Shownotes
This episode is all about finding connection and compassion in today's chaotic world. Wendy and Tony explore the importance of community and how it can transform lives, especially during tough times. They reflect on their own journeys and how they found their paths toward service and social justice. Through personal anecdotes, they highlight the significance of understanding and embracing our differences, while also celebrating what we have in common. As they discuss the challenges of isolation and fear, they encourage listeners to step up, speak out, and be active participants in their communities. It's a lively conversation filled with laughs, insights, and a call to action for everyone to get involved and foster a sense of belonging.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Transcripts
Foreign.
Speaker A:Listeners.
Speaker A:My name is Wendy Green, and this is the eighth episode of hey Boomer.
Speaker A:Today we're going to be talking about creating community with people from all walks of life and offering compassion where it is most needed in society.
Speaker A:Even more so today then talking some about how we might be able to continue that sense of community and compassion as we move into retirement or semi retirement.
Speaker A:Hey Boomer is a place where we are building a community based on respect for differences as well as.
Speaker A:And appreciation for those things that we have in common.
Speaker A:So what is community?
Speaker A:Community is a sum of individuals, individuals who have concern for one another, who care, share, and take responsibility for those in their community.
Speaker A:Community.
Speaker A:It's my hope with hey Boomer that we build this community through our conversations with our guests, our conversations with each other, and the conversations that you have ongoing after the.
Speaker A:After the conversations end on hey Boomer.
Speaker A:If you like what you're hearing today, please share and let us know.
Speaker A:That definitely helps with our audience.
Speaker A:I can't start today's broadcast without commenting on what's been going on this past week.
Speaker A:And, and normally I have a script that I work from, and I just was struggling to figure out what to say today as we kicked off this broadcast.
Speaker A:I remember growing up in the 60s and the civil rights movement and the riots that happened in my high school and in neighborhoods around where I lived in Miami.
Speaker A:And I remember watching the, the, the dogs and the water cannons during some of the protests in Alabama and around the South.
Speaker A:But I remember that I didn't experience that.
Speaker A:And even though, as I was saying to Tony before we got on the call, you know, growing up Jewish, I did experience some anti Semitism, but it's nothing like what I believe is being experienced today.
Speaker A:And part of me has to think it's part of the problem is the isolation that we have been in.
Speaker A:Everybody feeling more that you know, into themselves and everybody else outside is dangerous.
Speaker A:They're the other.
Speaker A:And the more we experience the other, the more fear, the more separation.
Speaker A:And like I said when we started, hey Boomer is about building a community.
Speaker A:And a community cares for, shares, and takes responsibility for each other.
Speaker A:And this is our time to not stay silent.
Speaker A:We all have to have a voice and say, what happened in Minneapolis, what's happening with racism and the violence and brutality in the communities around us is not okay.
Speaker A:And whether we're white, black, blue, Latino, Hispanic, lgbt, it doesn't matter.
Speaker A:We all have to have a voice, respect our differences, appreciate our similarities, and be involved in the conversation.
Speaker A:And the caring for Our community.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:That's all I'm going to say about that.
Speaker A:So let me tell you about how Tony and I met.
Speaker A:I move.
Speaker A:And you may not remember this, Tony.
Speaker A: I moved to Greenville back in: Speaker A:And that club does the annual Duck Derby every year in Falls park, where we typically have put about 10,000 little rubber ducks down the river as our major fundraiser.
Speaker A:Prior to the race, we always have a stripping and tagging event where we get the ducks delivered to a warehouse and we're stripping off the numbers from the previous race and tagging these little ducks with the numbers for our race.
Speaker A:Tony McDade has always helped with the stripping and tagging.
Speaker A:And the first time I was there, you can't miss him.
Speaker A:I mean, look at the red hair and that friendly smile.
Speaker A:So I'm not sure if I actually met you then, Tony, or if I just saw you, but that's when I first knew about you.
Speaker A:And since then, we've had some really wonderful conversations.
Speaker A:I've really gotten to know about your commitment to the community in general and to the homeless community specifically.
Speaker A:Some of your work in the community and your commitment to the community is.
Speaker A:It's very heartwarming and inspiring.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So let me just tell the folks online a little bit about who you are.
Speaker A:So, Tony McDade is a native of South Carolina and a graduate of Furman University.
