Chapter 3: Politics
I work in a non-profit medical clinic. Non-profit. Non. We don't make money. We are not trying to cheat you out of money when we charge you for your visit, we are just trying to pay our employees. We did not double-charge your insurance because we're trying to scam them on your behalf. Really. We didn't.
The problem with this is that if we're not doing any of that we're instead getting our money from The Man. From the gov'ment. In short, we apply to a lot of grants. I say we, but I really mean everyone else, while I stand around like a deer caught in the headlights. Because this? This is exactly what I'm bad at.
I'm bad at it for several reasons.
1. This kind of essay, and they are all just gigantic essays, is not my forte. I don't like just writing words with nothing behind them. But this is so important! you say. Yeah, I don't really care? And you know why I don't care?
2. It's stupid! So many of the grants are stupid. The amount that people are awarded is stupid, the criteria is stupid, and there's no reason for it to be this stupid. And I'm not good at stupid.
We're sort of doing a grant now for substance abuse treatment in children (ages 9-21) and if we get the grant then we get $60,000. Now, I still consider sums in terms of tuition so that's a pretty good deal to my eyes. Not so! The $60,000, which will ultimately be awarded to 12 agencies, can get one, maybe one and a half counselors. More likely it'd be one counselor and a half of a medical student (the smart half, we hope). And that's not counting renting out office space, the cost of advertising our service, the cost of materials, and other misc costs. $60,000 is apparently worth not a lot and the worst thing it's not worth is the result.
With $60,000 the government is not buying results. It's buying 12 half-assed attempts at showmanship. But there's such an obvious solution! Award, say, $120,000 to 6 agencies. Or even $240,000 to 3 agencies. Do that and get results. Don't just put on a puppet show and call it life-changing.
But The Man can't do that. Because Darwin doesn't apply to nonprofit agencies. Apparently the ones who do badly are worth just as much as the ones who could actually produce a positive effect. I understand the reasoning behind this, because it means that you're giving everyone a chance, especially the start-up agencies. But it shouldn't work that way. Politics. Don't even get me started on politics.
The problem with this is that if we're not doing any of that we're instead getting our money from The Man. From the gov'ment. In short, we apply to a lot of grants. I say we, but I really mean everyone else, while I stand around like a deer caught in the headlights. Because this? This is exactly what I'm bad at.
I'm bad at it for several reasons.
1. This kind of essay, and they are all just gigantic essays, is not my forte. I don't like just writing words with nothing behind them. But this is so important! you say. Yeah, I don't really care? And you know why I don't care?
2. It's stupid! So many of the grants are stupid. The amount that people are awarded is stupid, the criteria is stupid, and there's no reason for it to be this stupid. And I'm not good at stupid.
We're sort of doing a grant now for substance abuse treatment in children (ages 9-21) and if we get the grant then we get $60,000. Now, I still consider sums in terms of tuition so that's a pretty good deal to my eyes. Not so! The $60,000, which will ultimately be awarded to 12 agencies, can get one, maybe one and a half counselors. More likely it'd be one counselor and a half of a medical student (the smart half, we hope). And that's not counting renting out office space, the cost of advertising our service, the cost of materials, and other misc costs. $60,000 is apparently worth not a lot and the worst thing it's not worth is the result.
With $60,000 the government is not buying results. It's buying 12 half-assed attempts at showmanship. But there's such an obvious solution! Award, say, $120,000 to 6 agencies. Or even $240,000 to 3 agencies. Do that and get results. Don't just put on a puppet show and call it life-changing.
But The Man can't do that. Because Darwin doesn't apply to nonprofit agencies. Apparently the ones who do badly are worth just as much as the ones who could actually produce a positive effect. I understand the reasoning behind this, because it means that you're giving everyone a chance, especially the start-up agencies. But it shouldn't work that way. Politics. Don't even get me started on politics.
posted by Katharine Sofia at
11:22 AM
2 Comments:
Darwin and the can of worms he opened are not politically correct. Since we have to act like everyone is equal, the government needs to put on the show of helping everybody while actually helping nobody. Confucius would probably like this, because for him, the government is supposed to be the icon of virtue that the people will follow. Personally, I think that even intentional Confucianism creates all kinds of problems.
Anyway, I love your writing. You have a talent, and you tell a damn good story.
Connor's right.
love, yr Ma
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