We can change the world.
Three simple things for us to master during shelter-in-place:
Change
Boredom
Data
In order to survive this, we must increase our familiarity and comfort with these 3 things.
If we accomplish nothing else, we’ll come out net-positive. And we’ll be better prepared for the future.
It really does seem like people are trying their best. Businesses are rallying, offering novel sales and enacting new protocols to keep people fed and healthy. It’s encouraging. I’ve (virtually) talked with some friends over the past few days, and you can tell people are struggling. With money, with boredom, with accepting this new global reality. It sinks in, it hits you, that we are all interconnected.
It helps to beseech gratitude—it can always be worse. But today I got the genuine sense that we are getting through this. People are trying, they’re acting selflessly. In many places, the curve is flattening. We can do this as a species. I hope it has incentivized us for the future as well. We can change this world. We can be proud of what we leave for our children’s children.
I was disheartened by the news of Bernie’s campaign resignation yesterday. I understand he had virtually no chance to win the Democratic nomination, and that strategically it makes sense to suspend the campaign to solidify support behind Biden to better take on Trump in November.
But I also find it cruelly ironic that he was the one who continuously advocated for healthcare equity, and now Americans are suffering a healthcare catastrophe. And once the coronavirus crisis is over, the climate change crisis will start (it hasn’t ever stopped). Bernie was the one who emphatically called for action to fight climate change. I hope there will be no irony there.
9/11 might be the most historically significant day of my lifetime. But this coronavirus pandemic, and the climate change crisis, will be the 2 most important “events" over the course of my life—hopefully. I say “hopefully" because these 2 crises are already more than we can handle right now. I believe we can overcome them, and I hope in doing so no other crisis will come close to the same level of severity. Bernie understood the importance of these problems.
Do I believe Bernie got screwed by the DNC? Yes I do. Biden’s 3 main competitors—Buttigieg, Klobuchar, and Steyer—dropped out immediately before Super Tuesday and endorsed him, while Bernie's main competitor, Elizabeth Warren, who had performed the most poorly (against expectations) of all 4 dropouts, stayed in the race. You think this was coincidence? It’s also pretty amazing the DNC did the same thing as in 2016—how well did that work out?
But at the end of the day, Bernie didn’t get enough votes. Despite what happened with Super Tuesday, it was essentially a head-to-head showdown between Bernie and Biden, and Biden came out well on top. Not enough people voted for Bernie for him to win the nomination, it’s as simple as that.
Politics is tricky. It seems now in our society we think we can vote for a person, they’ll do the work for us, and we’re done. In theory that sounds great. But the size and scope of our nation means that doesn’t happen in practice. This is a big, diverse country. People disagree about a lot of things, and that disagreement is spread across geography, religion, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, age, and culture, among other things. If we want something to change, we need to be that change. We can’t rely on elected officials to magically solve our problems. We must change our attitudes and behaviors to solve them. It requires collective action.
Thank you Bernie, for what you brought center stage. Whether people agree with you or not, healthcare and climate change have taken their rightful place as issues we cannot ignore. You have inspired millions of Americans. Now it’s time for active citizenship, for us to change the world. What kind of world do we want?
Over the past few weeks I’ve advocated for introspection, for people to consider the kind of world they want to live in. It seems so many people are bored to death while sheltering in place, so I thought of an activity checklist. If enough people check these babies off, we’ll come out of this more prepared to shape the world how we see fit:
Think about what’s important to you. You have all this time at home—what will you be proud of when you die? What do you enjoy spending your time on? Imagine if you came out of this shelter-in-place with a crystal clear understanding of what’s important in your life. Wouldn’t that alone be a huge accomplishment?
This lockdown has offered a bit of a reset. So use it to reset your habits. Now is the time to work on that practice you haven’t maintained or that project you always put off. There aren’t really any excuses right now. Consider investing in some Lifestyle Design since you have the time.
Do politics now take over the dinner table each night? Maybe that’s not the worst thing—for us to regularly discuss important international issues—instead of the NFL draft or the Bachelorette or whatever else on TV. Let’s figure out a way to make politics a regular, productive 1% of our day.
