healing

Empathy our Greatest Enemy

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Defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, empathy unlike sympathy which is feeling for someone by acknowledging their pain has become almost extinct. The average American is so entrenched in their own daily struggles that even listening to someone else’s problems is difficult. The closer those problems are to significant others the more empathy is exposed. That leads to “who matters most to you?” Writing from my prospect as a leader of a non-profit the people who matter most are the clients we try to serve or will serve. But maybe we need to look at our personal lives first and agree on what is important to us and for those closest to us. For those that follow my posts you know that I always go back to basic physiological needs. (Air, food, water, sleep, and shelter). These needs form the foundation of what must be met before any individual can focus on a higher level of survival. (I encourage the true understanding of these needs by reading “Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”)

I am fortunate in some ways as my closest and dearest concerns are my children, but they have long since moved on with their lives and are doing well. The grandchildren the same way. The loss of my youngest child is a story for another time. I empathize with the stresses my closest family face and their physical and mental health more so than their physiological needs. Fortunately, they have moved up to the second or third rung of Maslow’s Hierarchy.

Moving past those closest to me comes the mission of the charity I founded. I quote from the AI definition of our mission which says “The Mission of HPLA Charities (Habitaciones Para Latinos Association) of Kansas is to provide basic, but essential, home repairs and assistance to low-income homeowners and the elderly. Helping them maintain a habitable home and stay in their homes for as long as possible”. AI adds that the organization also aims to help families experiencing hardship and provides opportunities to support the Latino Community and beyond. It expands further into defining Home Repair, Support for the elderly, Assistance during hardship, Community Focus and Self- Sufficiency. With these folks we empathize. Most of Americans sympathizes with these folks but my cry is that not enough of you empathize with these folks. These are your neighbors so where does that leave them. The government has debated long and hard on how much the general public should pay in taxes to provide services for these folks, even if it comes from uncaring people and goes to undeserving grifters. The response is “as little as possible” from the taxpayer. Lately it has been that no one wants to pay any taxes to help these folks or that is what our politicians are telling us. I don’t believe that but if those needs filters down to the street, it will be the non-profits, whose mission is to cover these basic needs. Contributions to 501c3’s are tax-deducatble, and in the case of HPLA the donations go directly to the client and not to overhead. We have no paid staff, and all work is done by volunteers where possible. This channel is a legitimante way to beat the system and shore up your sympathy and empathy for your neighbors.

As desperate as I am to find donors to partner with me to help a greater number it is also important to get the word out that charities like HPLA exist and getting the word out to folks of our existence is also crucial. We need to max out our resources and I believe HPLA provides more bang for your dollars since there are not detours from your contribution to those you want to help. We are operating strongly in the Kansas City Metro as well as in Sedgwick County, Ks. this is the Wichita metro. Please share my posts if you would as almost everyone that I meet face to face has someone they know that needs our help. You guessed it, we never hear from them or their friends in need. EMPATHY is our greatest enemy because not enough folks have it and do something to help. Not even passing along my business cards seems to help. BTW, show some respect and always reply to emails from acquaintances, share needs of folks in your line of sight, support your local organizations and let’s stop this political division. The only folks winning here is the 1%’rs. I’d bet if you are reading my post you don’t fall into that category. If you do, “Can you spare a dime?”

In closing I would like to remind you that Hispanic Heritage Month starts Monday September 15th, 2025, and goes to Wednesday October 15th, 2025. There are so many important dates and corresponding events that fall in September. The most significant is September 11th. The nation can empathize with those who lost their lives but more so for those that they left behind. We pray for them. We can then maybe appreciate all the sacrifices of the Hispanic Culture which has been the backbone of our country’s success and the losses they have incurred.

  • September 15th: Independance Day for Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua.
  • September 16th: Mexico’s Independance Day
  • September 18th: Chile’s Independance Day
  • September 22nd: Autumnal Equinox (Marks the Start of Fall)

The reminder of the month is full of various awareness campaigns, national days, and observances like National Suicide Prevention Month, Read a Book Month and various less common celebrations.

  • October 3rd: World Smile Day
  • October 4th: HPLA Chairmans Bob’s Birthday
  • October 13th Columbus Day (Federal Holiday)
  • October 31st: Halloween
  • In October is also World Mental Health Day, National Pumpkin Day, International Dwarfism Awareness Day.

Please know your donations are always needed and appreciated. http://www.hplacharities.org/donate. We have used up 100% of your donations YTD so please know you are loved and appreciated by our clients who were able to keep some utilities paid, put food on the table and able to help them get to work all thanks to you. FYI, repairs to homes are less in demand than other basic needs. We are expanding our help to more than repairs sometimes. We have installed ceiling fans, wheelchair ramps and rails lately too.

God Bless , Robert Flores Chairman Hpla Charities (Habitaciones Para Latinos Association)

When it looks like a duck, It’s probably a duck.

