Oh, the humanity

Go into the light

Photo by Matt Collamer on Unsplash

Someone recently asked me why I use quotes from others in my posts and comments on social media.

It is quite simple: I find comfort in them; a connection to what has come before.

It is a solace to me that while what I am thinking, feeling or experiencing may be intimate, it is not unique. There is a commonality to it, a timelessness. Our joys, anxieties, fears, triumphs, and struggles are universal, and transcend the present moment. We are not alone.

We need more and deeper connection to our past. We are, instead, ignoring it, or worse, re-writing, it.

This is to our peril. It is a vicious conundrum that while it is technologically easier to connect with other humans than at any time in history, it has also become harder to engage with others. Thus, we have a loneliness epidemic.

Being alone can be rejuvenating; loneliness is devastating.

“The only way on earth to influence other people is to talk about what they want and show them how to get it.” - Dale Carnegie

For those seeking to foster or maintain relationships with others in and outside of our communities, operating in a cacophony of self-reference makes true connection harder. It makes authenticity harder to recognize and to reward via outreach and patronage. And it disproportionately harms those doing work in the social realm who rely on public support to be able to support and serve those in need.

This is the unfortunate legacy we are building by allowing our culture to fragment into smaller and smaller tribes devoted only to self-interest and interacting in virtual cocoons. It is the place we came from, but we seem to be devolving by disconnecting ourselves from our past and how human progress was made: via personal interaction and cooperation. Our technology-driven fragmentation is dehumanizing, not liberating.

“You have to keep breaking your heart until it opens.”
- Rumi

Non-profit organizations need to raise funds to carry out their missions and are particularly impacted by growing disconnection. When non-profits fail in fulfilling their missions, society at large loses, particularly those people living at the margins. Disinvestment in this work undermines a diverse and vibrant populace.

Peter Drucker once wrote: “The ‘non-profit’ institution neither supplies goods or services not controls. Its "product" is neither a pair of shoes nor an effective regulation. Its product is a changed human being. The non-profit institutions are human-change agents. Their ‘product’ is a cured patient, a child that learns, a young man or woman grown into a self-respecting adult; a changed human life altogether.”

Community and public service is critical to a well-functioning society. We need more service to one another and more individuals and organizations willing to provide it. We need to support the work of our service organizations.

Human connection to service and history: This is how the light gets back in.

“The price of light is less than the cost of darkness.” - Arthur C. Neilson.