We ourselves must be the change...

We ourselves must be the change we want to see in the world." Gandhi

I'm a big Gandhi fan (is anyone not?), and this is one of my favorite quotes, so I'm glad to see it cited a lot on and offline these days. But most often I see it used as a reminder that we can all make a difference in the world. This is part of the point, of course, but I think the subtlety and deeper signficance of Gandhi's thought is lost if we interpret this as simply "we can all make a difference".

The big idea to me reflected in this quote is the concept that the change we want to see needs to start first with ourselves as individuals, who we are, how we carry ourselves in the world. If we want to have peace on earth, we should figure out how to be more peaceful in our daily lives. There are too many people who love humanity but aren't very kind to the person sitting next to them on the train. Gandhi himself struggled with this--if you've seen the big Gandhi film or read about his life you know he wasn't always as kind as he could be to his wife for instance.

The change we can bring to the world is more lasting and powerful the more it is based on public actions that align in an authentic way with who we are in every small interaction we have with those around us. This point is sometimes most apparent when the opposite happens--the preacher or public official know for moralizing that gets caught in some scandal. But it can be seen in the affirmative in someone like Nelson Mandela, who used his years in prison to build up a powerful inner strengthen that led him to be such a compelling leader upon his release.

I see how this applies to our work here at SCI. Our first value, and fundemental premise of social capital, is that relationships matter. Yet its easy to lose sight of this, as we get so caught up in the mechanics of what it takes to run our organization. The importance of relationships can be temporarily lost in the midst of proposal deadlines, meetings, interviews and more. So for SCI, being the change we want to see means among other things making sure we don't lose site of the important relationships we have with each other on our team, our partners, volunteers and everyone else we interact with.

No one is perfect, of course, and can 100% of the time live up perfectly to their values. But Gandhi's quote is a good reminder, that to make change in the world, we must be mindful of who we are in the world we seek to change.

Originally published on http://socialcapitalinc.org

Anwar Sadat Quotes

"Most people seek after what they do not possess and are thus enslaved by the very things they want to acquire." p. 42

"Love is the only force capable of pulling down the barriers which may stand between matter & spirit; between the visible and the invisible, between the individual and God." p. 87

Both from In Search of Identity by Anwar Sadat

Beara Peninsula

The Beara Peninsula looks like a neat part of Ireland to check out some time, written up in today's Globe.

Voltaire: Let's agree to disagree

"I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." Voltaire

T.S. Eliot Exploration Quote

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time."
T.S. Eliot

Rising in the Dark

rising in the dark

dawn's rosy finger graces

silvery water

Of Dads and Baseball

I imagine it started with soft tosses to build my confidence, but what I remember is your throwing hard fastballs and nasty curves so that I'd be ready for whatever others might throw at me. Shortly after returning from a long day at work, you'd grab the mitt and offer to go out and play ball. A fastball whistling through the air and thumping a catcher's mitt is not only the sound of summer, but an echo of good times with Dad growing up.

Many life lessons were passed on the ball field. Perfection wasn't expected, but an all-out effort certainly was. I remember being miffed about being taken out of the line-up for not hustling out to my position after a disappointing at-bat, but the message was not lost on me or my teammates. The discipline of swinging a weighted bat each day is probably more appreciated now then it was then.

Celebrating my first Father's Day last year lent a new perspective and appreciation for our baseball bonding times. A few weeks ago, sipping beers on the deck and watching my little baby, you told me how as I got into my teen years, those pitching sessions started making you increasingly nervous. You describe the challenge of picking up a lively fastball (which seems to get faster with each passing year) in the waning light. I recall how many of my curves must have fallen a bit short as I was learning, and bounced and hit you who knows where. Yet you wouldn't hesitate to get back in the catcher's crouch.

Now I know the feeling of coming home a bit tired from a day of work, but appreciating the importance of summoning a second wind to spend time with my son. For the time being this entails feeding him mashed peas and reading Curious George more than catching his fastball—but one of my Father's Day gifts was a toy baseball and bat set, so it won't be long!

I have reflected before on how lessons on the ball field have helped me succeed in school and work. But now I see that the most important thing you were teaching is simply how to be a Dad.

Poem for a Summer Night

Good poem for a summer night posted here on Writer's Almanac:

http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php?date=2009/08/09?refid=0

Everything is Misc.

"The task of knowing is no longer to see the simple. It is to swim in the complex."

David Weinberger, Everything is Miscellaneous

We are spiritual beings...

"We are spiritual beings having a human experience." Teilhard de Chardin

Salmon Sparkling

salmon sparkling in the sun

slips back into the swift stream

gushing toward the bay.