Key Commands

I’m all about key commands. Sit. Stay. Lie down. I’m all over those. They serve a mutually beneficial purpose for both parties. Its those second tier commands…roll over. Shake? Or even third tier stuff, like dance. I will happily sit in front of you, I can see you perfectly when I’m sitting directly in front of you. No chance of sudden moves. Stay? Oh no problem. I’ll stay right here…in front of you. Like I said, no chance of any sudden movement.

I’m contained in a table top design. Four legs and supine spine. You have two legs and are all the shiftier for it. I got kicked from behind by a 2-legged boy. I’m what you call one of those small dogs that is often mistaken for an American football. Small dog alerts apply to me during windy days. So yes, I’ll sit and stay and make sure you have no plans to rear up behind me to catapult my ass anywhere.

I look you directly in the eye when we key command. I’m looking for your heart. It usually doesn’t take long, I’m looking you in the eye and there it is right there happy to say hello. Then you smile. You pet me on the head and scratch my neck, sitting and staying…in front of you. When we’re at that point, I’m fairly certain you will not be planning a sudden move to punt me through the house. Survived another round.

I lie down, too. On one condition, I have to be on top of you. If you’re sitting, I hop up and splay luxuriously across your lap, essentially I pin you down like a stealthy Olympic wrestler. If you’re standing, I lie on your feet like so many other stalwart peace warriors before me at their oppressors’ feet. I lie down with honor and in deference for all those small dogs that are, quite literally, the butt of 2-leggeds’ jokes.

Key commands serve a mutually beneficial purpose, that’s why I’m eager to do them! Now…roll over? Let me think about that…I will roll on my back, with my belly and private parts exposed for as long as it takes me to roll to the other side to my upright table top position. Are you kidding? Reckless. Not going to happen.

I don’t even want to think of the limitless potential for recklessness that ‘shaking hands’ and ‘dancing’ with 2 leggeds will expose me to.

Collective Priorities & Existing Power Structures

How should decisions be made about our collective priorities?

Stripping away the historical trauma, context, and inherent systemic inequalities of our reality: the way our society works is based on a social contract with one another and with an organization that we pay in return for public goods and services - whether it be roads, garbage pick up, etc. We call this organization the government. Collectively, we (ideally) choose how the government prioritizes needs and thus how money will be distributed across various line items.

In theory, the areas of life that the government will not/can not or does not provide/distribute, the private sector will or can offer at cost to any consumer, provided there is a demonstrated demand for the good or service.

When the government does not adequately address a group or issue, and the private sector cannot find an adequate market in those arenas to substantiate entrance into said market, the non-profit/third sector emerges. This alternative sector is filling gaps left void by government and private industry.

What would an ideal non-profit look like?

I guess it would be somewhat dependent upon what function/need the non-profit aims to fulfill. For service organizations, their mission intends to distribute and/or provide a service that which is not offered by public sector or is cost prohibitive in the private sector. For advocacy organizations, their mission is to alter the behavior towards a particular group or entity and eventually influence policy decisions regarding the group or entity.

Non-profits function within the system that created the need for the sector. The non-profits need funding to provide the good or service so where does that money come from if it hasn't been prioritized by the public sector and is not worthy of private investment? Quality of life improvements and justice efforts have been dramatically shifted to not-for-profit, community led efforts shifting the onus from public funds to an alternative funding stream, unattached to the budgeting whims of public spending.

But generally if a non-profit is filling a need, that need should be met in order for that non-profit to be successful. Therefore, the most successful non-profit is one that works its way out of a job. It is not necessarily in these organizations best interest to fully meet their intended purpose and therein lies the faulty design of the non-profit sector.

The inherently flawed design under which non-profits function is the fact that the service/public good/idea by its very nature has been designated a 'less than' priority.   The service/public good/idea is less than when it comes to how it is to be handled - i.e. government will not/can not address the issue and thus will be handled by a not-for-profit sector- and it is less than when it comes to who or what shall fund the efforts to address the issue - i.e. donations, charities, crowdsourcing, grants, etc.

There is a gap. The reality is that we collectively do not set the public agenda, and we do not set the course on how our public funds will be prioritized. The gap isn't necessarily all to do with funding, though the measured gaps in funding do add up to an entire society that is not valued equally. Our collective experience does not exist in isolation of historical context and systemic inequalities.  The gap is in the totality of a system maintaining a status quo where collective priorities are made to compete in a marketplace. The non-profit industry is writing the next chapter of the same book in which priorities are pre-determined to maintain the existing power structure.