Political Public Service

What would be incentivized if politicians were only allowed to work in the public sector after office? Instead of sitting on the boards of defense contractors or telecom giants, they could only serve as a teacher, firefighter, doctor, public defender, etc.? One would hope this would ingrain the notion of public service in politics; once you cross this threshold, you are committing to a life of public service, of bettering humanity for the long haul. There are certainly negative implications for such a rule, but outside-the-box thought experiments can be useful to spur innovation of our political systems, which obviously require reform. We can do this if we keep working at it. We can change the world.

Swim Lessons

Playing in the pool with children is one of the simple joys in life. I’ve been doing it for the past 20 years or so, and have always loved it. Kids have fun naturally and find such joy in being in the water. A special bond develops when a child puts their faith in you while they learn to swim. It’s very intrinsically rewarding as the adult, and dry-land observers can see the serotonin bursting out from the pool. We are social creatures, and children are the future. Simply swimming in a pool together can show you that.

One Large Tribe

Are we any less tribal in 2022 than we were in 22 BC? It seems we still congregate around similar issues of morality and identity. And yet our world is more peaceful and prosperous than ever before: because we have improved our ethics of our groups. We still have bad apples and virtuous people, they simply function within a more effective social system. Of course there is still a long way to go. But participating in the conversation about the larger picture, and deliberating working to better our larger tribe, will continue to yield strong progress. And it starts with considering the perspective that we are all one large tribe.

Wild Ride

Via a lot of house cleaning this weekend I happened to look through many photos from over the years. It always amazes me how much I’ve changed. I’m sure it’s not unique: time affects us all. We grow up, we grow different, we grow together or apart. It’s certainly a wild ride—if it isn’t, are you really doing it right?

Doing Nothing

I think one of the ways you know you’re with the right person is if you want to do nothing with them. When you don’t feel like getting as much done as you could on a day off, do you want to “do that” with that person? When we are done with work and ready to rest, we don’t do it alone, we seek out the people we love.

Meals Matter

I had a really nice dinner tonight with dear friends, and the brochure stated “we have been enjoying good food and good wine together for thousands of years. We are trying to continue that tradition.” I found that particularly meaningful, because it’s simply true. Who we have dinner with each night determines our life. Meals matter.

Your Tribe Day

Another year I guess. It’s hard to know what to say on your birthday. I spent it with the very most important people, and felt love from my tribe. I recognize I’m incredibly fortunate to enjoy the level of support I experience from my loved ones.

The honor and recognition really should go to those who raised me, especially my parents. I am forever indebted to them for all of eternity. All I am derives from them and the rest of my lineage, which is really just a fancy word to describe the care that a sequence of human beings modeled to their offspring.

At some point some release of responsibility does shift though. You inherit whatever circumstances you’re dealt at birth, but at some point, in the end, we all maintain ownership of our lives. With the absolute best start I could almost possibly be given, I step into one more year of life with the understanding of my fortune, and with a drive to better the planet. We can change the world.

Time for Progress

There are times for flurries of activity and times for prolonged rest. Part of the dance of life is learning to recognize when it’s appropriate for each. This balance also exists on multiple levels, from personal to tribal to societal and global. While we may need more personal rest due to exhaustion from the repercussions of the pandemic, the time for societal and global activity is also here. It is our time to act, and to change the world for the better. Our time for progress is now.

Marching toward Justice

I’ve fended away the thought that the world has always been crumbling, a grand ocean symphony of progress fighting against greed and power. Perhaps it’s just more visible now because our technology has improved. But even if that is all true, it’s not necessarily a bad thing. We have to see, and stare down, our problems in order to solve them. We can develop resolve when we consider the resiliency of progress from the past. It requires effort, but we can continue marching towards justice. We can change the world.

Togetherness

I had a nice time tonight interacting with people I love. No matter what else, isn’t that a sign of a good life? Of being happy? We are all figuring it out together… can we start with togetherness?

Navigation

It’s an interesting thing seeing your tribe interact. Children grow up. We go on. That’s what’s important… we can choose who is part of our tribe. How we navigate it is up to us

Learning in Tribes

I sat around the table with my new(er) family tonight and looked at old photos with them. I think I derived just as much joy as everyone else, even though I wasn’t in any of them, even though they were all before “my time.”

We still pass so much learning and knowledge orally. I learned so much from my parents growing up; it was before the internet, and the way to learn was to watch and listen.

