Gratitude

The following was testimony given at the Pittsburgh City Council on October 27, 2009

This is the 5th consecutive week that I have been here to discuss the litter and trash problems in South Oakland. It is my hope that this issue will soon be resolved and your Tuesday meetings will be three minutes shorter.

Our grassroots movement wants to extend its deepest gratitude to Councilman Bruce Kraus and Councilman Bill Peduto. Our movement will be successful and their letter of support has accelerated that success.

As you all know, Pitt and UPMC have the financial resources to resolve these problems, but they have refused to give our community the financial assistance that we need.

There is a passage in the book The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran that says: “It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding; And to the open-handed the search for one who shall receive is joy greater than giving.”

Pitt and UPMC have been more open-handed to their developer and investment friends than to our community. They give to our community, but they give little of the much which they have. Our community will no longer be victims of two institutions who focus on being global while ignoring us who are local.

There is another passage in The Prophet that says: “Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only distaste, it is better you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy. For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger. And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distills a poison in the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of day and the voices of the night.”

It must be sad that Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff go to work every day and do not deeply love the community of South Oakland that they have impacted so greatly.

Everyone has choices. Would it not be better that they worked at institutions where they would deeply love the communities they impact?

Once again, we thank Councilman Bruce Kraus and Councilman Bill Peduto for honoring and respecting the community of South Oakland. They have exemplified the meaning of true character. They not only have ideals and principles, but they have the courage to put those ideals and principles into action. We are deeply grateful. Thank you.

Carlino Giampolo