How do you do what others say can’t be done? Hint: it doesn’t happen by hiding in fear or seeking to fit in.
1. decide to embrace your vision and path. 2. develop a platform of support. People, processes, tools. 3. Acquire capital. Money and knowledge. 4. begin small and then scale, adjusting all along the way. Prove, adapt and improve. 5. Seek more support and embrace your heart and mind. Execute the plan. 6. Celebrate and repeat.
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A hallmark of knowing something important is the ability and willingness to stand up for it in the face of withering criticism. Great change occurs from holding to principles and ideals above practice but a balance is required.
To accomplish change based on what I know, a platform is required. People, processes and tools that pass the test of scale and duration. All of this occurs under the great assault of normalcy coupled with mob insanity opposing. Information and knowledge are far apart in 2020 it seems. You decide or do you? The debate centers on who gets to decide how we care for and treat others. Wearing a mask is a powerful psychological symbol. The medical effect is up for debate.
In this world of 2020 where nearly all trust in government authority has been eroded or even actively destroyed, we the people WILL decide. Blame and shame is a pathetic excuse for leadership. Period. The urgent question before us, THE USA, is what will be different going forward. 1965 Watts, LA92, USA2020? Blacks live matter! They mattered then, they matter now, they will always matter. We the people must change the perspective of division to avoid this devastating cycle of physical violence and cultural suicide.
Law Abiding citizens must stand together peacefully. Authority must be reformed and respected. We can do better. Will we. I wonder. Men, all men have many dreams and many failings.
Some rise and some fall. Many settle and stop seeking the highest places and examples because of their failures, real and perceived. Honor and authority flow to those who stand in the gap between rage and lunacy. The men of men lead and seek to avoid the weak place of cowards and fools. Men of men no longer seek renown. Instead, men of men seek repose and respect. Men have regrets. Men of men have many regrets. Repose and respect flow from regrets. Age of service never ended. Only foolish inexperienced leaders treat their customers as commodities. Brand matters. Personal. Institutional. Vested people care. The volunteers in and organization are front line reps.
I celebrate others success. I mourn their failures. I wish I could do more to help. I do all that I can without sacrificing my own family. I revel in the beauty of others testimonies in word and deed. As a conservative minded libertarian, I am branded by others. In a free country, I still get to speak and vote as I choose. This seems to be changing.
In the face of such division and exploding emotion, it now seems that the only viable path towards peace is to listen and be silent. Once emotions have overtaken reason in the halls of power disallowing opposing views, we the people must assemble our platforms and proceed with caution. We all lose in the violence of mob rule, and mob mentality... We must use our systems, and our relationships, and our legacy to garner support for action.
Rhetoric is now useless and inflammatory. It has been made so by the intense pain, real or not, felt by all sides. Individual pain is no longer separate from the collective pain. In most cases, it seems that the ability to grant sincerity has been rendered not essential. Our era of identity politics dictates that our brand is all that matters. This is a treacherous slope. It is time to leave this place in every sense. Distance is easier in the short term but deadly for long term. Relationships don’t survive in reality. Life goes on. As your choose your distance, you choose how your life progresses. Only you can decide how much relationship is required. This is further complicated by the reality that two way streets have different rules and expectations. As traffic increases, value increases.
Social media, particularly FB shows you what you “want” to see by design. It amplifies the echo chamber. Seeking diversity of opinion and real dialogue is extremely difficult and time consuming.
The new rage of Blaming conservatives for NOT seeing posts and ideas is lunacy. The nearly instant rage mobs grow and peak emotions to garner views/likes. It is NOT productive. The feeds show me what I like to maximize online time and retention, spurring the mob effect for the most extreme and provocative writing. This amplifies and extends the moral superiority based on popularity fallacy. We all lose in these crazy spikes of energy. Flatten the curve by logging off and talking to neighbors and friends and family for real. I think it is extraordinary process that more of my friends are posting honestly on social media. Dealing with pain and emotion and stress with healthy coping mechanisms is key to progress. It is a hard thing to hear when others speak their truth. It is not my view. It IS theirs and the struggle and burden to listen and hear them is on me.
This reverses as well. I have lived out loud on media platforms for over a decade now and even I struggle with sharing bad news and emotional instability. It is human. MY truth is that I have little patience for the victim culture of blame. The shame game regarding speech is futile in a country built on free speech. I reject collectivist consumerism in favor of rugged individualism. Talking openly about my beliefs and principles is not easy. It has consequences for real. Sharing pain and sorrow without becoming a attention seeking victim is a difficult balance point to identify. It is not easy. I am confident that few hear me. They listen with their viewpoint and then debate or seek to debate line by line point by point. I am listening more carefully to others now and hearing more completely. Agreement is not required for respect and tolerance. It is helpful, and peaceful to be in the majority, and to be popular, but it is not reality. check yourself as you listen. Speak boldly and do not be bullied into silence and compliance. Respect and consider others as the extraordinary children of God that they are. Realizing and seeking to clarify the divide is useful. Building a new bridge which accepts the differences but connects hearts and minds is key to our future. All of this begins with a foundation of honesty and relationship rather than blame and punishment. Progress is hard bu necessary. Last few days and weeks have represented a manic phase for me and many. In my mind, I can see clearly how so many threads are intertwined. Sleep is the casualty it seems. As I manage and prioritize my time and attention on others in place of self I am able to cope.
