Creative Agents of Change

Person to person kindness

"Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person."  - Mother Teresa

I read an article in the Rocky Mountain News the other day written by Bill Johnson, one of the paper's regular columnists.  In it, he describes the plight of a Mexican woman who spoke no English and was being treated at St. Joseph Hospital for complications of her pregnancy.  Expecting twins, with four other children at home and a recently deported husband, the woman was in a serious crisis.

When the hospital housekeeping staff heard about her situation, they served as her patient advocate, raised money and threw her a baby shower, and arranged care for her other children while she's on bed rest.

We could get into a discussion of the greater sociopolitical issues typified by this situation, and we could talk about what the leaders of this country and Mexico need to do to prevent situations like this from happening again.  Or, we could recognize that the solutions to most of our problems in society don't lie with the people running things -- they come from within each of us.  When we recognize that each of us is a human being, and that we're all connected, no matter where we come from or what we believe, and when we make practicing loving kindness our way of life, then we can begin to lift each other up and create the world we want to see.

Here's the link to Bill's column:  http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/news_columnists/article/0,1299,DRMN_86_3882347,00.html

Boomer Social Consciousness

Last night on NBC News, Kevin Corke did a spot about how baby boomers are now finding a social conscience, and leaving their corporate jobs for positions in the non-profit world where they can make a difference for society.

Call me naive, but I don't think this is any great revelation.  My baby boomer friends never gave up their dedication to making the world a better place.  Even during the greed-driven 80s when we were all building families and acquiring stuff, the people I knew were donating their time and money to causes -- everything from Greenpeace and the Sierra Club to the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the local soup kitchen.  And most of us raised our kids with that same understanding that if you live in and benefit from a community, it's important to give back, whether that community is your school, your town, or the world at large.

I think the difference now is that, with our families raised and our financial needs met,  we have the gift of time to devote our lives to the things that have always been important.  It's easier to live lives of service and simplicity when you aren't hauling kids to soccer practice and dance lessons, and worrying about how to pay for college.

Thanks to NBC, however, for finally giving this generation some credit.

Counterbalancing Macchiavelli

A few months ago I met a man named Ken Roberts, another writer, and as writers do, we began talking about the kind of writing that we like best, where we publish our work and how we got started. He told me that a college assignment many years ago had set him on the path he had followed for the past 50 years.

“I had to read The Prince by Machiavelli,” he said. “That book should never have seen the light of day in the world, because the main message is that if you want to be a leader, you have to be a skilled liar. That really bothered me, and I’ve spent my whole life counterbalancing Machiavelli by sending out a different message in everything I write.”

Those words stayed with me, and I've often thought about how much more powerful it is to counterbalance something with which I don't agree, rather than to rail and fight and create more polarization and angst in the world.  When I read the sensational stories of dysfunction and horror that seem to permeate the mainstream media, I sit down and tell the story of someone who is doing things to make the world a better place, and in my small way, I feel like I'm counterbalancing.

Last week we got word that Ken had passed away, and while I was sad that I only had one conversation with him, I was grateful that the universe allowed our paths to cross. That one conversation gave me a different perspective, a new lens for viewing the world, and I'd say that made Ken a creative agent of change.

Thank you Ken, and many blessings on your journey.