People don’t talk about end-of-life suffering or the cost of healthcare in the last year of life, so it never gets better. Instead, we pretend it isn’t an issue and the problem persists.
We don’t talk about the ongoing and escalating costs (human and financial) of our changing climate, so the systems that are making it worse continue, unimpeded.
We don’t talk about all the time we waste in meetings, the persistence of caste and injustice, the manipulation of our communication platforms, the creeping aristocracy disguised as a meritocracy or even the ridiculous nature of the wedding-industrial complex.
What all of these systems have in common is that they maintain their position in the status quo by creating a force field that somehow keeps us from talking about them.
On the other hand, we talk about quarterly profits, sports rankings, celebrities and the horserace of the day’s politics all the time. Which is why so much time and energy is spent on polishing and optimizing those systems.
Figure out what’s important, then create the conditions for people to talk about it.
PS thanks to Eileen Fisher for doing just that. Last month, their stores gave away thousands of copies of The Carbon Almanac to people who stopped by. Simply that. To encourage people to talk about our future.
Also congratulations to Gabe for 2,000 daily posts. Good stuff.