I can’t avoid understating, when I say that we are living in unusual times right now. First, since about March, we have been addressing the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. For some, this has included stay-at-home orders; unemployment, layoff, furlough or working from home; and experiencing various degrees of limits on where we can go.

Then, in the last few weeks, we have the additional situation of peaceful protests, rioting and looting set off by the recent murders of African-Americans Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and, most recently, George Floyd. In the Arbery and Floyd cases, we have video of the respective incidents, so we are able to see what happened. For the Taylor incident, we rely on the conflicting accounts between law enforcement present and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, whose own case was dropped. While some of us might not agree with how the rage from these past and present incidents was expressed, we should be able to agree that these types of incidents shouldn’t happen, particularly against African-Americans.

Looking Back Over One Year

At the end of this month, it will be one year, since I started this blog. Let me share some observations.

When I started this blog, it was because of my continuing passion for helping others to improve themselves. I was already in my own journey and would come across resources that I felt were worth sharing. For so long, I recommended books, podcasts, articles and other resources. I missed writing and I knew that a blog would be a way to reach a wider audience. As a result, starting this blog seemed like a no brainier.

Fast forward to the last month or so, as I published my last few posts, I could see that our world was changing. I consider myself pretty aware of what’s going on, even before the unrest. While I will never stop writing about self-improvement, I saw that I couldn’t stand by without writing about present events. While I feel strongly about maximizing our potential, I, also, feel strongly about justice (giving deserved punishment or reward). According to my values, justice is foundationally important. For me to not pivot would mean pretending that nothing was going on. Anybody that has watched the news, even for a few moments, knows that THIS ISN’T TRUE.

Huh?

It has been both sad and frustrating to read mine and others’ social media feeds and see what can be loosely defined as conversations, where there are people that just don’t comprehend what is going on. For some, I think that it’s a flat out refusal (flat-out not caring). For others, I think that they don’t yet have the tools to process events, digest them and take action. In either case, the responses can be completely off-base; based on few, significant concrete facts; and/or, built solely on emotion and opinion.

I have heard many African-American people say that they’re sick and tired (paraphrase) of telling others what to do. What I imagine is that they have literally had the same conversations over and over again. While they may have been with different people, they’re still the same ones and with no tangible change in sight.

As I took a break from writing this post, I think that I was able to wrap my head around this frustration. I thought about a post or a fragment from a book on self-improvement that very well illustrates the point. The paraphrase goes something like this:

• Person that aspires to be “successful” goes up to a speaker to “ask for advice.” Essentially, they are asking, “How are you able to do what you do?”

• Speaker clearly, simply sketches out a plan. Everything is CLEARLY EXPLAINED short of yelling, “THIS IS WHAT YOU NEED TO DO.”

• Striver promised, “Ok. I promise that I’ll do ‘it.’”

• Striver returns to see the speaker, who asks, “So how’s everything going?”

• Striver said, “Well…I had to do X. I didn’t have Y.”

• Speaker realizes, “They didn’t do anything that I said…Great.” Speaker isn’t a total jerk, so they say, “It was good talking to you. Good luck with everything.”

So imagine that you were an African-American, who’s been repeatedly asked what to do but their audience hasn’t really “done their homework.” Nothing has been read. Nothing has been donated (if asking where do donate money). NOTHING has been done. WHY SHOULD THEY CARE ANYMORE?

Where Are You?

A few days ago, I happened to listen to an Instagram video that Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson posted. I don’t think that it has an official title, but I’ll call it “Where Are You?” based on this mantra that he repeated throughout the flowing eight minute clip. If you haven’t seen it, click on the above link.

I took the time to list a few of the takeaways or direct quotes from the video:

• “Where are you? Where is our leader?”

• We, as a country, are begging and pleading for change.

• "Stand up because I got you. I hear you. I'm listening to you. I will do everything that I can to create the change that is needed to normalize equality." This action is the opposite of the striver’s empty words.

• "Of course, I believe that all lives matter. EQUALITY for all." I feel that all lives matters is the end goal. However, as The Rock said, “Equality for all” would be necessary for this to happen, which it hasn’t yet. Additionally, it’s a convenient statement that writes off the issues that still persist for African-Americans.

• "When you reach out to Americans that are in pain, they stand with you...The entire country stands and rises as well."

• "You would be surprised how people in pain would respond, when you say, 'I care about you.'"

• "As we wait for that leader to emerge..., I recommend that we become the leaders that we are looking for. We become our own leaders."

While the first part (the largest part) was a call to action to our current leaders and suggested possible tactics, the last statement hit me the hardest. Why don’t we become what we are looking for? If we don’t find adequate leadership, then how can we step up? I thought to myself that there’s more that we can do on both small and large scales. Like the striver, we just haven’t. I know that I need to do more.

Here and Now

So from where I was when I started this blog almost one year ago (at month’s end) to where we now are, I feel that I need to slightly pivot and discuss contemporary issues. Again, I am not disregarding self-improvement because I feel that it’s a great tool that can be used toward implementing long overdue changes. By implementing these changes, reform can take place and, then, they will negate the need for further peaceful protests on these issues.

Starting with “Hello World” nearly one year ago, I have always made suggestions and brought up questions, but I respect you enough not to tell you what to do or how to think. I believe that any of us should be open to examining our thinking to find what is wrong or no longer applies. At this time, I feel that it’s vitally important to find our thinking that is wrong, see how we can remove those components from our operating system and work to do better. In thinking like this, here is where self-improvement and thinking about our contemporary issues can intersect.

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