I found the conclusion of this article to be inspiring because I think it it is important that people recognize that "they belong to the same social group regardless of blood or profound relationships" (679). It is important that we as people work together in a positive way because self-giving love is the path to human freedom and fulfillment.


Responses

1. This definition grasped my attention because I think many people, myself included categorize gratuity as being generous to others. However, gratuity does not mean being a good person or giving others a gift. The truth is that gratuity is a spiritual attitude. In order to be truly happy we must surround ourselves with others. For example, you can be rich and have all the money in the world, but if you are not surrounded by people you love and people to share that wealth with then you are not going to be truly happy. We must be concerned with looking out for the happiness of others because if we all just looked out for ourselves then no one would achieve genuine happiness.

2. I think that the author did an excellent job at summing up the meaning of the Economy of Communion. Regardless of social standing or how much money each individual makes, we are all on the path to human fulfillment. I don't think that there is a single person that doesn't want to make their life the best it can possibly be and this can be achieved if we all come together. By joining in a "communion" we can solve the social and economic problems while reflecting on our own lives. Becoming educated about social and economic problems can help us grow individually, but as we grow individually we can also grow together.

Text 1: "Over the years, what emerged from their lifestyle was not only a more equal distribution of goods, but also a profound critical intuition- that the essence of human experiences is to be "in communion". It found in the image of God, who is love, and who for Christians is a communion of persons, the Trinity, the map for all human relationships. In the core of our being, our deepest fulfillment is found in a life of communion, in loving, in giving."

Response 1: This excerpt helped me understand what the economy of communion is. The line "the essence of human experiences is to be in communion" resonates with me as how humans work and live together similarly to the church. When I hear the word communion at mass, I always think of togetherness and he community of the church, as we live together in the community of God. The next line refers to Jesus as "a divine immigrant", which I think is a very interesting way of depicting Christ. I had never thought of Jesus as an immigrant because the word immigrant can have negative connotations, but after reading it I see He could be seen as an immigrant in the way he entered our lives.



Text 2: C. A Life of Communion in which the Poor are Active Participants
"Another striking aspect of the economy of communion project is the way in which everyone involved is given equal consideration. Those who receive help are not considered "assisted" or "beneficiaries". Rather they are regarded as active participants in the project, all part of the same community, who also live the culture of giving. The emphasis is not on philanthropy, but on sharing, in that each person gives with equal dignity"

Response 2: I feel this excerpt highlights the essence of Fair Trade. We are not giving handouts to the people in need, rather helping them establish a business and a source of income. I like that he says the emphasis is not on philanthropy, because I think people often confuse philanthropy with just writing checks and handing out money. Fair Trade is all about treating others with respect and upholding dignity. While reading this, I thought back to the article Erin sent out to us last week, and I'm starting to understand the author's argument in that many Americans are doing mindless service that is actually causing more problems than good.