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December 6th dawned clear and cold, just as the sun was rising I decided to
begin my walk. Following my usual path I put my head down in a narrow slick and
steep part. I didn't want to misstep because there were only certain places
where your feet will fit. Head down, I bumped into something, or someone
blocking the trail. I looked up and there was this huge man with a short, well
trimmed, white beard blocking my path. "Your
Jerry, right? Jerry Bannon," he ask, but seemed like he already
knew the answer. "I was sitting up there on
the log when I saw you coming, Your a bit early this morning aren't you?
"Well yes sir, I am, and yes sir I
am," I replied. He looked a lot like my retired friend living in
Florida, Ray Sheppard. His bulk showed him to be about six foot five and
probably to three hundred pounds. A big smile covered his face and he was
wearing a crimson Greek fisherman's cap.
"My name is little Richard, little Richard
Bonds, but some people call me big Richard for some reason, I sure can't
understand why? He chuckled, "I thought I would come out here and talk to
you about a proposition I have. I'm not interrupting any deep thoughts am I? I
don't want to be any bother, but here among all this natural beauty I feel
right at home. I'm not one to beat around the bush, so I will get right to the
point. I would like to hire you to be my public relations person and any other
jobs you would feel comfortable with.
"What?" I replied.
"Someone forwarded me your last email,
Chronicles of Diversity, it was on an
enterprise paradigm, or something. I really liked what you had to say about
time being God's, and not time being money. I decided right then you were the
one I wanted to do this job. Finally, an answer to prayer.
As we began to walk, I ask, "Well, little
Richard are you any relation to Little Richard the early rock-n-roll singer,
and what is it that you do?
"No I'm not any relation to that Little
Richard, in fact I think he really stole my name and changed my message. Jerry,
I'm a wealthy philanthropist. I give away money. To people all over the world,
that just need a little help to get started. You know that fellow around here,
Bill Gates? Well, he really hasn't figured it out yet, but he is getting
closer. I'll tell you a little secret, I was the one who gave him his start.
Hasn't done too bad for himself has he? And I really like how now he is giving
a lot of it away. I don't find many people these days that don't think that
money is just for them, .and they keep it all for themselves.
"I know you are a C.S. Lewis and Chronicles
of Narina fan. You could look at me as
like a combination of Aslan, the lion and Father Christmas. That Narina thing,
is really why I think it is time to begin my new publicity campaign, during the
holiday season. Have you ever stopped to think that the world today is a lot
like Narina, when Lucy entered the wardrobe. 'Always winter, but never
Christmas.' I want to change that beginning right now, and you be (sic) the
man, I want.
"Out in Narina, beyond the city and its
prosperity which is true in all countries, a lot of people are living lives
without much hope that winter will ever end and spring will come. Along with
bringing Christmas and the spring, I also celebrate Hanukkah, the festival of
lights. Some times it takes a miracle of light to bring about a change in
people's lives.
"Tell me more." It seemed as if
he paused deliberately to give me a chance to say something.
He continued, "Actually, my real name isn't
Little Richard Bonds, you don't need to know my real name, just take my word
for it I have all the gold you can ever profitably put to use, or give away.
Little Richard Bonds is just an alias for me to use, and so that you can
remember what I want you to do. That is of course publicize my 'Little'
'Richard' 'Bonds'. You know bonds, like the investment. Little, like in little,
I think you can handle that too. Richard is where it gets complicated. Here is
a scrap of paper with what I want Richard to mean, its an acrostic.
He handed me a wrinkled piece of paper, with the name Richard running across
the top. Down the side were the seven letters of his name. After each letter
were what looked as some words that had been scratched out or covered over. At
the end of each row was a word beginning with the appropriate initial and
underlined. Like they had been thought over carefully. From the piece of paper
I could make out the following: R-Rural; I-Infrastructure; C-Community; H-Hope;
A-Alternative; R-Resource; D-Development.
