Leadership Priorities: Thinking Social Change
Can you remember a time when a sudden crisis sent you reeling? Was it the death of a loved one, a car accident, ravages from a hurricane or forest fire?
Maybe it was losing your house, a diagnosis of cancer, or learning your company had gone belly up and you no longer had a job.
Sudden change is often frightening and painful. Loss of control, loss of a dream, loss of finances; we are left feeling naked and helpless. That is what so many have told me about their memory of September 11, 2001. The world changed for everyone in this country, around the world, and we have yet to recover, to find our sea-legs.
We did the memorials, the remembering. Yet, most of us are still left with that sense of dread, of when will it happen again? We have not truly healed. We are locked in fear, and those who sell fear are making a fortune on their radio and television shows.
When fear and stress hit the hot button we all revert to ingrained, childhood patterns of response for security and survival. Yes, we really do come to believe the boogey man will get us. We lock our doors and attempt to hide from the meanness and badness “out there”.
Here are some thoughts to ponder: As a society we are a whole, organic system. We are learning about that as we struggle with the impact of climate change. It affects all of us, there is nowhere to hide. Now, think about a forest fire. It is scary while it is burning. Yet, in the process of healing itself once the fire is out, there is a renewed richness to the earth and the forest changes to a different place. Do you know anyone who has had a stroke? The human body is able to forge new neuronal pathways and many can relearn to speak and walk.
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