#287: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY
COMMUNITY
“…all life is interrelated…”
…Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
There is so much possible to say today.
A few thoughts came to mind, including that perhaps I might make way such that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day sits next to Thanksgiving as my favorite holiday. Currently, I have no rituals or traditions on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day to celebrate. Maybe this writing is a start.
I am going to mix a few humanity ideas with business ideas — and isn’t it odd that I would even consider for a moment that business could be separated from humanity?
I am going to start and then end (for today) with the idea of community – which IS one of our 11 Unavoidable Ideas of business and also a pretty key part of humanity, huh?
“Observation #1: Social issues don’t become stock market issues until they become business issues…"
“Observation #2: We are seeing social and business issues melding toward one…”
A daily writing I received from a group led by Richard Rohr today highlighted a specific part of a 1967 Christmas Day sermon from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“Now, let me suggest first that, if we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. . . . We must develop a world perspective. No individual can live alone; no nation can live alone, and as long as we try, the more we are going to have war in this world. . . .
It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. We are made to live together because of the interrelated structure of reality.”
I think of this at several levels…
#1 “…ALL LIFE IS INTERRELATED…” = COMMUNITY… When humans truly get behind this idea that “all life is interrelated” to whatever extent they do then “Community” can occur. Mainly, we are exceptional at resisting this idea much beyond the social norm of “family”. Vietnamese Monk Thich Nhat Hahn liked to use an example of a human hammering a nail. When the right-hand hammering slips and misses the nail and instead hits the left-hand causing pain, the right-hand instantly comforts the pain in the left-hand and the left-hand doesn’t spend time blaming the right because both the right-hand and left-hand experience themselves as one.
#2 RELATIONSHIP BEYOND MERE CONNECTION: Going forward I am going to distinguish between “connected/connection” with “relationship”. All “connection” means to me is that the apparatus now in place for the inter-relatedness Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of is now far far more powerful than it was in 1967. Quantum change. Different world. But connection without “relationship” doesn’t mean anything – truly doesn’t mean anything at all -- in terms of the advancement of our species.
#3 SMALL CIRCLES – BRIDGES – THE BIG CIRCLE: A lot of the hard work in advancing our species will be done among one’s most trusting small circle of 3-4 people where vulnerability can leap and we can advance our minds. And the impact of that vulnerable work with one’s intimate circle is that when we each – somewhat courageously -- then go out to 7billion people, we can form greater relationship with, which might be defined as including more empathy, compassion, patience, generosity, kindness, sense of commonality… …and routinized gestures of love which spread and spread. “Bridges” are people working to generate relationship (not mere connection) between intimate groups of 3-4 and the far wider world.
#4 INEQUALITY: VAST IMPACT: “Inequality” as an Unavoidable Idea for business and investing…. “Inequality” is now experienced by the vast majority of humans at different moments through distinct experiences and lenses. Cornerstones of inequality have included race, ethnicity, religion, gender (being a woman), sexual orientation, and lower economic strata. They continue to be (sadly). The varying forms of anger in which many many people and groups have felt excluded or abused by current social or business systems will be vast. Key aspects of the Internet (e.g. aspects of social networking) have likely accelerated the experience and damage. Inequality is not a quickly “satisfied” complaint. There isn’t a tax rate or a board diversity ratio that makes it all better. It is a wide social complaint that will be expressed in many business settings.
#5 GLOBAL COMMUNITY: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s framing of community I find awesome – and I am learning to relegate that word “awesome” but here it fits for me. “All life is inter-related”. I am with that. So… recently I heard a discussion of what the “new American story” was? The participants had suggested that “exodus” had been one key “American story”, but it no longer fit and it wasn’t clear what the new one was.
I have TWO thoughts:
#5. PART A AMERICAN STORY: DISTORTED Whatever we considered the prior American story, I suspect it was a nice singular reductionist “story” that likely did not connect with many many Americans! I was taught by the first CEO of Cisco Systems to be careful that “He [The person] who controls the power points, controls the discussion.” In this case, I think the interpreters of the “American story” were only including a portion of that story.
#5. PART B THE GLOBAL STORY IS THE STORY: With “Community” in mind, I think perhaps the focus is off in looking for a new “American story”. The story is “global”. This transition perhaps could be demarcated to when we sent humans into space and they saw one globe and it gave them shivers. They saw the whole in a way we haven’t. We could also demarcate the QUANTUM CHANGE in the Internet, which started “connecting” computers and the humans that created them all over the planet. Seven billion people have experienced a common global pandemic of epic proportions that reveals our interconnectedness and similarities and dissimilarities, all in one 24-month period. Seven billion people are simultaneously looking into the teeth of a potential monster called climate change. If we used to think that something like the Olympics brought us together, well, it was a good start but we need nothing to bring us together because we clearly live in one house. There will still be localized stories and I love that!!!! I don’t want a homogenized planet. But localized stories are clearly child’s play in an interconnected world. I think our success will “simply” link to the degree we convert “connection” to “relationship”.
Happy Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. An incredible opportunity to celebrate the miraculous capacity for all us humans to heal with one another and advance much much further in relationship.
“We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness…”…Thich Nhat Hahn
“Everyone is in heaven when he or she has plenty of room for communion and no need for exclusion. The more room you have to include, the bigger your heaven will be…”
…Richard Rohr
“Sometimes, I am also identified as a civil rights leader or a human rights activist. I would also like to be thought of as a complex, three-dimensional, flesh-and-blood human being with a rich storehouse of experiences, much like everyone else, yet unique in my own way, much like everyone else…”
…Coretta Scott King