Speaker A:He has a BA In History from there, and then he went on to the Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he earned a Master of Divinity in a Master of Divinity degree.
Speaker A: And then in: Speaker A:He served 21 years as an administrator and educator and in Baptist congregations in the Carolinas.
Speaker A:But throughout, he felt a calling to focus on ministry with people in poverty.
Speaker A:And we're going to talk a little bit more about that as we are in this discussion.
Speaker A:Tony serves on the board of the Hollingsworth Fund and on the Steering committee of the Greenville Homeless Alliance.
Speaker A:He is a Riley Fellow and the Diversity Leaders Initiative from the Riley Institute at Furman University.
Speaker A:A recipient of the Public and Community Services Award from the Atlantic Institute, the Caritas Individual Award from the Sisters of Charity foundation of South Carolina, and Richard Furman Baptist Heritage Award from Furman University.
Speaker A:Tony is currently the Executive Director at United Ministries, where their mission is to serve and empower people on the transformative journey to self sufficiency.
Speaker A:Tony is married to Cam.
Speaker A:They have Two children.
Speaker A:And he made sure I was going to mention his granddaughter Ainsley, who is destined to be a Furman graduate one day.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker A:Thanks, Tony, for joining.
Speaker A:Hey, Boomer.
Speaker B:Thank you, Wendy.
Speaker B:It's great to see you and to be a part of this community.
Speaker B:We appreciate you doing that.
Speaker A:Yes, my pleasure.
Speaker A:So let's talk about, you know, what's going on today.
Speaker A:We can't ignore it and how that has impacted you and your community in the past and over, you know, the last week or so.
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:Well, one, let me just say thank you to you, Wendy, for capturing the sort of the spirit of the age, you might say, at least for, for those of us who are in this time of having had a career or two and are looking toward the future in ways that we could take what we've learned and what we've done and continue to make a difference in the world.
Speaker B:So, hey, Boomer fits right into that mode.
Speaker B:And so I congratulate you on that.
Speaker B:And also I appreciate your social consciousness to say as we think about what's going on in our country, of course, at United Ministries, we see the suffering of people on daily basis, especially people who are homeless who are struggling for financial stability, if not self fulfillment.
Speaker B:And so as we kind of look at those folks, we know that homelessness and lack of housing and lack of health care are all symptoms of the underlying poverty that afflicts any community, even one as wonderful as Greenville.
Speaker B:So what we try to do is bring together resources from the wonderfully generous and hospitable people of Greenville county and channel those through United Ministries so that those resources, sometimes it's money, oftentimes it's people power and just connections and relationships.
Speaker B:We make those connections with people who have the same dreams and hopes that everybody else has, that is, that they can take care of themselves, provide for their families and have a way to thrive in the.
Speaker B:In the larger community.
Speaker B:With United Ministries, we.
Speaker B:We always say that we welcome everybody with hospitality and we treat everybody with dignity.
Speaker B:We take stories as they come, one at a time.
Speaker B:And so, you know, to double back on your comment earlier, during these days of racial strife, when we see so much of the underside of our community and our country and our society, we.
Speaker B:We recognize that there are people who are hurting and that hurt is physical.
Speaker B:In some cases, it's based on the color of their skin or their ethnicity or where they're from.
Speaker B:Other folks are experiencing social isolation, as you mentioned, that sense that maybe they don't belong in the community for one reason or another.
Speaker B:And that's not characteristic of Greenville.
Speaker B:It's certainly not the Rotary way and it's certainly not the way of faith, for sure.
Speaker B:And then there are those who just feel, I think, a.
Speaker B:A sense of fear that you touched on it.
Speaker B:And it's a delicate subject that in these days of uncertainty, when we're already dealing with a crisis that's health related, now we have a crisis that's socially related.
Speaker B:And we have a choice.
Speaker B:Are we going to let these kind of crises, will we rise to the occasion or will we let fear overcome and dominate our lives?
Speaker B:And right now, the answers to that conundrum are being played out on our city streets every day, every night.
Speaker B:And whether we can allow people to have their voice in peaceful expression of their voice, that's pretty decisive question for us as a culture right now.