For Americans, 2020 is a big election year. This global pandemic has awakened us to many realities of our current system. And with us on the brink of being unable to stop climate change, this year’s election will have a significant effect on future generations. Think about who you want to elect in November.
Look at which companies and industries are doing what during this crisis. Many have offered heroic examples of how to impart good on the world in tough times. Others should make us re-think our purchase decisions. Make a list of those you will support moving forward.
Finally, and probably the easiest thing to do during this lockdown: recognize how much our loved ones mean to us. We're mammals, we're social. We desire intimacy and connection, and it’s probably the most important way we derive meaning in our lives. Think about who those loved ones are, and how you can serve them.
If we consider how our world has changed in a few short weeks, how our lives have been altered…maybe we’ll not only be grateful for what we have now, but will want to build a world that enables everyone to have more.
On some level, it all comes back to teamwork. We are social creatures, and together we can overcome more obstacles than alone. Even in our modern economic system, we partner up. It shows with the current situation. We work together, we flatten the curve. Collaboration, maybe more than ever in the history of our species, trumps competition. We may have one partner, one tribe, one community, and even one country, but, at the end of the day, it’s only one world.
My mind wanders during this shelter-in-place. All the numbers and statistics get jumbled in my head, between reading the Johns Hopkins newsletters, New York Times updates, the news, and World War Z. It's eerie how similar fact and fiction can be, let’s just say that. And as we continue to have our virtual correspondence with our loved ones, I think of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince book jacket: “And yet…As in all wars, life goes on…So it’s the home front that takes center stage...” We are what we think about, as Marcus Aurelius so calmly conveys to us. What are you thinking about during this global lockdown? It’s fair to call it global now, as half of the world’s population is under some sort of lockdown. It’s also fair to ask that question.
What are we thinking about? Do we just yearn for a return to “normal?” Or do we want something more, something better, something equal? Our thoughts will lead us there. We have the technology to get us there, and some leadership to help ground us and guide us. What kind of world do we want?
It seems we use the phrase “it’s not like they were curing cancer” to denote time poorly spent. To “cure cancer” might be the most saintlike way we can describe someone or some thing. Because a lot of us have lost people we love to cancer. Like the novel coronavirus, it doesn’t discriminate between us. I lost someone important to me to cancer many years ago, and it still hurts in many ways. When you look at life from this perspective, it becomes much easier to see what’s important, and what’s simply not. Who we love is important, as well as the time we spend with them. If we remember that, we might not become so distressed by minor problems. Maybe we’ll spend our time more wisely. Maybe we’ll cure cancer.
Tonight I was challenged on many ideas. Why do we hold on to what we think we know? Is what’s happening to us how we consider everything? Are we only weathering the storm? Or are we thinking about how we can change the world? This is our insidious enemy. We can!
Change is happening to all of us. It’s affecting how we live, and hopefully, how we think about life. Will we change as well?
Yesterday I was looking over some photos from my time in Arusha last year and it reinforced how lucky I am. Chances are, if you’re reading this you’re probably within the same socioeconomic stratum as me—somewhere around average American middle-class. Compared to the rest of the world, that’s a pretty privileged place.
By sheer luck, I happened to be born into these circumstances. I could have easily been born in Arusha and be struggling to get by. My education, my career options, my current prospects for getting through this global pandemic—a lot of it was determined at birth, by chance. A quick thought experiment to illustrate this:
The 5 most populous countries in the world are China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Pakistan. If you total their combined population you get 3,644,746,767, or 46.9% of the world’s population. What percentage of the 3.5 billion people living in these countries enjoy a standard of living equal to or greater than an average American middle-class household?
Well, the United States' total population of roughly 330 million people makes up less than 10 percent of the combined top 5 countries population total. So let’s pretend that half of the US population is in the middle class, and that there are some Chinese, Indian, Indonesian, and Pakistani citizens enjoying a similar standard of living (which there are, but not very many). This means we can very conservatively estimate that 7% of all the people living in the 5 most populous countries enjoy an American middle-class standard of living.
So I hit the jackpot! Of all the 3.5 billion people living in the 5 most populous countries on Earth, which makes up almost half of the world’s population, I’m one of the 7% who enjoys immediate privilege.
