About a minute and twenty-five seconds into his video, Governor Schwarzenegger described the rage of his father while under the influence of alcohol, the hitting that took place, not only in his home and the home next door but probably four doors down and two across. He might as well have been describing my neighborhood.
Growing up and even now, I know so many women who married young and lost their husbands to alcohol, leaving children to grow up without fathers, many of these women remained single, doing their best to make ends meet, see their children through school and survive. As a result, some children, young men, forego school to become breadwinners for the family – the cycle repeats.
Even though it exists, there are not enough self-help groups to assist men through their loneliness and isolation, their frustration and rage. And the words to talk about their experiences don’t come easily. The words don’t come.
It is essentially the hope of Cassava Bread, Inc. to bring an awareness of the self-help process to the Islands, local churches, mosques and mandirs. Foster a stronger bond between man and himself, then his family and community. As someone with experience working in rehabilitation, I would hope that there would be an employment component to this as well, that recovery and words are not enough – man must eat and thrive not just survive.
Ref: Arnold Schwarzenegger on Twitter, January 10th, 2021: My message to my fellow Americans and friends around the world following this week’s attack on the Capitol.
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius — and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.”
― E.F. Schumacher
