The Early Days of a Better World
An Election Day Meditation
“Work as if you live in the early days of a better world.”
The above quote is from the late Scottish poet, Alasdair Gray…and it’s got me feeling all the feels this week.
This week’s Ordinary Meditation arrives serendipitously on Election Day here in the States. It’s a call to work —to action — when it comes to the dangers we all recognize across this new digital landscape we traverse: the polarization, the isolation, the distraction, and the bullying.
It’s a recognition that for all the good technology has given us, the solution for a better world is eternally analog. It begins with the warm, groove-pressed hands of humans.
It’s a reminder on days like today that you and I carry a hope-filled agency.
Here’s a snippet from the meditation:
“We can act where powerful people are prone to stall. We can choose which platforms we want to use and how we want to use them. We can teach our kids to do the same. We can vote for those who understand the significance of this crisis, leaders who practice the forgotten art of being ordinary, shaping the digital world to serve the good of the people instead of their personal brands. We can’t put the genie back in the bottle but we can help form the future we imagine.”
You can listen to the meditation here.
The most ironic PS ever:
After several years, I’m back on Instagram….and the irony is not lost on me considering the above. I should actually say, my work is back on Instagram…which I get sounds kind of pretentious but I’m hoping you’ll forgive me because I think it’s a helpful distinction. Historically, Instagram has not been a good place for me to frequent without practicing some MAJOR intentionality. Lately, however, I’ve become more open to approaching it with a more narrow lens, a helpful tool for sharing some of my writing and production work with others who might benefit from it somehow. So, the experiment begins! Say hi if you’re on there.