One Day or Day One: You Decide –A Maze or Amazing?
We have a choice about how we take what happens to us in our life and whether or not we allow it to turn us. We can become consumed by hate and darkness, or we’re able to regain our humanity somehow, or come to terms with things and learn something about ourselves.
— Angelina Jolie
You might start your journey in the southwest United States in a dusty town called Why, Arizona. Heading cross-country would take you through Uncertain, Texas. Bearing northeast, you’d make a rest stop in Dismal, Tennessee. Ultimately, you’d reach your destination—Panic, Pennsylvania. It’s a bit more of a drive, but another six hours by car would take you from the town of Panic to the place known as Assurance, West Virginia. These are real places across the landscape of America, though not likely a trip you’d ever choose to take.
Much like our decade-plus journey to rediscover humanity at its best, the above trip follows a road less traveled, with a “maze” of an itinerary, taking us from uncertainty to assurance around every bend. Some folks have joined us, grabbing the wheel and accelerating into a better world. Others have slammed on the brakes or veered off the road, not wishing to venture beyond the status quo. Along the way, we’ve learned a lot. We’ve learned that it’s not about cheering from the sidelines. It’s about each of us grabbing the wheel and doing what we can to navigate a better path as individuals and as a global community, effecting real change. We’ve learned that we all have to lift our eyes higher than our circumstances, higher than the trials and tribulations around us, looking up versus down and looking forward with hope. And most importantly, we’ve learned the importance of actually walking the talk, as best captured here by Carl Jung;
You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.
We’re Social Beings, and Isolation Changed Us
The pandemic loosened ties between people: Kids stopped going to school; their parents stopped going to work; parishioners stopped going to church; people stopped gathering, in general. Sociologists think all of this isolation shifted the way we behave. “We’re more likely to break rules when our bonds to society are weakened,” said Robert Sampson, a Harvard sociologist who studies social disorder “When we become untethered, we tend to prioritize our own private interests over those of others or the public.” The turn-of-the-20th-century scholar Émile Durkheim called this state anomie or a lack of social norms that leads to lawlessness. “We are moral beings to the extent that we are social beings,”
We’ve reached a proverbial “tipping point” where bad behavior, rudeness, disrespect, carelessness, rightfighting, and disorderly, unhinged, uncivilized conduct are fast becoming the acceptable social norm. Say the wrong word and our hypersensitivity triggers middle school behavior, tantrums, or physical violence.
What Now?
What on earth is happening? Are we all overwhelmed and stressed out? Why are we all teetering at our breaking point? Whether it be the tipping point or a breaking point, consider it the starting point from which we can CHOOSE to chart a new and better path … Forget rebuilding old bridges. Forget fixing what’s broken. We can do better together. It’s time to rise above it all and forge our own path. … A path where humans really do come first. Led by a compass embracing the greater good of mankind and built upon a firm foundation of absolute values. NEW bridges, supported by the eight pillars of joy, starting with the 4 pillars of the mind —perspective, humility, humor, and acceptance, coupled with the four pillars of the heart —forgiveness, gratitude, compassion, and generosity.
Forget the headlines and get off the sidelines. It’s not about me or you, it’s about US. It’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong. It’s time to open the door to MORE … More empathy, more compassion, more gratitude, more humility, more listening, more constructive conversations, more purpose, more curiosity, more belonging, more forgiveness, and more willingness to seek understanding and enlightenment. It’s time to rise above the narrow confines of our individual perspectives by recognizing that our humanity is bound together with each other. Don’t wait for tomorrow. Don’t wait for permission. Don’t wait for someone else to take the lead. Just grab the humanity baton and run with it, starting right here and right now. 
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“The story of humanity is not a story of a few people who had huge, gigantic effects on the world. That’s only the story we hear, because it’s the easy story to tell. Caring for ourselves and other people is the only thing that has ever mattered to the future of our species.”
Let’s stop the insanity. We know better. We are better. We can do better together. And we can do more not someday or one day, but starting right now. It’s time to own it. It’s time to move beyond self-preservation, choosing instead the greater good. There are two ways to navigate your life. As if it’s a maze. Or as if it’s amazing. We invite you to join us by making today your amazing DAY ONE.
