Reflections at 46
May we live in interesting times, and we do. As I turn 46, I feel that human beings have reached a fork in the road, and this tension to find the right path exists within my own life.
To the one side, we have built a broken model on how to live, and this model is collapsing around us with each passing day. Yet this model is comfortable and familiar, allowing us to pass through daily life with a sleepy ease of partial satisfaction.
To the other side, we face a great disruption that requires with a rude awakening and significant discomfort. Every major human industry of the last few hundred years faces change or elimination, and the disruptors are being disrupted as well.
This tension between the ease of complacency and the tremors of change is faced by many of us. There are questions, big questions, that we are facing. What do I really want? Which path do I choose? What can really be done? How far am I willing to go? What am I willing to sacrifice? What am I willing to compromise?
As I turn 46, I have come to the following conclusion. Indecision and inaction are, in fact, a decision and an action in support of the status quo. The more that I carefully look around, the more clearly the status quo appears morally bankrupt, fundamentally broken and extremely destructive.
On the whole, I am not proud of the world that we have built. We have not created a working environment that is attractive to our children. Sitting in cubes staring at screens to eliminate jobs or to move theoretical value around seems far from a human utopia. Producing endless amounts of poisonous landfill to store, transport and eat natural foods seems deliberately destructive. Creating cures for the rich that place the rest in endless debt seems intentionally malicious. Electing the most narcissist representatives to govern our civilization seems only appropriate.
However, there are bright spots. More and more, I see collections of human beings working together to solve big problems that can make the world better. They rally around shared beliefs. They gather online and in coworking spaces. They develop ideas, invent solutions, and build things. They break rules and make rules and change the status quo. From Kabul to Paris, more and more people are waking up and pursuing their passions. It’s beautiful.
My goal is to tirelessly support this spark of greatness. I am hoping to inspire as many people to help make the world better in this next year of my existence. There are many hard things holding people back. If every person pursued their passion and worked on something that they truly believed in, the world would be much better off than it is now.
I am here to help.