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If this is your first time reading this post, I encourage you to check out others as well.  My motive is to gain followers and earn contributions for my charity. Our mission is simple and our motive noticeably clear. As a charity we need your support for HPLA (Habitaciones Para Latinos Association) and we need volunteers to help accomplish our mission. What we do not need or do not have is a paid staff. I try to make it noticeably clear that we are not about creating paying jobs but instead helping folks with other folks who want to help their community. It is important to have money to buy the building supplies and equipment necessary to do the things needed to help but that is it. If you cannot help in person, your support still matters.   Donate at http://www.hplacharities.org/donate. Visit the same site for our history.

If you follow my posts, you will note that I get into what is happening in our politics. I talk about local state and national stuff. With that in mind the global scene must enter in. I have observed, and continue to receive confirmation, that individuals perceive the countries president as increasingly adopting a more authoritarian role. I look to the internet to seek other folks’ opinion who think like, I think. There is evidence available that addresses and potentially disproves these claims.  From my charitable mind I see a movement dismissing the need to care for the poor from our country. I’ve noticed some states are cutting aid to low-income people.   For the sake of conversation, I need to define my idea of who I define as poor. http://www.huduser.gov is a good place to start categorizing wealth. Please do not hesitate to review that document in detail. But let us make one thing truly clear. There is abuse in everything you can think of. I googled “Is there anything that doesn’t have abuse involved?” One response that surprised me is “Basic Needs (when freely available) (I.e. access to clean water, clean air, and fundamental human rights, when freely accessible and not subject to control or manipulation, could be argued as things that are not inherently abused. However, the denial of these things to others often occurs due to power imbalances and is a form of abuse or injustice. At HPLA, we encounter discrimination in public services run by government employees. Getting potable water is not free and if someone cannot pay for it someone else will have to. Is it abusive for a water company to turn off water to someone that cannot afford to pay for it? Is shutting off gas or electricity due to nonpayment considered abusive? There should be a compromise. Essential resources are controlled by certain entities and are usually obtained through exchange. So far clean air is free. Pure CO2 is not. Air is abundant for some but scarce for others. Is that abuse, I think so, yes. Try living with COPD and acquire CO2 that you cannot get since essential resources are controlled by specific entities, and everything requires an exchange. Is the problem your own mismanagement?

Our freedoms in this country are shrinking and becoming very costly. A story for another time is what is freedom to you? For the clients we serve the freedom to live requires basic physiological needs that are no longer free. Grandpa dug a well to get free water. Built a tent to stay out of the weather. Lived off the land if they were allowed. Think of our Native American tribes who were self-sufficient until they were abused. But to cut to the chase the minimum requirement for our help is our client must fall below the HUD established low-income level for poverty and all whom we serve are below that level or worse. You have seen what it is to be without the bare basics in the news reels of war-torn Ukraine or Gaza. Thank GOD we are not facing that, but we are getting close when you hear and read about the victims of the recent floods and fires. HLA is being asked for food and utility support. For us that is an easy repair. It is just money and stuff. The food pantries are plentiful in our areas of support and money to help with utilities available. We are grateful for those who contribute to HPLA monthly because we can provide help with these needs. Is the request greater than the resources, yes? But every little bit of help from you and together we can answer the call. Thank you. So recently we are seeing trends that resemble the trends of Hitlers Germany. I have worked hard to understand the reasons Germany allowed Hitler to raise to power and the cultures that were targeted in those days. Folks, if you don’t see the trend happening in America than you are blind. Truthfully, you are either OK with it or do not understand the devastation that is going to come from it. It is discrimination period. I have a family we have been helping for years, and they have done everything to stay within the law to become US citizens. One child was born to them already other dreamers they brought with them from Central America. They continue to get permission to stay legally by staying in contact with immigration but their hurtle is to come up with 10 thousand dollars for a lawyer to help them get to citizenship for all the family. Is that a little abusive? Yes, it most certainly is and after years of working and adding to profit of the folks they work for, they could easily be deported and all they have worked so hard for lost. All the saving they have gathered for legal help are gone. Why certain cultures are being targeted while others are overlooked is discrimination and abuse of power. That power being abused by a system that is trying to eliminate illegal activities, with abuse of the law. What is the difference between the government breaking the law and an individual within our borders? For the benefit of our country? That is the big question but no, I believe it is for one supposedly superior race and although one culture is being isolated now another will be included later and then another. The poor that HPLA tries to help are already in the sites of a dictator regime. If it looks like a duck, quakes like a duck and flies like a duck it is a duck. We are under a dictator. Those that can stop it are expendable, and they know it. We still have one chance and that is to be sure our vote is honored. Otherwise, democracy is dead and so are the weakest links. Help us sustain all who we can, while we can. http://www.hplacharites.org/donate.