Speaker B:So in terms of, of who we are and the work we do at United Ministries with people who hope to leave poverty in their past, they see a bright future despite a pandemic and despite racial adversity in our country.
Speaker B:And I find some optimism and hope in that.
Speaker B:That's pretty cool thing to hear people say that they're not going to let fear of any other, whether that's a person or a thing, they're not gonna let that fear dominate their lives.
Speaker A:Yeah, fear is such a big thing, such a separator.
Speaker A:And so in United Ministries, I know one of the things that you do has a lot to do with education to helping people get the skills that they need to get that leg up to get those opportunities to get out of poverty.
Speaker A:So how do you address that fear of I'm not good enough or I'm different during that kind of education?
Speaker B:Sure.
Speaker B:Excellent question.
Speaker B:And it's a perfect way that connects to the theme of our time together.
Speaker B:And that is folks who, for whatever reason got off track in their education, get on track again through our GED program, through our employment programs or housing programs.
Speaker B:But oftentimes the connecting tissue in that is a relationship.
Speaker B:And that relationship is either with a staff member at our place, someone with expertise and resources at their fingertips, but frankly, more often it's a relationship established with a volunteer.
Speaker B:And so I'm thinking about the people who come to our adult education programs and help young people, middle aged people, older people who never achieved a high school equivalency degree.
Speaker B:They help them plod their way through history and science and English, and then finally that last mountaintop, which is usually the highest, that's math.
Speaker B:And see that it long lasts, that they will fulfill a lifelong dream to have a high school equivalency, which then means they can either get a job or get a promotion.
Speaker B:So there is very definite economic benefit to the larger community when more and more people find themselves positioned to fulfill roles of responsibility.
Speaker B:But that's not what it's really all about.
Speaker B:It's really all about person by person, story by story.
Speaker B:A person who has been beaten down by life for whatever reason, they have finally reached this milestone.
Speaker B:We've all seen it and it's happening right now.
Speaker B:High school graduates are walking across the stage down at the Bon Secours center practicing social distancing.
Speaker B:But they're getting their diplomas.
Speaker B:We know we're celebrating with them.
Speaker B:For others, getting that diploma has taken years and years of devotion.
Speaker B:We've had young people graduate virtually at the same time as their parents and grandparents just because life has happened to them.
Speaker B:So yeah, it is all about relationships in terms of who we are and what we do and with education.
Speaker B:But I would encourage those who are listening and those who, whom, you know, family and friends.
Speaker B:One, if you know someone who's struggling to get that education done once and for all, send them our way.
Speaker B:Dial 21 1.
Speaker B:We hope to be open again and having folks come in within a couple of weeks.
Speaker B:Right now we're closed.
Speaker B:Our staff came back today and so we'll start the process of preparing our facilities to reopen.
Speaker B:But this may be a volunteer opportunity if someone has an extra hour or two during the week or if someone is like me and that is moving from one season of life to another.
Speaker B:I'm in a process, as Wendy knows, of what I'm calling semi retirement.
Speaker B:I'm officially retiring from United Ministries at the end of this month, overlapping right now with our wonderful new executive director, Lizzie Beber, as we compare notes and, and work through the rest of this month.
Speaker B:But semi retirement will find me doing some of the things that I've always wanted to do that never quite had time to do.
Speaker B:And for your listeners, Wendy, maybe there's somebody out there who says, you know, I'd like to make a difference.
Speaker B:And whether I'm retired, semi retired or still working, I can devote some hours and some expertise to developing relationship with an adult student and help him or her finally get achieve that summit that is for them seemed unattainable for so long, that is to get a high school diploma.
Speaker B:So that's an opportunity that right here in United Ministries that we offer.
Speaker B:But it touches on something deeper, I think, in the community, similarly to what our country is facing.
Speaker B:Right now.
Speaker B:And that is all of what we do and fulfilling our vocation, as you mentioned earlier, that what we do is not just a job, but it's a calling.
Speaker B:And that used to be what people said about ministers and rabbis and priests and others.
Speaker B:They were called to what they do.
Speaker B:I happen to believe, theologically and otherwise, that everybody is called to the.
Speaker B:To the job that they're doing to their career.
Speaker B:And you have an opportunity to make a difference by fostering relationships, getting to know people, rubbing elbows with them, and seeing what their dreams are all about, and helping them to move forward to achieving those dreams.
