Celebrating the birthday of a nonprofit you founded doesn’t have the same nostalgia-soaked feeling as your own birthday: rather than the bittersweet recollections of childhood, this celebration has the bracing feel of adulthood.
We adults know the future is bleak.
Have jobs, families, to-do lists.
Do what we can.
Know in our hearts that
It’s not enough.
I’m not going to argue the absurd, argue
That things are bad or going to get better.
We live in an age of immutable belief shaped
To write is to argue without evidence that beauty
pervades: the rainforest and the killing field,
sunsets and floods of acid rain on I-95.
There are those who believe that corporations have but one purpose—to maximize profits. There are those who believe that business must be a force for good, using free-market principles primarily to serve people and the planet—also known as social enterprise.
I inherited a small fortune when I came of age,
Invested it well.
Now, at 35, I have even more money.
Time and commerce are good to the fortunate.
I’ve been hearing Save the Rainforest
Since I was small enough to sleep
In the safety of my parent’s bed
Or snuggled with stuffed animals—
Pandas, giraffes, monkeys, frogs;
Thanks to my good friend Dima Trakovsky, who is an amazing filmmaker and the Co-Founder of his own production company, Filmkraft, I now have three short (1 – 3 minute) videos telling the story of three Capital Good Fund clients: Sherlie (Car Loan), Mamadou (Immigration Loan), and Ana (Immigration Loan). I embed them below. Enjoy!
It does not matter who lit the flame
That burned the Reichstag down,
Only that it burned and so few
Considered what cremation means
To those who long for proper burial.
