Pandora is my happiness at work. Just started this account--the music genome they constructed is pretty cool.
One thing work has done is allay my music-deprivation. So big shout out to work.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Thursday, March 5, 2009
John W. Gardner
So, you may (not) have been wondering who this John W. Gardner fellow is that I've quoted on my blog. I had no idea either -- I just liked the quote. Turns out he was this crazy important civil chairperson under the LBJ administration who championed, among other things, the institution of Medicare. As I was googling him, I found another quote that made me think:
"A movement to wake up America would have to be like the nation itself--not monolithic, not hierarchical, not dependant on a powerful charismatic leader rousing the masses, but leaders dispersed through all segments of society and down through all levels of the society, and upon an even greater number of vital and responsible citizens who don't necessarily think of themselves as 'leaders' but are in fact sharing leadership tasks. It cannot be centrally directed or tidy. Local effort is essential. Local responsibility is crucial... This is such a time. The next America will be forged 'out there' in America's communities."
President Obama has agreed with this principle, stressing time and again the importance of national service. You don't have to join the military, he said, to give back to your nation. You can do something as simple as clean up your neighborhood basketball court. He realizes he cannot fulfill his vow to change America by himself. I'm not sure how many Americans realize this, that change must be first a local effort. I think some people expected that America would automatically be a better place when he was elected, and the subsequent level of corporate jubilee reflects this. But remember what Gandhi said, that you must be the change you want to see in the world? I think many of us are just waiting around for the change to come to us. I know I'm guilty.
So, back to localized revolution. There is an element of localization in every revolution, isn't there. A one-man revolution doesn't bring about much change unless he garners followers who commit to his principles. The most successful revolutions begin with a group of people who share some discontent. It doesn't even have to be popular discontent -- just look at aristocratic revolutions like the Meiji Restoration and the French Revolution (oh wait, um, that wasn't exactly successful). The idea here is that many people have to work together in a causal effort to bring about a large-scale effect, and it begins on the lowest of levels. Top-down revolutions have to be disguised as bottom-up revolutions in order to be successful. What Nazi didn't think that Hitler's problems were his own?
The point of this entry, I guess, is that each of us is responsible. Every day is a day of personal reckoning. If I don't like the way something is, what have I done today to change it? If I want something, what have I done today to accomplish it? What do you think, should I become a motivational speaker? :) Anyway, that is the underlying theme of this blog, that we have been given days which are ours to use and ours to waste.
"A movement to wake up America would have to be like the nation itself--not monolithic, not hierarchical, not dependant on a powerful charismatic leader rousing the masses, but leaders dispersed through all segments of society and down through all levels of the society, and upon an even greater number of vital and responsible citizens who don't necessarily think of themselves as 'leaders' but are in fact sharing leadership tasks. It cannot be centrally directed or tidy. Local effort is essential. Local responsibility is crucial... This is such a time. The next America will be forged 'out there' in America's communities."
President Obama has agreed with this principle, stressing time and again the importance of national service. You don't have to join the military, he said, to give back to your nation. You can do something as simple as clean up your neighborhood basketball court. He realizes he cannot fulfill his vow to change America by himself. I'm not sure how many Americans realize this, that change must be first a local effort. I think some people expected that America would automatically be a better place when he was elected, and the subsequent level of corporate jubilee reflects this. But remember what Gandhi said, that you must be the change you want to see in the world? I think many of us are just waiting around for the change to come to us. I know I'm guilty.
So, back to localized revolution. There is an element of localization in every revolution, isn't there. A one-man revolution doesn't bring about much change unless he garners followers who commit to his principles. The most successful revolutions begin with a group of people who share some discontent. It doesn't even have to be popular discontent -- just look at aristocratic revolutions like the Meiji Restoration and the French Revolution (oh wait, um, that wasn't exactly successful). The idea here is that many people have to work together in a causal effort to bring about a large-scale effect, and it begins on the lowest of levels. Top-down revolutions have to be disguised as bottom-up revolutions in order to be successful. What Nazi didn't think that Hitler's problems were his own?
The point of this entry, I guess, is that each of us is responsible. Every day is a day of personal reckoning. If I don't like the way something is, what have I done today to change it? If I want something, what have I done today to accomplish it? What do you think, should I become a motivational speaker? :) Anyway, that is the underlying theme of this blog, that we have been given days which are ours to use and ours to waste.
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