Speaker B:In this day that we're facing right now, what better way for us to be together in community than to walk together in this journey and to help each other out?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you actually touched on one of the questions I was going to ask, which was about volunteering, because there are so many opportunities to volunteer.
Speaker A:I love the, you know, helping people get their ged.
Speaker A:There are lots of different organizations in the community that do that as well.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:But I wanted to go back when we first started talking.
Speaker A:You mentioned how, you know, you were in the ministry, you were working in different churches, and something happened that really kind of shifted your life.
Speaker A:And so can you tell us about that?
Speaker A:Sure.
Speaker B:It's something I've thought a great deal about over the years and certainly here recently, as I'm like a lot of folks going through another shift in life.
Speaker B:But, yeah, as a.
Speaker B:Serving as a congregational minister was a wonderful experience.
Speaker B:Wonderful congregations full of terrific people who really cared about their faith and living it out.
Speaker B:But it is an irony that those of us who are of the cloth, so to speak, if you're very busy working with people to create an environment for others to worship and others to be ministers, that it's hard to do some of that stuff yourself.
Speaker B:And so 21 years of that was very fulfilling.
Speaker B:But somewhere along the way, I realized that I wasn't grounded enough myself into the larger community where I was living.
Speaker B:And I realized, too, that I needed.
Speaker B:I used to say I needed just more color in my life.
Speaker B:And what I meant by that was serving white well to do congregations was just with people who are really wanting to make a difference in the world.
Speaker B:But I also knew that in the way we were doing it, that God wanted us to be involved in the lives of the larger community.
Speaker B:So for me, the.
Speaker B:The time the shift came when I decided to become do what I'm asking people to do based on experience, and that is take the risk and volunteer to do Something you haven't done previously.
Speaker B:For me, I went down and devoted specific time once a week to serving a meal at our local shelter for homeless folks.
Speaker B:And so it gave me a chance to not be thinking about all of the dimensions of what was happening in our community.
Speaker B:But just saying, gosh, for an hour or two, we can make a difference.
Speaker B:At least somebody will be fed and cared for.
Speaker B:And what came of that was a commitment to do that on a regular basis.
Speaker B:And a wise director of that shelter took me by the hand one day after we had served the meal and people had come through a serving line and we had handed them their soup and their bread, very similar to what a lot of folks do.
Speaker B:We went out and he had me sit right next to someone and said, I want you to hear this guy's story.
Speaker B:And so that changed my life.
Speaker B:Just hearing a person who was struggling with an addiction, struggling with homelessness, struggling with being left out of his family and being isolated from them.
Speaker B:You get involved with other people's lives and you realize that maybe.
Speaker B:Well, a couple things that makes you realize.
Speaker B:One is just how dependent on the grace of God those folks are, and two, how blessed we are to be as privileged as we are in our current conversation.
Speaker B:If you have a job, if you're not a person of color, if you have some wealth, you realize that.
Speaker B:That there's a certain element of privilege that comes with that.
Speaker B:And with that privilege is responsibility.
Speaker B:So hearing a story and deciding that I could get more involved.
Speaker B:And again, this director, whose style I've tried to emulate over the years, he invited me to serve on their board.
Speaker B:I served as chair of their board for a number of years as we expanded the efforts, including establishing a clinic in which the very first person with HIV AIDS received medical attention in our community in an isolated room.
Speaker B:This was many years ago.
Speaker B:They were able to get the kind of medical attention they needed when literally, they couldn't go to the hospital to receive that.
Speaker B:So, again, touching.
Speaker B:Having people's lives touch mine, people with real needs, trying to lean into that, that's what prompted me to.
Speaker B:I began work on my Doctor of Ministry degree.
Speaker B:The focus was on how people of faith can minister effectively with homeless families.
Speaker B:And then depending on how your theology works or whether it's serendipitous, the opportunity to do just that came about right here in Greenville through the Greenville Area Interfaith Hospitality network.
Speaker B: So in: Speaker B:So that pivot in my life became the kind of situation where it changed my career, my calling didn't change.
Speaker B:It just got more focused, it got more refined.
Speaker B:And I would encourage folks to think of it in those ways because my experience was you just never know what God is up to in a given situation.
