It is Monday, you are sitting down reading through the email, maybe having a cup of coffee. Many people today scroll through video reels or look towards other distractions as they go about their day. The added complexity of the world becomes so weighted that we as human beings default to abstract and very simple thinking.
The very things that make us kind, caring, compassionate, and human are the same things that make us dangerous and savage. Our words, our perception, our assumptions, our abstractness. We have the ability and desire to simplify things to an extent which brings us to a conclusion. It is a stack of rules, laws, personal boundaries and direction by G-d. We are all loved and at the same time, we are all in line for tragedy or salvation. The human world can assure tragedy, while our spirited selves’ rustle with the idea of something more beyond this world.
I’ll admit something to you here. I realize that I am talking to a very small community of people. I don’t mean because the writing doesn’t blaze across TikTok. I mean because for those that will read, only a few will understand or care. Even less of you will take action in your own lives but it only takes one person to change the world. The one person can be you.
What is happening in America today reminds me of what happened to Marie Antoinette. The information provided to the public drove a propaganda machine which led to her end. At 12:15 PM, Marie Antoinette stepped onto the scaffold to meet Charles-Henri Sanson, the same executioner who had beheaded her husband. In what would become her defining moment of grace under pressure, she accidentally stepped on Sanson’s foot while climbing the scaffold. Her final words were a testament to her upbringing and character: “Pardon me, sir, I did not mean to do it” or “Pardonnez-moi, monsieur, je ne l’ai pas fait exprès”
We are all expected to find grace in our demise. After the blade fell, Sanson held up her head to the roaring crowd, which shouted “Vive la République!” Her body was thrown into an unmarked grave in the Madeleine cemetery, but not before Madame Tussaud was able to make a wax impression of her face during the lunch break of the gravediggers.
There it is, it is that simple. We are living in a modern era where cognitive dissonance is the mechanism for our shift. If we couldn’t write enough, we have machines to do the writing for us. If we get frustrated, we can easily turn to our fears, our hate, our anger.
In athletics, many experts in the sport don’t actually play the sport. They have influence over the community, they understand the mechanics and the math, but they don’t bleed and sweat from sunup to practice. They don’t know the endurance and the mental model it takes to be that athlete. They don’t know what motivation is required to be in this league and category. Yet, they assume a great deal of authority and with all the days, weeks, hours and years of work, they the people who judge make the call and change lives.
The architect of Marie Antoinette’s ultimate demise is nameless. We know the history of her life, we know the truth, we now know the lies. In simple terms, the same people who are nameless judges, these same people who can make or break the stars of today are the people who put her to death. Her last living act was a simple natural demonstration of her training. As it doesn’t make logic sense to apologize to a person about to murder you in cold blood.
Maybe?
If you want to change the world. You have to examine your life, your station and your desire. What is it that you want to accomplish? Is it for legacy? Is it for fame? Is it for your children? Is it for yourself? Do you want enduring change? Do you want 15 minutes? All of it is possible.
Most of us are truly the lamb. We kindly offer up our bones and blood as an offering to our judges. For people of faith, it may be easier because they believe firmly in redemption and heaven. The outward confidence and affirmations of these people allow many of us to be influenced and persuaded towards some direction. All religions, even those of us that claim direction from the universe are bound by the invisible rules and laws that we place upon ourselves. These allow us to live with each other.
The same rules stop many of us from doing the things we consider wrong while others violate these boundaries. A few thoughts for you to consider please.
Influence and persuasion are mechanisms of credibility that drive human behavior. When I have enough information about the topic, the sport, the thing, even if I am wrong, I can participate in some way. The allowance of participation helps establish my place in a community.
My assertion and standing in the community, along with the energy I put in and my desire is the mechanism for influence and change. Even if there is a perception that one person can alone change the world, the truth is much more complex. A person working in a basement creating a world changing technology still requires resources. No person resides outside our matrix.
We can rip at the concepts I’ve shared today in more depth but the key factors to consider here are:
- The people in focus and visible are normally not the people embedded in driving or owning the system and environment in which they operate.
- We live and die by our community and network. Our community can uplift us and provide us with great opportunities, or it can have our heads. While we personally may maintain grace, the end result is independent of our individual actions given this outcome.
- None of us is alone and at the same time, we alone can choose actions which may, can and will have an impact on all of us. We are in a system of systems with infinite permutations of actions to outcomes.
Finally, I am reminded to share with you, that we are not in a chess game and even if you are a chess master, your actions and thinking are not consistent with the reality of the world you are living in. Human beings are not chess pieces and the net outcome of you believing that you are a mastermind will bring you many lessons.
You have already changed the world by living in it. You can further change the world by deciding where you want to drive your ideas. Your ideas can only become successful through some form of community and support. The people who may help you get there aren’t the superstars, they aren’t the ones in the light, they are the people behind the people through layers and layers of relationships. Your network, connections and community are the fundamental key to your changing the world.
