Month: July 2020

Buying the wrong soap, ordering the wrong meal, picking the wrong answer on a multiple-choice exam these are mistakes.

Purposely not studying for finals, that’s a bad decision.

It’s a form of commission. And it’s a problem because of how easy it is to dismiss our bad decisions; by reclassifying them as mistakes. Eventually, convincing ourselves this isn’t our fault.

We do this so often, it has become second nature. Because our internal dialogue demands an explanation to soften the blow.

The only way to live with bad decisions is to continue to classify them as simple mistakes. Which means…

Bad behavior is internally justified.

We all make mistakes. We all make bad decisions. Don’t let our internal narrative work overtime to confuse the two.

We hear the music, we feel the inspiration.

Yet, when we sit down and put pen to paper (or leap or sign up or show up), we find we are at a loss of words.

What happened from the call to action to taking the first step?

We let our shame tape kick in and remind us of our inadequacy.

That your idea isn’t good enough to be seen, not even enough to be written down.

The truth is:

Our ideas are born when we write them down.

And then they continue to evolve from there.

It’s not the critic that counts, only the person in the arena.

Education, food production, labor, finance, law enforcement, the legal system, healthcare, government, military, climate change, rebalancing media (particularly social media)…

We need radical reform across the country.

Yet, despite these challenges there has never been a better time to be alive. Period.

Change requires each of us to take a chance, to see the world of possibility, of what could be. Which requires risk, insecurity and emotional exposure. At least for a while, putting aside comfort (and yes, privilege) to stand up and speak out.

There is plenty of work to do. Endless amount in our lifetime. You’re not stuck, you just need to decide.

Dare greatly and dig in.

Go.

An important question. One that we are constantly assessing.

In order to do this, we tend to group things, people and ideas into two categories:

1. Things I should emulate and
2. Things I should avoid.

But we can choose to act differently. We can instead ask: Will this make someone else’s life better?

Car manufacturers lobbied hard to keep Americans from using their seat belts.

Why?

Because most people believed they would never get in an accident and the manufacturers didn’t want to draw attention to how dangerous it was to drive.

The mentality was, “That will never happen to me.”

Of course, that isn’t how statistics work. Statistics don’t care if you are a “good person” or if you’re having a rough day.

The thing is, you can never eliminate risk but we can mitigate it.

The seat belt has undoubtedly done this and has saved countless lives.

Yet, many loud and outspoken critics at the time said it was infringing on their liberties.

The same is now being said about wearing a mask.

In time, wearing a mask will show a reduction in the spread of COVID-19 and ultimately save lives.

Wear a mask and thank those around you who do too.

Stay safe.

In his magnum opus, Lewis Hyde clearly and painstakingly wrote about how previous societies moved. And that was with gifts.

“Here, I made this. I want you to have it.”

The problem with that today is it isn’t easy to track. And if there is no way to measure something then it’s hard to squeeze a profit.

Bingo.

Everything about our modern capitalistic culture is to track and leverage resources.

Gifts are much harder to quantify.

This supports at least one explanation about why women in more traditional caregiving professions receive less pay. You can’t measure the productivity or yield of caring someone who is sick or teaching someone to read (at least not in the short-term).

Money is a lousy way to measure the worth of what people provide.

Jerry Seinfeld has a bit about motorcycle helmet laws; that it is a testament to how dumb people are that a law needs to be produced to keep one’s brain in-line with protecting itself.

If you spend enough time on social media, we are led to believe that there are two sides to every issue. That’s because our narrative can betray us into thinking that we are divided in everything.

This isn’t true.

We are not divided. We are frustrated.

Don’t lose hope. Your social media algorithm is not a reflection of what the world is thinking.

You cannot have the pursuit of happiness without life and liberty. Therefore, the pursuit of happiness always follows those first two principles.

Until life and liberty are satisfied for all there is no pursuit of happiness.

Once you know better it’s your responsibility to do better.

…

Some additional thoughts on liberty:

Why is it so difficult for those infected with COVID-19 to quarantine for two weeks? Or to end racism? How come people are still falling for fake news?

I mean it seems simple enough. If your sick, stay at home. Treat everyone equally. Stay off Facebook and Twitter.

Right?

Yet, none of these solutions have worked. Because people misbehave. We tell ourselves stories that justify bad behavior. “Just this once” won’t hurt anyone.

Which means two things:

1. Finding solutions is the easy part. Following through is where the challenge lies.
2. People take problems and make them more complicated then they need to be. (Examples: Taking a science issue and making it a political one. Taking an equality issue and making it about them.)

There is no magic pill to fix these complicated challenges that lie ahead. Anyone who tries to make it seem so isn’t taking account of human behavior.

Oil, food, water, shelter…we focus most of our attention on finite resources.

For good reason, with ecological disaster looming, people in the not too distant future will be faced with difficult choices on how to manage these limited resources.

The problem is, in a finite world, if someone gets a larger slice of the pie then me, my slice must be smaller.

Yet, infinite resources don’t work this way. When we combine your candle with mine, the light in the room grows.

That’s why your imagination is the greatest resource you have.

Because there are no limits to ideas. If one doesn’t work, we can imagine a new one. Again and again and again.

One of the biggest challenges going forward, with a world of shrinking finite resources is to help those see with a fixed mindset a new world of possibility.

When one door closes another opens up.

Possibilities are endless despite the restrictions.

You are not in a situation of no choice, just no easy choices left to make.