The unending victimization mentality is exhausting. It is true that each of us has different advantages and challenges. I am lucky to have made many good choices and experienced so many wonderful people. I want to share my blessings and I do but... others are not as lucky and dod not. Seeing and hearing them... the emotional toll is a high cost. The mission to love and serve in spite of the nearly constant noise floor of “gloom despair and agony on me” is essentially endless. I have no idea how those without faith cope. Writing, working, and studying help me. I know that in Christ all things are possible and that He is with me always, and that my charge is simpler than can imagine. Share the good news that Christ saves and go, tell, and make disciples. It IS simple. I make it hard. The threads are all around me, like a warm blanket, protecting and keeping me from the cold hard world. Every day Is an opportunity to be love and serve in this endless variety show. I am not the producer. #Fridayfighty list. Most of this isn’t even remotely new. Pondering this list is why I can’t sleep.
When people out there can’t reason anymore they start calling you fat. This is their way to feel superior in their intellectual deficit. What is particularly deplorable, is when adults go after kids and family publicly.
The pain that these deplorables must have felt all their lives must be excruciating for them to be so rude and vicious to other humans. It is hard to keep from despising them. Generational discrimination is passed down indeed and it crosses racial boundaries. Like a virus. How to be a trusted advisor. Know how to do things. Teach well. Communicate broadly. Commit to results. #SkinInGame integrity coupled with knowledge and experience changes the game. From companies to churches to families and friends.
Talk is cheap. Results at scale over duration showcase true professionals and expose the pretenders. I wonder how many of our issues are truly geopolitical. I don’t think most are so concerned about society and justice and the world. I think most of us just want to fit in and be allowed to take care of ourselves. We all want a tribe and a cohort to pursue a purpose.
Global solidarity is not high on my list. It is above my pay grade. I focus on things I can actually affect. Local. Local. Local. Even national politics are only interesting as they apply to me and my community. I will help others but I will limit that help as my top priority is my family and my community. “In panic, we want to push the stick away from the spin, wrestle the plane out of it, but the trick is, as in everything, to go with the turning willingly, rather than fight it, give in, go with it, and that way come out of your tailspin whole.” -Edward Field, “Tailspin" The real danger affecting us all right now is fear. Not just any old garden variety fear, but the fear of our fellow man. We are dangerously close to accepting the lie that our fellow man will kill us with contact and regular “life”. Yes, the covid19 virus is dangerous, but it is not as dangerous to the mass majority of our population as we are being told. The fear narrative is the real danger. This is not the first pandemic in our world, and it is not likely to be that last. Very little has changed, except our fear response. By my calculations, the recovery/survival rate on Covid is something like 99.85%… seriously. Our world has been turned upside down by something that will likely kill one person in a thousand. This death rate is not new. What is new, is this idea that we must avoid contact with our family, our neighbors, and our friends and rely solely on the internet, the media, and the government to keep us connected and safe. THIS IS INSANITY. I WILL NOT COMPLY! Our society flattened the curve here in the US and “saved” the medical system?! What we have done is take a true acute medical crisis, and turn it into a global, catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Disconnecting from one another locally, and trusting some magical central planning authority is the hallmark of authoritarianism and tyrannical dark times throughout history.We know the death rate on these behaviors…. And the recovery rate is NOT 99.9%. Losing connection with our loved ones and neighbors KILLS. Unemployment and dependency KILLS. No one is coming to save you. The media and the governing authorities are using this programmatic fear narrative to gain and maintain control. The roots may be malevolent or incompetent. It does not matter in the end as the result is the same. People will die. The solution is to stand up for yourself, educate yourself, connect with your family, and accept that you were never in control. Go out and live your life as free citizens. Make choices, connect to those that matter, and own the consequences. Our world is going about its business as usual… The people are living and dying. Each of us chooses how we live or die. For this Virginian, Give me liberty or give me death has taken on a whole new meaning when it is applied to my ability to connect physically with my fellow humans. Our cultural reboot is underway. The stress and anxiety associated with a full reboot is real. So many questions and risks are now a reality. It is done hang on for the ride.
Will the computer come back on? What about the power supply? This server hasn’t ever been restarted before. Will the components talk to one another and can the internal bus support the load? how about the processor, will it overheat under the demand? Will the network connections come back up and are they secure and in sync for the data exchanges required. Data... is the new data warehouse design going to be flexible as we move ahead. What are the priorities for processing and who is managing the instructions? I hope the operating systems is stable, because only then can the apps start to work and add value again. watch the event log and task manager to see what is going on. Good luck America. #GodHasGotThis but it is still scary and a lot of work for the essential processors in the core. When you chose to live in a densely populated city you chose dependency on the system of infrastructure to sustain you.
when you chose to live in a suburb you chose to live close to others in homes virtually identical to yours. When you chose to live in a rural community you chose a path of accountability and a do it yourself first approach. When you chose to go to college you chose education as your path. When you chose to go to work as an apprentice or in a trade school you chose to produce and earn as you learn. When you chose to take a particular job you chose a path to dignity and protection for yourself and your family. When you chose a life partner you chose to be joined and not alone in all future choices. When you chose to have sex outside of marriage you chose accountability for the life of a child. When you chose to accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior you chose eternal life. Each choice and decision has a consequence. Some choose to pursue choices and freedom, others choose the simpler path of doing as they are told. This is how our lives work. The downstream outcomes arise from so many key choices. Most, if not all, successful outcomes are a consequence of time, and attitude and a series of good decisions. The chain holds the weight of it all. Happiness flows from a personal acceptance who you are and who you want to be. When you choose to condemn another’s choices your own path is altered. My choices are not yours. I am not you. Free will doesn’t mean free from consequences of your will. it is hard enough to carry the load of your own chain. Choosing to carry and control another’s chain is deadly and toxic. |
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