A brief note – as we are all called to the higher service of the nation and the world, called to employ our simple gifts and to embrace complexity with humility and generosity.
Much work is ahead of us, and it feels good to feel again a pride in our institutions, our values, the progress of our history, and in this our public and collective recommitting to hope and virtue.
The values and principles our 44th President has eloquently pronounced are ideals I have long espoused – and yet felt at times like a voice crying out in the wilderness.
How many of us have felt alone in our ideals and now are strengthened by this higher kinship, a fellowship of spirit common to the species?
The highlight of this ceremony is that we can laugh with joy together through the wit and wisdom of Rev. Lowery’s benediction.
Hi Michael,
I love this post of yours = especially the ‘laughing together’ images …
By the way, your ‘becoming good ancestors’ comments (as they emerged from within our brief conversations with Jean and several of the other good folks during last October’s OSN camp/unconference at S. F. State U. when we focused on ‘thrivability’, ‘what’s sustainable & what’s not?’, etc.) have served me, as well as various friends and colleagues with whom I’ve shared them, quite well = so “BIG FAT THANKS!!!” from all of us. U da man!
Anyhow, I’m glad to be back in touch with you and look forward to the possibility of having some fun exploring mutual interests together. Here’s a not-too-brief, aimed-from-the-hip = as well as the heart and the head = sense of my take on potential, mutual interests we seem to be exploring and may wish to begin having more fun doing so together:
As a particular example of my more general idealized images, let’s consider imagining young Students all around our globe, feeling enthused about learning how best to manage the challenges they’re inheriting. Since there’s just about no end to the level of detailed complexity gained by solely focusing on such management challenges, let’s consider balancing and perhaps even lightening our load by also focusing on young folks actually feeling enthused and to do so with comparable appreciation for complexity’s fuller dimensions.
Assuming this game’s already afoot, I’d love to explore with you and other good folks how I/we may best support fun learning that’s both relevant to our tasks at hand and coherent enough to make the kinds of good ecosystem-sense for which these good folks several generations from now are quite likely to say something like, “Wow, thanks for these gifts!!!”
Perhaps we can help produce such well-crafted and extra-special-value-adding contributions to our species’ emerging evolutionary guidance systems (Banathy) and the general design of gifts for future generations (Churchman) that will support and enable today’s youth to at least earn their keep by having more fun learning; especially fun learning about current events, both globally and locally, in their fullest complexity. Let’s equip these young folks with living support-systems so that they can then design their own appreciative (Vickers) human activity systems and complex adaptive systems to help clean-up, manage and prevent further eco-mess-making. Uy guh velt!
How can we best have fun supporting young folks to experience as much fun as is humanly possible as we design and implement best-in-class appreciative, complex, adaptive, human activity systems? Let’s celebrate, fer cryin’ out loud!!!
I’m by no means certain as to how we/I can best welcome such an imagined global human activity-system (such as one for learning how best to manage the extraordinarily complex global challenges today’s youth are inheriting) into greater existence, and yet I’m feeling enthused about the prospect of collaborating in new and fun and productive ways to help clean-up and roll-out the welcome mat. I’d love to converse with anyone who’s also feeling enthused about designing robust support-systems so that younger folks get to bring their best games ,,,
I trust that makes sufficient sense, for starters …
Ciao for now,
paul
P. S. – I empathize with your ‘voice in the wilderness’ feeling and still I wonder how future generations are feeling. Nonetheless, it’s quite heartening when we appreciate hearing and understanding and allowing ourselves to be inspired by our new Public-Servant-in-Chief’s closing line in his fresh and refreshing inauguration address when he serves as a good ancestor by lending them/us his voice :
“… we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”
Thank you Paul – very nice to hear from you. I value very much the time shared at OSN Camp, and I am trying to push forward on the ideas we explored there. Your note was refreshing for me, as this evening I was again feeling a bit in the wilderness on advancing the solutions ecology.