If anyone ever asked me to describe my style of blogging, I’d say it’s a mosaic. I happen to think posting little pieces of the pattern gives the best overall picture of what’s going on in this country, and I also like to throw in a bright, shiny object once in a while to cheer people up and maybe lift them to higher ground, if only for a moment. When I posted the video of Pink’s “Dear Mr. President” the other day, I wasn’t expecting this letter from Doug Smith (and by the way, if you’re a manager, read his book):

Hi Susie

Thanks for the Pink link to the Dear Mr President song. Being an old man, I’d heard about the song, but hadn’t heard the song itself until this morning. I can’t recall if I’ve ever mentioned it, but I’ve spent much of the last six years working with hundreds of non-profit organizations around the country who focus on trying to bring affordable housing and community revitalization to folks who are up against it. When this field of affordable housing got started in the 1960s, the resources came almost entirely from local government and the focus was entirely on the poorest of the poor. Today, no surprise, very little resources come from the government (see your Grover Norquist post) — and, again no surprise — just listen to this song — those in need of help are no longer limited to the poorest of the poor. Instead, folks who face serious issues now come from what used to be called the lower-middle, even middle-middle class.

Recently, my work in this area took me to Appalachia where a colleague and I encouraged the roughly 30+ member organizations of the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises to find some new and specific ways to collaborate with one another in order to dramatically increase their impact and effectiveness. Thanks to your link this morning, I’ve now sent off the permalink for the song to the President of the organization and encouraged him to share it with all of his member organizations.

These folks who work so hard in these nonprofit organizations deal with ‘real people’ every day. What is so beautiful about the song is how the words and the heartfelt performance give voice and presence to those real people — those real people who never show up as real people in the MSM and, all too rarely, even show up as statistics — and, because of the forces/patterns described in OnVVs of living in a world of markets, etc, never even show up in too many of our lives, but instead remain invisible.

I know that when these folks in Appalachia get the permalink and listen to the song, they’ll be inspired to reach deep and give even more of their time and souls to make a difference. And, in that vein, I wanted to email you and thank you because — this morning — you’ve made a difference. And it will be felt.