Speaker B:If you put yourself out there, connect with other human beings, especially outside of your normal group of people, your normal social set, then enormously powerful things can happen.
Speaker B:God's God got a sense of humor about that sort of thing.
Speaker B:And hospitality can, can change us all.
Speaker B:It certainly changed my life and the trajectory took us right on through GAIN as we merged it into United Ministries to do what I'm doing now.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I would encourage folks, as I get towards semi retirement, I'm looking for that next thing that will enable me to continue to use the skills, the experience and expertise that I have to work with other nonprofits in this sector to make sure they are grounded and that they are able to weather this, the pandemic and the crises and find ways to make a difference in the community.
Speaker A:So for people who don't know, although most people listening do, GAIN was Greenville Area Interface Hospitality Network, which means that they provided homeless families, and correct me if I'm wrong, Tony, but homeless families, typically, if they go to a homeless shelter, are separated by men and women.
Speaker A:And GAIN provided a place in churches and synagogues in the community where the families could be sheltered together on a temporary basis, but at least the family could stay together.
Speaker B:Is that beautiful?
Speaker B:Beautiful, yeah.
Speaker B:And that included families who had nowhere else to go, which would have been single moms with boys over the age of 10, big families, families that were headed by couples or say grandparents.
Speaker B:And then one of the fastest growing parts of the homeless populations is single dads with kids.
Speaker B:So imagine how challenging it would be to be on the street of Greenville or any other town if you're a single dad with a daughter.
Speaker B: result of our merger back in: Speaker A:So thanks for all of that.
Speaker A:I'm curious though, as you're moving into semi retirement.
Speaker A:So in a sense you went from being an administrator in a lot of the churches that you served to to now an administrator in United Ministries.
Speaker A:So not as much hands on as maybe you were initially looking For I don't know.
Speaker A:But as you and Cam both.
Speaker A:Because Cam just retired also, correct?
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker A:So as you and Cam both move into whatever the next phase looks like, and I don't know that retirement is the right word for it, what are your thoughts about getting more hands on, involved in things, things together separately?
Speaker B:Well, we do some things together, especially through our church at First Baptist.
Speaker B:And Cam is also a superb educator, so she's continued to volunteer through Greenville Literacy association, which is her forte.
Speaker B:My next line of service will very likely be with non profits that are in a leadership transition as in good Baptist fashion, as pastors come and go.
Speaker B:I've been through three of those and learned a few of the tricks of the trade and most most importantly when to duck in situations like that.
Speaker B:And so there may be some ways that I can help some other agencies turn that time of crisis, so to speak, into a time when they really can benefit, you know, and maybe reinvent themselves to some extent.
Speaker B:And I know that I'll continue to volunteer.
Speaker B:My son works at Triune Mercy center and we're very devoted to, to what happens there.
Speaker B:I'll still obviously be supportive of United Ministries.
Speaker B:And I'm open though, as I realized maybe those years ago, to see what God has in heart and mind next and just trying to be listening to that.
Speaker B:And it's the same way that sitting elbow to elbow with a person over lunch and feeling a nudge that said, gosh, things are going to be different and that's okay, then that nudge is, is happening in different ways today that, that I can still plan out.
Speaker B:I'm doing.
Speaker B:What I'm planning to do though is do this on a part time basis because like John Muir said, the mountains are calling and I must go.
Speaker B:So getting, being able to hike once more as I enjoy doing, there's something about just being out in nature that helps clear your mind.
Speaker B:But that said, you know, it's, we're just, we're trying to be open to what the, the next season of, of life may be.
Speaker B:We've tried to enjoy our kids at every age, now our granddaughter, but we want to, we know that we have a way to continue to make a difference in the various contexts of our lives.
Speaker B:So we keep searching for what option that may be and being open to doing something that we've never done before.
Speaker A:Well, that sounds exciting and I think that's important.
Speaker A:So you said the end of this month, right?
Speaker B:Is when you're end of this month.
Speaker B:Exactly right.
Speaker A:So okay, well that's going to be a huge change for you and for United Ministries.
Speaker A:So have you given much thought to what like a day without work is going to look like?
Speaker B:Well, if it's left up to me, that day will find me on the way to some Appalachian cove, especially in the spring when I can go to some places I've never been before.
