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The most terrifying of the burn zones Jorge faced in the book (in my opinion) was Woodland Meadows. Despite the amazing work Jorge did to turn the place around and really make something of it, it seemed the world itself conspired against him to make it a failure. Sometimes ingenuity and hard work aren't enough when the world is against you...

Have you ever had a Woodland Meadows moment, where despite your best efforts, you absolutely can't win?

Note: while I call Woodland Meadows a "failure" because of the outcome for Jorge, I honestly don't consider it a failure for the world. It changed Jorge and countless lives within the community for the better, and inspired many of the folks living there to become better people, more productive and happy. In the sense the city and news considered it, it was a failure, but to those involved it was a unique, incredible, unexpected success, at least to me as a reader!

I agree about Woodland Meadows being something of a success.

Reading Burn Zones, it seems to me Jorge is someone dedicated to doing well by doing good. It seems like he isn't interested in luxury for luxury's sake. It's amazing he was doing these million dollar transactions when he seems to care so little about having money or living a lavish lifestyle; they are just numbers in a bank to him. Unfortunately, on the bureaucratic side, a lot of people are less interested in "doing good" and more interested in intentionally wasting taxpayer money. This is because wasted taxpayer money is only a waste for the taxpayers, not the people who receive the wasted money. For those looking to profit from the ineffectiveness of bureaucracy, effective problem-fixing like what Jorge was doing with Woodland Meadows is not what they want to happen. Even Jorge at that time seemed to underestimate how much the city and other bureaucratic forces would undermine his attempts to "do well by doing good".

I can think of many examples in my life of Woodland Meadows moments, so it's a great question. However, I think it's not about not being able to win but about "playing life's bad hands" and working around these specific bad hands like Woodland Meadows. Without Woodland Meadows, the Burn Zones book probably wouldn't exist and AHP wouldn't exist.

Great question!

I haven't read the book yet . But I would love to read it as soon as possible

Hm...I don't think I have experienced something as big as Woodland Meadows as Jorge did. When I was substituting and trying to find a full time teaching position, I felt pretty hopeless. Months turned into years of not being able to find a position. I eventually did and was extremely pleased that I kept going even though it seemed nearly impossible at the time. I would say that's my most extreme burn zone.

The only thing that I can compare to this is my struggle with weight loss. I have struggled since a child with this and have yet to see any improvement. But I am still working at it and hoping that sometime in the future I will find something that actually works. This is my most extreme burn zone for sure!

I agree. The struggle he had to face was tremendous, though it did have me rooting for him as a character. I think it made me like the book more.

Paliden wrote:The only thing that I can compare to this is my struggle with weight loss. I have struggled since a child with this and have yet to see any improvement. But I am still working at it and hoping that sometime in the future I will find something that actually works. This is my most extreme burn zone for sure!

That really IS quite a burn zone! It's so easy with weight loss (I'm very guilty of it myself!) when you see little to no results yet have to work out and give up on just eating whenever and whatever you want. I was over 310lbs and dropped to 220, then came right back up again.... And now I'm starting to focus on dropping once more. Weight is a lifelong battle for sure!

-- February 24th, 2016, 3:29 pm --

hsimone wrote:Hm...I don't think I have experienced something as big as Woodland Meadows as Jorge did. When I was substituting and trying to find a full time teaching position, I felt pretty hopeless. Months turned into years of not being able to find a position. I eventually did and was extremely pleased that I kept going even though it seemed nearly impossible at the time. I would say that's my most extreme burn zone.

Congrats on finding it! It has to feel rough knowing you have the ability to do a job, and then having that door shut repeatedly. I've never looked much above minimum wage jobs, which are far easier to come by, and even with those it often feels like there just must be something wrong with me when jobs don't call back; I can only imagine how much worse that would be with something like teaching! Congrats on sticking to it and getting that job!

Absolutely. Honestly my Woodland Meadows Moment would have to be when I was writing my book. I still haven't finished the darn thing and it's been years since I started. I get to a point where I hit inspiration and then all of a sudden my mind would go blank and I'd lose all track of what I was even writing. It's so frustrating, and even though I cannot compare it to Jorge's "failure", I can definitely to it. I'm still trying to finish what I started but criminy it's hard...I have to hand it to Jorge for sticking to his guns and giving it his all, even if not everyone thought it was worthwhile or successful.

I´m sure that everyone has at some point in their life experienced a Woodland Meadows moment. Mine would be my first English class in college. No matter what I did, it seemed the teacher had it out for me and was extremely nitpicky, despite many other teachers saying they truly enjoyed my writing. I admire Jorge´s determination to not give up, as I found it extremely difficult to get through just that semester, let alone years of work and millions in debt.

As much as I haven't experienced major woodland meadow moments like Jorge, such is something that me and you experience occasionally for thats how human beings are.

I can't recall any moments of a burn zone that is as great as woodland meadows. However I did have a burn zone that influenced a huge impact in the direction of path in life.

Isn't that what politics is like. We do the work to try and get the best person in office. Yet, at the end of the day, it seems they're all out to get you one way or another, unless you are wealthy enough to be part of their club. Then you have opposing voters as peers. Then citizens don't discuss politics unless they have an online username to hide behind--out of fear of bringing out a person's inner monster. The only debating is online with anonymous arguers and trouble making. And thus little progress is made in to make the it a better place.

I have experienced something like that but not at that level. Mostly in workplace drama.

I don't think I've ever had this moment, and I hope that I won't but I do agree that the world seemed to be against him doing good for that property. And I felt angered that the government had conspired against him. It was so unfair.

To be completely honest, I don't think Woodland Meadows was a complete loss. Granted it was the hardest part of his life and while he was living it, he probably would have cursed me for saying what I'm going to say. But I think that experience was good for him. Being betrayed by the city, drowning in debt, with his name stained. That was good for him at the end. He could have been destroyed. I know people that would have killed themselves for way less than that. But it didn't. It was the source of the greatest idea he ever had. I would probably compare it with the pain of giving birth. Probably the most terrifying and painful thing a woman can ever go through in her life, but at the same time, the source of something new that makes it completely worth it.
In the same way, I've had experienced things that hurt like hell, that make me think that I just won't make it. But looking backwards they were worth it. So I've decided to do what he advised throughout the book. Stay calm, breathe even when your lungs burn, and wait for the burn zone to end.