First, you must have imagination. An “Aha” moment. An important one, to see a world of what could be.
The second, and far harder, is to do the work. Day in and day out. Following through until it’s done.
Creating something that doesn’t exist has never been easy but always worth it.
And if that doesn’t seem the path for you, you can always integrate—a recombination of existing things.
Remember, history has shown those who do the work to get it into people’s hands are those who get the credit.
In 2012, Joshua Bell, one of the most famous violinists of our generation, in collaboration with the Washington Post, set up a social experiment to see what would happen if he were to play a free concert in L’Enfant Plaza subway station in Washington, DC on a 3.5 million dollar Stradivarius. During his 45 minute concert, Bell only had seven people stop and listen to him play while over a thousand people walked by him.
That’s because settings matter.
Setting change what we are supposed to pay attention to. In one setting, at a concert hall, you may be worth hundreds of dollars a ticket. However, in the subway station, you are worth pennies on the dollar. (Bell made a total of $32 that day. $20 came from a woman who recognized him.)
We see what we choose to see.
Here is some of the data:
This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg. Convict leasing to disenfranchisement to Jim Crowe Laws and to the modern problems of today. Mainly, declaring the war on drugs as a criminal problem instead of mental health issue, the prison industrial complex (Corrections Corporation of America), the militarization of police forces….
We say we believe in justice in this country but do consider how difficult it is to get a job or an apartment after someone spends time in prison? How do you create a resume if the last decade was spent behind bars?
We have forgotten the power of second chances.
These are the real issues. Not whether you agree with everything the decentralized structure of the Black Lives Movement.
It is easy to tell ourselves a story saying, “No thanks. Too controversial. I’m going to sit this one out.”
It’s easy to forget that Dr. King was controversial. He had been arrested. He was on the FBI, NSA, and CIA surveillance list. Hoover was trying to throw the movement off course and abusing his power to do anything he could to discredit King as a leader.
Collin Kaepernick, Malcolm X, Rosa Parks…all had controversy surrounding them.
Controversy is not an excuse to sit on the sidelines. It is a place to hide.
The bottom line:
The only grace you can have is the grace you can imagine.
When the relationship with your black brothers and sisters is no longer in question, then we can ask what do we want to create?
Grab a shovel and start digging.
It’s that simple.
Many hands make light work.
Which makes the leg work at the beginning so difficult.
You might have to go it alone for a bit until the rest of us can find you.
Keep digging.
It turns out that when voters are content with their own personal lives, incumbents do rather well in the polls.
This means that when things are going right we are less likely to switch things up.
We fear that we lose what (little) we have.
The amygdala screams, “Don’t be stupid.”
That is why it is so difficult to change the status quo. Those in power are unlikely to act unless…
Unless we personally know someone who has been affected by inequality then we don’t feel a need to change.
Important in any movement. Remember why we are here, and more importantly, where we are going.
Instead of saying how unfortunate it is that a black life was lost but we shouldn’t be burning department stores.
Perhaps a better narrative is how unfortunate it is to have department stores burn but we shouldn’t lose one life.
We know how to resurect buildings. Still haven’t figured out how to resurrect a human being.
The emphasis matters.
Without realizing it, we give people the benefit of the doubt all the time.
Whether we eat sushi at the airport or take our car in for an oil change…we are giving the benefit of the doubt.
Once we give the benefit of the doubt to someone and they follow through, we are much more inclined to give it to them again. Because the story we tell ourselves is that we have great judgment.
Yet, that fragile narrative can get in the way from seeing the world as it really is. In order to hold it up, we begin to develop shortcuts or stereotypes in order to create these self-fulfilling prophecies.
The truth is, somewhere along the way (and perhaps never), people in power quit giving others the benefit of the doubt that are different than them.
That tradition has carried on for centuries, creating a chasm of inequality. It’s invisible now for those who choose not to see. Even when it is standing right in front of them.
Writing about it, tweeting about it just isn’t enough. Action is what counts. Begin by giving the benefit of the doubt. Once we do, we can bend the arc towards justice.
Our culture is in overdrive to get us to pick which we are on in any issue. Social media has amplified this. But it is a bit of a trap here because it is impossible to be informed about every issue.
It takes real guts to say, “I am not informed yet.”
It takes guts because if you are not informed it means you haven’t done the reading. And if you haven’t done the reading, our status can now be challenged.
Rather admitting this we are inclined to simply pick what are friends chose.
To tell others that I am not as informed as I could be is real vulnerability. To be a white male and say, “I haven’t been affected by systemic racism and I am not informed on how it is to live like a person of color.”
That is a vital first step. To acknowledge we don’t know is how we change.
Labels ruins discourse though. We’ve sorted ourselves in a way to be on one side or another.
Are you one of us or one of them? Are you an insider or an outsider?
Insiders and outsiders struggle to understand each other and how the other group thinks.
The second step in this is to acknowledge am I an outsider or an insider.
Finally, we must understand there are more than two teams here.
There are more than who’s right or who’s wrong. Who’s good and who’s evil. You can be for the 2nd Amendment and believe guns need to be regulated. You can be for a complete overhaul of how police enforce the law and stand for peace.
It isn’t this or that. It is this AND that.
Never share a meme without first looking up the source. Any quotes can be easily verified by simply typing it into a search engine.
All links and articles should be read before sharing.
Fact check any urban legends. Snopes has been around since 1994.
Become an active consumer. Passive consumers scroll through their feed being told what is happening. Instead, pick a topic of interest and read a book about it. Find other topics that you are interested in and then Google it.
You only need 10 minutes on Twitter per day to stay informed. Every minute after that is a waste. The less social media you use, the better you feel.
Pick up a book on a subject you are interested in learning about. The average American reads only one book per year after high school.
Understand what cultivation theory is and how it works in our culture today.
Why do so many Type A personalities work on Wall Street? Understand how people sort each other (including ideas).
Understand what system thinking is. How do debt systems come into play?
As a rule, you should ask yourself who is benefitting from this? As Upton Sinclair said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” Follow the money.
In 2013, The Washington Post was sold to Jeff Bezos. It’s great that the paper found a way to survive with the many accolades it has received over the years. However, you now can’t read the Washington Post without understanding that it is sympathetic toward big businesses. What sort of back door deals come into play when a politician is sympathetic toward Amazon? What happens when someone challenges them? Once you begin to see the conflicts of interest, you can’t unsee them.
Everyone has biases and prejudices. Including you. If you were taught what someone else was taught, grew up the way they did, experienced what they experienced, you would probably act the same way.
Information comes to us in a map already drawn, a story already told. We don’t use the information to change our mind, we use it to amplify a voice in our head. We click to confirm not to change our narrative.
When is the last time a tweet changed our mind? They never do.
Progress doesn’t often look that linear.
In fact, when we zoom out enough, you can see that it typically comes in surges.
A 30-day fresh food diet.
Training for a marathon.
Cramming for finals.
One sprint after another.
In between, there is recovery, a plateau, as you get ready to go again.
Not often, we will find a way to just take things one day at a time, with one subtle change after another.
It’s a long view approach when most of us desire to have results quickly and painlessly.
If you have the discipline, a linear approach will help you always take steps forward towards progress in between the surges.
There are many that complain about what else 2020 can throw at us.
It’s true, 2020 has been full of many challenges. But are we really satisfied with continuing down the road we were going down in 2019?
Instead of complaining and wishing for things to go back to the way they used, why don’t we do something about it to make it better.
Your first attempt is likely not going to be your best attempt.
Try again.
Just because you can’t imagine it, doesn’t mean you don’t dare to make it.
Write the future you want to live.
Make things better by making better things.
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