Speaker B:That's one of my favorite things in the world to do is to, to see a site that I haven't seen.
Speaker B:And so some travel I think will be involved.
Speaker B:But you know, looping back to something that you said earlier, Wendy, as you, as you brought us, our consciousness into what's happening today, if I may, let me just share with the group something that happened even as last Saturday.
Speaker B:Is that okay?
Speaker A:Yeah, please do.
Speaker B:Well, yeah.
Speaker B:And so I'm appreciative of the folks who recognize that life comes at you fast, as the insurance company said.
Speaker B:And so on Saturday, my family was very kind.
Speaker B:We were celebrating my birthday together, I won't mention which one, but we were having a great time at McPherson park playing putt putt down town.
Speaker B:And we heard all, it's about 4:30 or 5 and the sirens were everywhere throughout town.
Speaker B:And it turns out that there was a protest going on downtown and the marchers were proceeding in one direction.
Speaker B:And there was some disagreement on Friday.
Speaker B:On Saturday, unlike the peace school demonstration that took place yesterday, all in support of, of what is happening in our country in terms of racial awareness and action for social justice for our black friends.
Speaker B:And so while we were having our putt putt game, a friend of mine, Don Oglesby from Homes of Hope, he sent me a text and said that he had seen my name on a sign in New York City.
Speaker B:And I assured him that I was very safely ensconced in Greenville, South Carolina.
Speaker B:And I didn't know what that was all about.
Speaker B:And then he said, there is also my name on a sign in la.
Speaker B:And those of you who've been watching all this will have seen that as they're calling for justice for various people, African American people who have been killed by police officers across the country, that one of those persons is an African American transgender man in Florida, in Tallahassee, Florida, who was killed just last week in an encounter with the local police.
Speaker B:And whereas this has become all too frequent and just a terrible experience for everybody involved and certainly the height of injustice and suffering, to see your name involved with it really was one of those striking moments for me.
Speaker B:And so I've been mulling that over pretty carefully the last few days.
Speaker B:In the what if category, so that it became much more personal in that sense.
Speaker B:And I've had a few folks who.
Speaker B:Who texted me to make sure that, you know, that wasn't I, and then have had some very interesting friend requests on Facebook and Twitter who, for some reason, got this all confused in terms of what my handle might be on those.
Speaker B:But somewhere there was a person who I did not.
Speaker B:Who I did not know, who has experienced the end of their life due to an encounter with the police there.
Speaker B:It's a very complicated situation, obviously, but because of the name that was attached to it, it's given me pause to say this might be one of those clues from the cosmos, so to speak, that says you're more involved in this conversation than you thought you were.
Speaker B:Take a look at the privilege that you have.
Speaker B:Take a look at the responsibility that comes with that.
Speaker B:And what can we do to create community, which has been a part of my calling anyway, at least my aspiration.
Speaker B:What can we do to make sure that happens right here in Greenville, South Carolina, that people are bonded together, overcoming other barriers, including our race, our religion, our gender, our orientation, whatever it may happen to be?
Speaker B:Community is what matters the most.
Speaker B:And the quality of that community is something that we're responsible for as individuals and as groups, whether that's a small group or a large group.
Speaker B:So I guess it was one of those.
Speaker B:It was a sign, you might say, in this case, literally a sign for me to pay more close attention to what's going on, even amidst all of the other cacophony of the world, that this is important, and it is inescapably personal, whether it's your name on a sign or not.
Speaker B:This affects all of us, whether.
Speaker B:Regardless of how we.
Speaker B:We perceive of that.
Speaker B:So Wendy was very kind.
Speaker B:I sent some information.
Speaker B:You can.
Speaker B:Anyone can Google this for themselves and.
Speaker B:And see what transpired with this individual in Tallahassee.
Speaker B:But I was suggesting, and she's been very kind to post on, I think, on the Facebook page.
Speaker A:On the Facebook page.
Speaker A:And I'll share.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:I've been listening to my African American friends who are giving us advice as white people, what we can do to be supportive of our African American friends and the larger community in this search for justice.
Speaker B:And there are some very pragmatic things, but what I noticed most of all was how relational they were.
Speaker B:That is, do you have a friend who is hurting, who happens to be African American, and can you reach out to them?
Speaker B:What can you do?