Let’s compare this to likelihood of being born in an extremely poor place like Arusha. Using any country listed in the top 10 on these 3 sites, here’s a quick and dirty list of 20 poverty-stricken countries and their population totals, in which you could safely say that if you’re among this group, you would suffer similar living conditions as those in Arusha:
Afghanistan - 38,928,346
Burundi - 11,890,784
Central African Republic - 4,829,767
Democratic Republic of the Congo - 89,561,403
Ethiopia - 114,963,588
Gambia - 2,416,668
Haiti - 11,402,528
Kyrgyzstan - 6,524,195
Madagascar - 27,691,018
Malawi - 19,129,952
Mozambique - 31,255,435
Niger - 24,206,644
Sierra Leone - 7,976,983
Somalia - 15,893,222
South Sudan - 11,193,725
Tajikistan - 9,537,645
Tanzania - 59,734,218
Uganda - 45,741,007
Uzbekistan - 33,469,203
Yemen - 29,825,964
Population total: 596,172,295
These 20 countries account for 7.6% of the world’s population. So I had a 7% chance of being born into a “middle-class” family compared to a 7.6% chance of inheriting extreme poverty. Most of the other 85 percentage points are places in the world that heavily skew toward poverty.
Yea, I got lucky. I think I can handle shelter-in-place here in sunny California. This is a very simplistic thought experiment with some methodological limitations, but you get the picture.
We can always be grateful. The world is so vast and so diverse, sometimes we don’t know how fortunate we can be. Maybe if we realize it, we’ll work to make it better for everyone.
Wow, April 1st. If only what’s happening in the world right now was all a big horrible April Fool’s joke.
We are already one quarter of the way through 2020. Time goes by so fast and we don’t even realize it. Which is why it’s important to cherish all the moments afforded to us, even these strange ones during shelter-in-place.
I am back home in California, but starting today, I will revert back to publishing photography from around the world. My hope is my photography will show people how big, beautiful, and amazing Earth truly is. Maybe if we can all see our planet’s magnificence we will be more motivated to keep it that way.
For as much as this global pandemic is negatively affecting humanity, it probably has a net positive effect on the rest of the planet. As industries shut down we are polluting our oceans less and tearing down fewer trees. We’re burning less fossil fuels. We are inadvertently helping all life on this planet by diminishing Earth’s greatest threat: climate change.
Let’s not forget our true danger. The potential death and destruction of climate change dwarfs that of Covid-19. We’ve come a long way as a species, but we still have a long way to go and a lot of work to do. This pandemic has changed our lives. Hopefully it has also changed our perspectives. What world do we want?
The Bay Area is doing well in mitigating the spread of the coronavirus. But it’s far from over. Nationally the conversation has become very somber—health officials portend tough times ahead. Other countries around the world are facing similar circumstances.
So now is our test. Humanity has survived grim times before; we must do it again. We have the technology to spread information quickly, to keep people informed and coordinate large-scale action.
We can overcome this. Years from now we can look back at how this all made us stronger. We just have to do it together. Will you be a part of the solution?
I’ve blogged about the importance and benefits of openness before. It’s ironic: now that all our doors are closed, it’s more important than ever to stay open. We are journeying through uncharted waters. Everyone from leaders down to ordinary citizens must make the right decisions, but we must also remain open in order to see all our options. Automakers are making ventilators. Army ships are serving as hospitals. Corporate policies are being bent or broken. We will do what we need to do in order to beat this. Staying open will make it possible.
As much of the world is home, it makes me consider how we can transform our society to be more remote-oriented, or at least more remote-capable. I know someone who has attended only e-visits with their doctor leading up to a surgery requiring general anesthesia. Congress should have been able to vote on the historic $2.2 trillion stimulus bill remotely. Applying for Medicaid and unemployment benefits can be done online or over the phone. More and more people are using services like Instacart to get their groceries (but might want to re-think that one). There are a growing number of free online education platforms in which people can learn or do job training at home. To be clear—I’m not advocating for a completely remote-based society. Handling our business online might increase deliveries and thus pollution, which is still humanity’s greatest threat. We are also social animals, and we need interaction. We need to be conscious of the balance. However, I do believe we can achieve a sustainable mode of operations which minimizes environmental impact on the planet while also maximizing efficiency. We are part of this planet. We can find solutions that allow both Earth and us to thrive. We have the time now; let’s think outside the boxes we’re all stuck in.
