The examples set for me by my grandparents and parents featured meaningful life work above all else. As medical missionaries to China, India, and Nepal, they found meaningful the saving of souls and practicing medicine.

Where I differ from my parents and grandparents is on the point of having the answer. They had the answer and wanted to give it to those who didn't have it. I have thoughts on community issues but would rather help people through a discovery process to an answer they create and own. I suppose my 19 years of work with addicts and alcoholics has something to do with this approach. My work is guided by principles, is based in solid research, and recognizes the hard realities of politics, business, and community life.

As with other "third culture kids," my path has been irregular. In and out of college, drafted and sent to Vietnam, worked with the American Friends Service Committee, worked many more jobs, returned to college, ran a treatment and prevention agency, did a lot of reading and learning, and took some (but not enough) time to play.

I am author of Getting Ahead in a Just-Gettin'-By World, a workbook for people in poverty who want to examine the impact of their poverty on their communities and themselves; and coauthor of Bridges out of Poverty. For 19 years I directed an outpatient chemical-dependency treatment center. I now consult and train on poverty issues, the design of adolescent treatment programs, and improving retention rates of new hires from poverty.