Speaker B:And this gentleman, Mr. Johnson, is in Birmingham, Alabama, probably the place that has experienced more racial strife than anywhere else in this country going back over 50 years.
Speaker B:So I would encourage your listeners to take a look at that article to seek out their.
Speaker B:Their African American friends and to rejuvenate the relationships.
Speaker B:To say that I care not to put yourself in their shoes, because we simply cannot do that, but to be.
Speaker B:Have the power of presence with them because these are days of pain and suffering, any way you look at it.
Speaker A:Yeah, I.
Speaker A:It was a very interesting article that you shared, Tony, and it's an opinion piece written by a man in Alabama where a lot of the original civil rights protests were.
Speaker A:And he's talking about, you know, what can we do as white people?
Speaker A:I mean, it's one thing to say, you know, well, what can I do?
Speaker A:And like Tony said, you know, and I said at the beginning, it's hard to completely understand because we are not black, although some of the listeners may be.
Speaker A:But there are ways to connect to the community and to be part of the difference.
Speaker A:And, you know, that's what Tony's life has been about.
Speaker A:That's what I'm hoping.
Speaker A:Hey, Boomer.
Speaker A:Is about.
Speaker A:You know, we.
Speaker A:We want to make a difference.
Speaker A:We want to make it better.
Speaker A:Yes, there have been terrible things that have happened in our history going back pre biblical times, but that doesn't mean that it has to stay that way.
Speaker A:And most of us are good people.
Speaker A:We just have to stay involved and be heard and build that sense of community.
Speaker A:So thank you for what you are doing, Tony, and I look forward to see where this takes you and glad that wasn't you.
Speaker A:That was kind of scary.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So to tie in with what you're doing with your retirement, my guest next week has written a book on retirement by design.
Speaker A:I know.
Speaker A:And it's a whole process you work through, and working through it with your spouse is even better.
Speaker A:So that, you know, you're kind of where each one of you want to go.
Speaker A:It should be a super interesting conversation.
Speaker A:She actually is somebody that I've known since high school.
Speaker A:She moved out to California where she was a practicing attorney for many years.
Speaker A:And then she shifted her focus on mentoring and.
Speaker A:Let's see.
Speaker A:Mentoring relationships to guide, support, and transform professional careers from the beginning of their practice through retirement.
Speaker A:And so now that she's on our side of the.
Speaker A:Yeah, she wrote this book not only for herself, but for the community of people she's been working with.
Speaker A:So I think that's going to be a very helpful conversation next Monday.
Speaker A:And I look forward to Everybody who would like to.
Speaker A:To come and join us on that.
Speaker A:Is there anything else that you would like to say, Tony, before we end?
Speaker B:Well, just a word of gratitude to you again for having the foresight to see that this is a timely piece for you to do, for there are many of us who are in this Boomer generation who are shifting our lifestyle, so to speak, but who are not shifting out of gear.
Speaker B:We're not shifting into neutral.
Speaker B:We're shifting into another gear.
Speaker B:It might be slightly lower.
Speaker B:I'm definitely slower, but that doesn't mean we're not moving forward and that the momentum makes a difference in this community.
Speaker B:And I would say that, too, as well.
Speaker B:I know this isn't all about the Rotary specifically, but I'm always amazed at the ingenuity and energy of the Reedy River Club, not only in terms of the Duck Derby, which we've been fortunate to be a part of, but just the way that you kind of wrap your arms collectively around this community and make a difference, whether it's the things you do in health.
Speaker B:But I especially appreciate it from an educational standpoint.
Speaker B:My daughter teaches third grade at Robert E. Cashin, and she gets those dictionaries that come in.
Speaker B:So we see the impact that your club makes, and you especially, Wendy, as a leader in that.
Speaker B:So you.
Speaker B:You make a difference.
Speaker B:And that's inspiring to those of us who are trying to figure out what's next.
Speaker B:But we know it's going to be something good.
Speaker A:It is going to be something good because we are exciting, involved people.
Speaker A:So I am just so appreciative to have you have your time, Tony.
Speaker A:We all have short stories to share, so let's just keep building this community one conversation at a time.
Speaker A:My name is Wendy Green, and this has been.
Speaker A:Hey, Boomer.
Speaker B:Thank you.