An email from my congresswoman stated:
“We’re all being tested, but I have an abiding confidence that we will meet this national challenge facing us, just as America has in the past.”
I believe it’s important to acknowledge the reality of the situation. And we can draw inspiration from those who have overcome great obstacles in the past.
But this won’t go away unless we all act as one. It takes everyone, all around the world. Every single person must act if we are to defeat this unprecedented challenge.
It’s up to all of us. What are we going to do?
We start each day anew as we regain consciousness in the morning. We can choose how we will process our experience, we can decide what life we want to lead. External circumstances have less bearing than our determinations. Will we act collectively, in sync with the universe? We now have the time to reflect, and decide.
When I talk to them people always ask me, “how does it feel to be back?” I was posed this question when I returned from living abroad in 2015 as well. Given my lifestyle choices, I’ve become accustomed to the question.
In the current circumstances, it’s particularly difficult to process everything, to explain to someone. Yes, life is “back to normal” in a sense: I take hot showers everyday. I get to eat healthy meals, and food is in abundance. My bed is comfortable and there’s a reassurance in the familiarity feeling of home. I didn’t enjoy any of these luxuries while traveling around the world.
But it’s also not normal. I haven’t actually seen anyone, any of my friends or extended family, since I’ve been back. I don’t leave the house save for brief walks. I reach out to my friends in other countries to check in and make sure they’re doing okay. This isn’t normal for any of us, and I know I have it so much easier than so many others.
So when I answer the question I go with the word “ominous.” Things are radically different, but people act as if going “back to normal” will be a return to nirvana. Did we really enjoy how skewed society was before? Can we understand that American life in lockdown is still exponentially better than “normal” life in the third world? Are we so immune to those outside our stratus? These questions give me a terrible sense of foreboding.
This pandemic is forcing us to change our behavior—but are we changing our thinking? Are we simply weathering this storm, putting up with social distancing and shelter-in-place while we have to, impatiently waiting for the return of freedom? I’m with Andrew Yang on this one—we need to think harder. We need to think more deeply about how the world operates. We need to be critical of the “normal” world. Our altered lives now are better than billions of others’ normal lives ordinarily. How can we “go back to normal” when this is over? Let’s forget “normal" as a society. Let’s strive for better.
For us privileged few, will things go back to normal once this is done?
People moan about shelter-in-place. We need to recognize how fortunate we are to have a shelter in the first place.
Do you think people are practicing social distancing in India or Tanzania? In Cambodia or Venezuela? Do you think they’re “practicing” anything?
Maybe I should not have come home. It was travelers who spread this in the beginning. And it’s the millions who can’t afford a plane ticket who will suffer.
All I’m advocating for is awareness. We who are privileged enough to complain about boredom need to be grateful we have credit available. That we have running water. A floor in our home.
Will things go back to normal when this is done? Or will we come together and change? For that is the only way we will rise, the only way we will overcome, and the only way we will thrive. If we recognize we are all equal, and one.
We can change the world. We can make a new normal, one that benefits us all together.
I’ve called for a review of the country’s federal leadership because it’s our duty as citizens to hold our leaders accountable. It’s also necessary for us to evaluate ourselves. Are we helping our nation’s healthcare workers? Are we respecting (and potentially saving the lives of) the elderly? To help with this self-evaluation, here’s a useful question to ask yourself: If everybody did things the way I’m doing them right now, what would the world look like? The answer might spur you to change your behavior.
Beyond introspection, there are some simple ways we all can contribute in this crisis. Go donate blood. Check out Nextdoor and volunteer for your neighbors. Not only will you help those directly in your community, you’ll get outside the house some. Even in these strange circumstances, we have a unique opportunity to do good. To contribute to our species, and our world. Eat Sleep Think Repeat.
There is no excuse—each and every one of us must watch our elected government officials’ words and actions. Leadership is needed now. Regard what behavior is exhibited, what statements are made. We must decide for ourselves: what will we tolerate? What world do we want? We have this power to decide! We must exert it. We must change the world. Let’s go.