the m p w c Foundation, inc.
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Message from the Founder of the MPWCFoundation (a SUMMARY of his latest "end of life" views on his life here in San Miguel Allende): I arrived in San Miguel in 1993 and (after 4 lengthy visits) by 1995 I was living here permanently. In early 2004, when in addition to many other things that I had accomplished here, I started the SMA free online newsmagazine and operated it as the publisher, we published an interview of me that disclosed my "life could not be better" attitudes about our town. Little did I think that that was the going to be very close to my high point and life COULD INDEED get worse. I discovered, starting about that time, that so many Gringos had good ideas but they could not be bothered working at implementing their own good ideas themselves. They wanted, even expected, others to do the actual work on their ideas. And I started noticing this to be true with both the Gringos and the Mexicans. and true regarding volunteers for both the online newsmagazine and the MPWCFoundation (as well as its Grantees), and true in so many other facets of life here, and true then and still true today. I also started to notice things that happened within all of the many local elected and/or appointed administrations or supporting departments. The implied promises of democracy and equality under the laws are not always kept in practice. Some examples follow (in highly summarized and sanitized form because the explicit details are much more horrendous):
All of the above seems to be acceptable as just "business as usual". Even if these above "normal problems" are put aside, even if that can be done, I next had to confront the huge damages to me personally and to the Foundation's (women and children) beneficiaries. This was the Andy Blair tragedy. In addition to everything else she stole from me, the biggest loss to me was causing me to have to close down of the otherwise perpetual-life Foundation and turning my back on the work that I had given the previous 22 years of my life to, perfecting the goals that were now not going to be met, and possibly even more than that was the resultant us$6,000,000 (2019 update) or more loss to the women and children of San Miguel. And even more importantly to me personally, I lost my ability to ever again TRUST people to the extent that I used to be able to do. I never received any of the benefits that Andy Blair had promised to deliver, which had been my reason for giving her all of the benefits that she had already received, used, and appreciated. Although I still possess all of the physical evidence (like copies of the $25,000 negotiated and cancelled check, copies of our signed legal Agreement, copies of our emails discussing the Agreement and the benefits that she had already received and the benefits she promised to me that I had not received, and all other pieces of written evidence), and there has been no response from her as to why she felt it appropriate for her to break her written promises to me, the legal system in San Miguel is so personally frustrating and difficult for me to comprehend with its impediments that a person like myself who is now so physically impaired (significantly because of what Andy Blair did not do that she was supposed to do as part of our Agreement, I do not believe I will ever be personally able to do what is now required to drag her before the legal system. And, new news in 2018, I hear she has left town, quite possibly leaving other people and other promises unfulfilled. Add to all of that the fact that the majority of past and present grantees have failed at keeping their promises regarding Transparency and Continuity although they had all very sweetly accepted well over us$160,000 in grants by July, 2018 (and already knew that there was over us$6,000,000 additional yet to be distributed to SMA grantees in the MPWCF at my death). All of the above brings me closer to the point where I really don't care about much anymore, and I'm beginning to consider giving up on Mexico and certainly San Miguel as well. And so, I am more than a little DOWN on San Miguel Allende, quite a bit down from the above-described pre-2004 days when "everything was great". There is a definite downside to living here for over 20 years. The simple and most pressing fact is that I take promises (both those made BY me as well as those made TO me) very seriously. For most of my adult life, I have made and then observed “Underpromise and Overdeliver” as my motto for both my personal life and for the MPWCFoundation. Now, I am depressed, disillusioned, and getting very angry at others' lack of performance. What to do? I have promised (repeatedly on this website, in addition to so many individual statements elsewhere) that this Foundation will do EVERYTHING I have promised (but most descriptively and elaborately, I have guaranteed this at point #10 on the trustees webpage). As a consequential result of my guarantees, the us$6,000,000 or more is the Foundation's to keep and use (as promised). I can not take it back or use it myself, I can not give any of it to friends or relatives, I can only give it to charities that meet the criteria promised by me to both the State of Texas, where we incorporated, and to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of the USA. However, I must take notice that so many others (see above) have broken their promises to me. Now what? Is there any wonder about why I lost faith in San Miguel and the people who live here? I spent the earliest years here, certainly between 1993 and 2004, doing "good things" for ALL of the varied peoples of San Miguel and later, in my own recent moments of need, got little or nothing when I needed a little help from some of them. It may be my imagination (but I think not) that those who have more recently moved here since 2004 are here for vastly different reasons than what motivated earlier arrivals. The Stirling Dickinson(s), the Bob Somerlott(s), the Luisa Velte(s), and others that inspired me, now long gone, were replaced by those who seem more interested in what they can TAKE from San Miguel, not what they can GIVE. So, I ask you to help me (see the end of Note #1 on the allocations page) turn this around and let me see that there are now some new people who care about Mexico and Mexican's needs. Frankly, I expect very little from the courts and even less from the new Gringo arrivals. I'd be very surprised to have my thoughts proven to be wrong. |
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