"Those are just my first few ideas,"
he announced. "If you think you can do better
feel free to make the changes required. That is except for the H, that shall
always stand for hope. Hope is the gift, the resource, or what ever you want to
call it, that is always in limited supply. Some people think its love, in fact
there was a song about all the world needs is love, but when you have been
around as long as I have, hope is at best sufficient, but never in abundance.
Even the Apostle Paul got it right, 'now these three remain, faith, hope, and
love, and the greatest of these is love.' The greatest is love, but hope is
always in the middle. You don't go from faith to experience love, without hope.
Lots of people have faith, but few truly get all the way to love, because they
just run out of hope. Jerry, notice in Richard, h, or hope is in the middle
too.
"So let me see if I've got this right, you
want to offer little or small, Richard, as an acrostic, bonds or financial
instruments, is that right?
"You've got it Jer, this is sooo cooool!
People who have a little bit of money, or a lot of money it doesn't matter to
me, but are thinking that they are about to run out of hope in their lives,
invest a little of those funds in projects, 'Richard' projects around the
world. Those funds are utilized or converted into tangible infrastructure
projects in those areas that really need a 'little' boost to make it into the
modern world. Over time the financial investment returns through annuity
payments along with a generous helping gift of hope. The whole project should
only take a few years to complete, depending upon the country, but the results
and the hope would last for generations.
"Richard, it sounds interesting, but you
lost me somewhere along the line," I respond.
"That's why I chose you Jerry, some of your
thinking kind of leaves people feeling that way too. But sometimes you have a
gift to make some complicated things seem quite simple. Well, too be honest,
sometimes you don't do that well either, but most people find it at least
amusing, in a way it brings hope, sometimes when they really need it. 'If,
Jerry can give it a shot so can I!'
"What I mean by little,"
continues Richard, "is something smaller than
what most modern businesses think they can make a profit at. This is really the
frustrating thing about this modern world. You know after you send those over
priced experts halfway around the world, put them up in an American style
hotel, waste water like they do in America, have a series of meetings which no
one seems to understand what is going on, or cares why it is needed, then put
them back on a plane and send them back to the States or Europe. If they can
make their project hurdle rate, pay the presidents, or the partners bonuses,
and a whole host of financial criteria. If that can still take place. Then that
is a big project. I want to work in little projects. Stuff above the relief
level financially, but less than the big projects. No one wants, or at least
not enough folks want to know how to do that. If I had to pick a number, lets
use; uh, let's see, say a million dollars, a little more, a little less. It is
in these little projects that the profitability of hope is really manifest.
"For a project lets say we put up a
relatively large wind turbine, in an area that now relies entirely on fossil
fuel power, or no electric power at all. At the present level of development of
the technology about a 600kw turbine is about as big as is cost effective to
install. As the wind blows, the electricity is used within the village to
provide power for homes, new local shops, and industry. If the wind blows
harder, the excess power is used to pump water to a reservoir. When the wind is
not blowing that water, powers a low head hydro project to produce power,
drinking and irrigation water. Kind of like a super, mini, Columbia Basin
project. That whole thing could be done for about a million bucks, depending
upon the situation, each one of course being different, there in lies the
challenge, and the opportunity. Some could be simpler, some could be very high
tech. After it is done we would build a library and a small local radio station
to help the community develop further. To paraphrase an over used statement.
"Build it and they will come, arriving they will have hope, and the hope
will lead to love, and the love will lead to community. As you know until there
is a certain level of energy available to any community, the infrastructure
cannot be developed to make the community self sustaining. It will always be on
the dole, one way or another. By producing that energy, locally from God given
resources such as wind and water power, that self sustaining community can be
permanently established and a new level of prosperity can begin for people who
previously had no hope for a better life. That is why I ask that you call me
Richard.
"Now, let me talk about that annuity part.
