Because of Rich Roll’s fantastic podcasts — he gives good podcast (Rich’s quote, not mine) — I just learned about Stephen Ritz.
Stephen says, “It is easier to raise healthy children than to fix broken men”.
Meet Stephen Ritz, Chief Eternal Optimist. Check out the work he’s doing at Green Bronx Machine.org. Then watch his TEDx Manhattan talk here:
Stephen is doing the work that’s right on. I’m totally with him. I wrote this to Rich in an email last week. I’ve been saying it a lot lately:
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I’m also interested in the idea of rebuilding America from inside out – going into the poorest neighborhood’s and making a difference. The politicians talk about “incoming inequality” or “helping the middle class”. It’s all bs. What we should be doing is going into America’s poorest neighborhoods to start businesses, opening stores and creating opportunity for the those who reside there — while keeping property taxes low. One idea I have is that the taxes a business pays is inversely related to the wealth created for its employees or a 5 mile radius from their office.
For example there’s millions of people in the neighborhoods I’m talking about who can’t get jobs because of their color or arrest record. What happens? They get locked up. In fact our system is designed to lock them up. Until America faces this problem head-on, nothing will change but the prison population — it’ll grow. I think tech can play a big role here.
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What Stephen is doing is so right on. Healthy kids lead healthy lives. To turn our country around, we need to focus on communities such as the South Bronx. The project needs to start in the Projects. Grow, from the inside out. Grow food. Start businesses. This is the path. The politicians won’t do it. It’s the people, that need to lead the charge.
Because it’s easier to raise healthy children than it is to fix broken men.
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