No. 51 - Benevolent Foolery

Ah yes, the sweet beauty of doing good for others... the wonderful fulfillment one experiences when giving of self for the benefit of family, community, or culture. How great, indeed, the experience of putting self aside in our quest(s) to realize a better community for all. So many have committed so much to do the work that needs doing. So many have researched the issues, studied the communities, reflected upon myriad perspectives from the many scholars and community organizers that have documented their notions on how to create a better future for us all.

But, one must ask: Are things better for us, or worse?

Perhaps we should consider an interesting scenario that plays out in so many meetings, homes, and communities. Let's consider...

Here comes “Mr. Johnny Do-Right”. He has done tremendous research; conducted interview after interview; spoken to his “inner circle” to get their blessings, and read and wrote a number of papers speaking to the needs of the community. After all his effort he's come up with what he believes is the best approach to engaging the community and to overcoming the particular problem he has an expressed interest in. He goes about conducting the work needed to make the difference he envisions.

He works night and day, forsaking social life, family, and even his own personal needs. With every passing week his belief in his effort increases, knowing full well this is the answer to the problem. He preaches and teaches, instructs and takes a daring leadership role. After months, and sometimes even years, of work... after giving so much of himself to what he believes is in the best interest of the community... after putting so much emphasis on implementing the solution he has lived and sworn by, he stops long enough to look at where things are.

And he is forced to ask himself one significant question: Are things better for us, or worse?

And when he is able to be honest in answering this question, he is forced to reconsider his every intent, his every belief, and the very effort he has put into making things better.

At his emotional core, within his deepest place of personal Spiritual sacredness, the truth shouts loudly for his acknowledgment and dares him to seeing it for what it is. It is a stark contradiction to everything he has given his life to achieve, this noble and needed cause, and it causes a renewed sense of despair to blossom within him.

He is at odds with himself. He fights a battle of competing realities hoping that somehow faith, hope, and belief in his ideals will overcome the feelings of doom, sadness, and hurt that permeates his environs. His thoughts are interwoven within the emotional battle he fights and yet his conscience is disconnected as it regards his inner battle.

In the end he is forced to decide if his actions on behalf of what he knows to be right and relevant for the betterment of his community were “good enough” to make a difference. And the difference that was made... was it the difference he had intended? Or did it end up being too little, too late, and too out of touch with the needs of the community in the present day?

In reading this you might think Mr. Do-Right might throw in the towel and find something else to do if his work and efforts were in vein. Or you might think he was ill-suited to do the work needed to realize success. Still, there are those who might take his current situation as reason to point the finger at him (and/or US) and say: “See, I told you, nobody cares about anything except themselves... better to lookout for number one...”

But as it is, Mr. Do-Right chose to take this moment of inner turmoil as an opportunity for personal growth.

There he sat, alone in his place of sanctuary, seeing for the first time that he was not as successful as he had initially believed possible. His plan, while good, was not good enough. He began to understand his actions were made in a vacuum, a silo, if you will. And he began to question this notion of doing something good for all without the benefit of including others in the formation, development, and implementation of goodwill for the community throughout the process.

Let's call this, Benevolent Foolery.

And so, lesson learned, and now more prepared to do work for the good of our community, Mr. Do-Right begins the process of recreation. He no longer wants to keep his solutions to himself. He no longer thinks only he can do the job, but has come to understand the great and profound gift of community uplifting can only be achieved when the gift is given by community to community.

And some time in his not-too-distant future he, along with other like minded individuals, delivered on the goals and dreams of creating a better community for all.

What a wonderful thing to consider! What a great and glorious picture this paints in our minds...

But wait...

Truth be told we all already know this. In fact, if we would but take a moment and consider ALL the great things our community has ever accomplished, we would begin to see they were all done by like minded individuals who understood the gravity of the situations we face, and who came together in the name of our survival, our community, and our greatness. They were able to put aside their need to have their individual ideas take center stage because they came to understand our true power rests in including EVERY good idea in the solution. And they were able to rally behind the cause of reclaiming our community because the needs of the community will ever be greater than the needs of the individual. We all know the names so I'll not begin naming them...

So today's challenge is quite simple. The decision we must make is quite clear. And the future we will experience is directly related to what we do today. (Fact is, the future of the individual and the collective community will always be linked to decisions made in the present).

We can continue to embrace the theory of Benevolent Foolery, or we can decide its time to work collaboratively to rebuild, reclaim, reaffirm, and – most importantly – redeem our community.