That Bill Gates fellow, is trying to give away a lot of the money I helped him
attain. That is a commendable idea, but can you imagine the hassle of trying to
pick winners and losers, for that billion dollars you hope to give away every
year. Sure doesn't sound like a lot of fun to me, how about you Jerry? Just nod
your head yes, I'm on a roll. Perhaps, I made a mistake making him that rich,
even though its just paper, or more precisely, electronic stock money, the
world looks at it just the same. Just not the real golden money, I started out
with or I showed you how to make many years ago. I've been thinking recently
about spreading my wealth much more broadly. For my Little Richard Bonds bonds,
I was thinking about one thousand dollars a pop. If they needed to participate
in hope on a monthly basis they could put in a minimum of ten dollars a month for
ten years. That interest could help you find good projects to help me invest
in. I would give the investors part of that money but part of it they would
have to earn themselves. It would all depend upon how much hope I wanted to
develop in them.
'The whole idea is to give everybody a chance to
participate from many places on God's green earth, to be part of the ownership,
and part of the solution. It may not seem like much to rich Americans, but it
might provide a tidy nest egg for some pastor in a third world country. After
the project was completed, the bonds would be repaid from selling the
electricity, providing drinking and irrigation water for a period of twenty
years, or the life of the project. The revenue stream would be put in place on
a sliding scale, so that the repayment burden would not be too heavy in the
early years, but it would not be just a charity project. All participants at
both ends of the money and project stream would be members of that particular
community, and hopefully get to know one another.
"Now Jerry, I'm asking you to head up this
because, I believe this kind of work is really part of your God given calling,
and you are probably better at it than all that writing stuff. But I want you
to continue to write, because I think you get a charge out of it too, and it
will help you maintain your perspective. You sure aren't Bill Gates, but
neither is he you. Everyone of God's men and women are different and I would
like to get as many as possible involved in this project. I also know Jerry,
you have a couple of projects in the rural part of these here United States you
would like to see funded. I know you will probably figure it out on your own,
but you could combine all those projects and properties you have looked at in
Washington into one big project and seek funding through the Washington State
tax free bonding program. Some would call that Big Richard Bonds, but I can't
seem to understand why." He laughed, "That should provide your
organization with the source of capital you have been looking for and keep you
out of trouble while you see if you can find overseas, missionaries, medical
workers, or others who would be interested in getting involved in Little
Richard Bonds projects.
"The job is yours if you choose to take it.
Just remember others have to make that choice also, don't beat them up verbally
too much. For example, I know you might say something like:'There is a little
of Richard Bonds in every person, but everyone needs to get themselves, there
sinful self interest out of the way, to manifest that presence. You can give
hope to other people or rest in your own hopeless state, it is a choice on who
you will serve, yourself or Little Richard.' Jerry, I don't want you to do
that, that is part of my job along with giving them some of the money and other
blessings. It has been a pleasure sharing my vision with you. I'll be in touch
if you need me. Just remember that I want to be viewed as sort of a combination
of Father Christmas and Aslan, and this world is Narina where now it is 'always
winter but never Christmas.'
"Thanks for the opportunity and the vision
of a new world order based on the paradigm of 'Time is God's.' Oh, Little
Richard Bonds, what should I do now?" I ask as he abruptly stopped
and headed rapidly in a different direction.
The wind picked up and I was not too sure of his final words, but it seemed
to me that Richard never answered that question, I think he said, "As long as there is gold in the hills, a fair wind blows,
and water runs down hill, there will always be opportunities for all the Little
Richard Bonds, that God can create.
For about the last month in my own simple, 21st
century American way, I have been living the scripture in Daniel 3:17,18: "If
that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery
furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not let it be
known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the
image you have set up." From the Friday after
Thanksgiving I was down to 31 cents which was not increased until last
Thursday. But during that time I gained understanding of many things I have not
understood for many years. I can not figure out how they would have been taught
me in any other fiery trial, and the understanding was well worth any monetary
challenge. With more funds I would have run from this opportunity to receive
God's blessing. As with the three plus one in the furnace, the only thing that
seems to have been affected are the bonds of not understanding those prior
circumstances. While it is still pretty hot around here, the worst seems to be
over, but the removal from the furnace still needs to be taken care of. The God
whom I serve is able to complete that work and if He chooses not to, from my
opinion He has wasted a lot of time and energy in training, but that is His
problem, please intercede for God's provision as well as creating little
Richard Bonds in a real world that is limited in the promise of hope.