[Being Chris]

When I was a young(er) philosophy student, a good friend of mine taught me one of the most important concepts that I would hold, and still hold, very dear to my understanding of the universe. The concept in question is no less than Einstein’s famous equation E=Mc2; so, while the idea itself is not unique to my friend, his explanation of its reality is what I will always cherish as an utterly important insight.

This equation of Einstein’s states that energy is equal to (or inherently the same as) the mass of an object multiplied by the speed of light ( a constant) squared. Since the speed of light is a constant, the most important parts of this equation are energy on one side and mass on the other. The terms energy and mass are terms that can be exchanged for other terms in order to really understand what this equation says. Continue reading…

So, many of you may have noticed that our one week sojourn at home has turned into a three week hiatus (due to a lack in updates and posts). I want to qualm anyone’s fears or suspicions that BAD, Inc. has discontinued its mission. In fact, we have been working these past few weeks to make sure that our mission is as solid as we hold it to be, and I believe we have discovered that it is.

Over the course of these three weeks, we have gotten some important paperwork completed (thank you Mickie Rinehart), networked with a few people who are supportive and connected, determined where our next few travels will take us, re-painted and double-checked the van, and worked on some personal issues that needed to be unearthed. It is these that I would like to take a moment to reflect on. Continue reading…

We just returned home to Cleveland after fifty days of driving, volunteering, networking, learning, talking, and listening. In commemoration and celebration of Being And Doing’s maiden voyage, I would like to present some of the beliefs and ideas that were either reinforced or newly developed over the course of our trip. While I believe that I can speak for all three of us on most of these insights, I take full responsibility for everything written here (just in case). Also, sorry it’s a little long, I hope its worth the time! Continue reading…

So, I lost one of my heroes the other day, or at least I discovered that I was deluded about one of my heroes. (It’s not Michael Jackson, I swear). This experience was somewhat akin to losing Santa Claus as a little kid – a type of sadness that I did not know was possible for a person of my age. This led me to wonder what the nature of a hero or idol actually is, and what happens when you discover that your hero was never really there in the first place.

A hero, in my opinion, is someone who exhibits certain qualities that you wish you could embody yourself (and, of course, like all heroes, uses them only for good). Continue reading…

For those of you who get tired of reading articles that are constantly positive and want to hear what is not so easy and perfect (so as to flesh out the mechanics behind our happy promotions), I would like to write an article about what has been hard about our trip.

As a trio of three idealistic realists (or realistic idealists – it depends on the time and place), we certainly butt heads over certain things from time to time. Surprisingly, we have been very communal when it comes to the big decisions, such as the location of our next service destination or what to do for recreation. However, we have a hard time not sweating the small stuff. Continue reading…

Our trip thus far has been far more diverse and coincidental (some might say providential) than I had imagined it would be at the outset. As many of you know, we are outfitted with a tent and sleeping bags in order to keep our costs down when we are not able to stay with someone, but we have really only had to camp out for about one-third of the time we’ve been on our trip – entirely because of the generosity of the people we meet.

Currently, we are residing in the actively welcoming home of the Mendez family and the center of operations for Zamforia Industries. Continue reading…

For the past week, Being And Doing has been working with Cradles to Crayons Philadelphia. We’ve been sorting clothing, cleaning shoes, inspecting toys, and packing bags of necessities so that said bags can be distributed to other nonprofit organizations that work directly with children-in-need. In a sense, Cradles to Crayons is similar to Being And Doing in that we are both nonprofit organizations set-up to help other nonprofit organizations advance their respective missions (C2C by providing quality products and necessities and BAD by providing volunteer work and promotions).

What is it about nonprofits that inspires our respective organizations to lend a hand? Why, in our free market, capitalist society, is the idea of “non-profit” even something considered to be worthwhile? Shouldn’t it be everyone’s goal to earn as much profit as possible so as to utilize that profit to help others? Continue reading…

Unlike Andrew and Katie, I had never attended a youth leadership event or worked as a youth camp counselor, so HOBY was a first for me (I have a feeling my lack of experience may have shown in my quiet nature and relative lack of “outgoing-ness”). In this sense, not only was I part of the adult staff, but I also considered myself an ambassador. I was learning what marks a good leader right along with all of the high school sophomores whom the program was focused on.

So, what exactly did I learn and what am I going to try to use in my day-to-day life as one of the leaders of a small nonprofit organization? Well… Continue reading…

Today is the one-week anniversary of Being And Doing’s maiden voyage. I cannot say that I feel any different – I’ve got the same old mentality I’ve always had. However, I do feel more productive. We’ve been working full days outside in the sun, and I like knowing that the work that we put in is something that will continue to be helpful and useful to Elisa Young and Guy Rose well into the summer.