We seek strong connection with a tribe due to our biology. We are social creatures that operate at their best when working together with a close group. Can we leverage this tribalism to be inclusive on a global scale? Can we change the world together? Let’s give it a try.

American Baseball

A baseball game is a funny thing. It’s incredibly American, a live event ongoing for more than a century. There are numerous traditions to partake in, common themes to observe. No matter what’s going on in the country or the world (minus the pandemic), we play baseball around the states. What’s more American than baseball?

Challenges & Solutions

Part of what’s difficult is our incredible access to vast amounts of information through current technology. Most people with smartphones engage with people or content on social media every single day; and what’s on those platforms? Hurricanes in the Caribbean, economic despair in Sri Lanka, political unrest across the United States. Sure, there are “made me smile” stories as well—but that’s not featured as heavily in the company’s algorithms. It’s impossible for one single person to navigate all this information and help with everything. We are biologically wired to thrive in small social groups, not among billions and masses, and the sheer size of the Earth and all its diversity makes helping everyone everywhere all the time an insurmountable task. This can feel disenfranchising.

The solution is two fold: with our technology, we have the ability to organize in larger groups and design the parameters of a structured conversation about our problems. Social media does not represent this today, but we can alter how we communicate instantaneously across the globe. If we can do that, we can assess our most widespread challenges and prioritize them, so that we can act intentionally collectively. Second, we can choose our sphere of influence. We can follow our passions to help people the best we can within the realms of the things we most care about. It’s possible for us to do this. We can change the world.

Let there be Music

I’ve come to find a new level of appreciation for live music. Tonight I noticed that there’s no negativity or combativeness on stage when a band plays together; only cohesion and creativity. Love emanates from the group and cascades through the audience before rebounding back to the musicians. This dance is a credit to humanity’s ability to consult with each other through different mediums in the universe. It really is incredible when you consider it, and to contemplate that this communion is happening constantly throughout the entire planet… it truly is a big beautiful amazing world. Let there be music.

Children’s Inheritance

Spending time with children really shows you how they are the future. They are so innocent and fragile, shaped by the frameworks and behaviors you demonstrate to them. They are happy just because, not for any particular reason. Children are the ones who inherit the world we leave them. What kind of Earth will they live in?

Building in Resets

You ever take a break or have a period of inactivity and come back ready to conquer the world? It’s almost as if our human biology is hard wired for alternations of rest and work. It’s the same reason why goal setting can be so powerful.

Our current society doesn’t really match this natural tendency; sustainability (and thus prosperity) is not the overarching aim of our economies. We can work on that. But in the meantime, that’s why it’s important to build in resets for ourselves and our tribes.

State of the World from 10,000 feet

One. More. Flight. A fellow passenger said to me last night, “it’s good how at the back of the plane we get an opportunity to practice our patience.” I believe he was entirely genuine, and I found his comment enlightening.

There is so much negativity in this country and in the world at large right now. It doesn’t seem like things are going right; the economy is suffering, it feels like every modus operandi is geared toward the benefit of companies and corporations, and the political arena appears hopeless.

But there is also much good in the world. Life is better for the average person than it was 200 years ago. More people than ever are engaged with changing our world for the better politically, and through the proliferation of technology we can identify and communicate about our problems better than ever before.

It’s important to accept the dire reality of our predicament, but also to embrace the progress thus far achieved, and to believe we can propel further forward. It will take grit and determination. I believe we can do it.

Travel Lessons

I always find the journey home an introspective exercise. We get to compare whatever we just did, the culture that we just experienced and the climate and nature we were immersed in, and then consider our “normal” lives outside of travel.

We have the freedom to be whoever we want to be. If we solved some of the greater forces affecting us all, I suspect, from the traveling I’ve done, that almost all of us would want the same exact things. To travel; for showing me that.

Angel’s Birthday

Birthdays are a funny thing—we celebrate the person as an accomplishment, for being alive one more “year,” in that they’ve been along for the ride one more time as the Earth goes around the Sun.

Despite the funniness, birthdays are special. They represent a pure happiness for spending time alongside that someone, and are the representation of the joy that we feel, to be here alive with this person right now in this place in the universe.

I feel so privileged to celebrate my wife’s birthday in Aruba. You deserve it Angel, and thank you for all the awe you bring to this world.