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Paperwork: Maybe it’s time to pull some ideas from my never-going-to-happen file · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Paperwork. Maybe it's time to pull some ideas from my
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  Speaker 1: never going to happen file. Written by Lonnie Kane. This
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  Speaker 1: article is being read by an automated voice brought to
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  Speaker 1: you by ever Lit. I have a hidden things to
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  Speaker 1: do list. It's not like the other lists I keep
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  Speaker 1: making things I don't want to forget, or tasks I
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  Speaker 1: tend to ignore. Like the nagging list. My hidden lists
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  Speaker 1: are mostly ideas or random thoughts. I've been doing this
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  Speaker 1: for years. Perhaps what I'm talking about is wish lists,
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  Speaker 1: not just for me always. They are hidden since they
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  Speaker 1: get tucked into a pending action folder for when I
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  Speaker 1: have more time, energy, and resources. Well, at my age,
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  Speaker 1: I'm lacking most of that, But I still have this space,
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  Speaker 1: this moment, these words. So why not throw out some ideas.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe someone can make wine for my grapes, or at
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  Speaker 1: least enjoy a hearty chuckle. First, I've read a lot about,
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  Speaker 1: and have written about, the aching sadness of loneliness. Every
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  Speaker 1: community or neighborhood in larger cities should have a program
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  Speaker 1: I'd call one plus one. The goal is to encourage
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  Speaker 1: people to reach out to one individual a day who
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  Speaker 1: is alone, someone besides a family member who needs a friend,
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  Speaker 1: someone to talk to, share a meal or cup of coffee,
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  Speaker 1: take a walk, listen to music, remember a birthday. You
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  Speaker 1: decide the frequency and whether it's a phone call, a letter,
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  Speaker 1: or a personal visit. And if and when you reach
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  Speaker 1: out to another you need enough frequency to burst the
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  Speaker 1: lonely bubble. Just you and one person. That's one plus
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  Speaker 1: one equal sign the two of you. And perhaps it's
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  Speaker 1: the lonely person who eventually reaches out. Second. Drug addiction
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  Speaker 1: is a serious problem in many communities. That's actually old news.
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  Speaker 1: It's an ongoing problem that's being attacked from a variety
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  Speaker 1: of directions. There are many organizations besides law enforcement, with
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  Speaker 1: a mission targeting the drug problem. I was involved in
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  Speaker 1: such a local group as a representative of the local media,
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  Speaker 1: which ended when I retired. The group felt important, but
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  Speaker 1: I walked away frustrated. I felt like we were doing
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  Speaker 1: a lot to educate and point to others providing more
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  Speaker 1: direct help, but I never felt any measure of accomplishment.
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  Speaker 1: How do you measure success? I kept coming back to
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  Speaker 1: the same question, wouldn't it feel great? Wouldn't it be
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  Speaker 1: hugely significant? If we could say, at the end of
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  Speaker 1: a year that we had saved one person, pulled one
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  Speaker 1: addicted soul from the abyss. What if every local group, business, civic,
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  Speaker 1: and public service organization affected by this disease banded together
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  Speaker 1: to answer the call to help at least one person
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  Speaker 1: recover and rediscover a life that resembles normal. To commit
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  Speaker 1: to success, do whatever it takes beyond rehab, even if
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  Speaker 1: it takes more than a year to save one soul.
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  Speaker 1: My name for such a program to respond to the
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  Speaker 1: SOS cries in every town. How many souls would you
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  Speaker 1: have to save to make it worthwhile? Is one enough? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: one at a time. Third, find a home for my books.
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  Speaker 1: This is on my wish list, but it feels more
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  Speaker 1: like a fantasy dream. I keep imagining a place for
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  Speaker 1: books that don't have a home and are available to
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  Speaker 1: anyone who wants to read them. Then bring them back
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  Speaker 1: so they always have a home for other readers. Sounds
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  Speaker 1: like a library or some use bookstores, but that's not enough.
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  Speaker 1: In my dream, there is no space problem, and books
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  Speaker 1: are donated. No book is rejected as long as it
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  Speaker 1: is readable. It slowly becomes a book museum, protecting titles
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  Speaker 1: from authors throughout time. Plus writers who self published only
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  Speaker 1: a few copies. I want to rescue books from landfill's
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  Speaker 1: dumpsters and fireplaces. Yes, this is all a dream space,
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  Speaker 1: and time will be the enemy, so perhaps this would
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  Speaker 1: also be the place to go to rescue books that
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  Speaker 1: need a new home. I am slowly cataloging my library
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  Speaker 1: of two three hundred and eighty two books, incounting I
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  Speaker 1: worry about their future after I am gone. I buy
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  Speaker 1: books I think others should read besides myself. They must
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  Speaker 1: be read to truly survive, So I shall dream on.
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  Speaker 1: Ronnie Kcine, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa,
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  Speaker 1: also was a reporter for the Herald News in Joliet
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  Speaker 1: in the nineteen seventies. His paperwork email is Lonnie Jacaine
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  Speaker 1: at gmail dot com or mail the News Tribune four
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  Speaker 1: twenty six Second Street, Los Ale, Illinois, six one three
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  Speaker 1: zero one