Month: October 2015

An element of my pastor’s sermon this Sunday was interdependence. Our culture puts more emphasis on being right than on effectiveness. Today I witnessed several discussions which were focusing on one liners and zingers, not on dialog and engagement. There was no respect, no interest in the other side’s opinion, except as something to pull apart and deride.  Out of all the elements, though, it’s the disrespect that bothers me the most.

American culture heavily values the individual, to the detriment of society. We have lost our valuation for interdependence, assuming we ever had that to begin with. All out culture’s problems require us to work together. Our ability to collaborate will determine our species’ survival. No pressure.

For most of my adult life, I’ve felt pulled to choose a specialty. And I’ve tried, dozens, maybe hundreds of times. As each time has resulted in failure, I realized, some time ago, that my varied and rich perspective is a valuable thing. Oddly, I never really considered my multi-faceted focus to be a good thing, just that good things had come from this. I admired the great work done by the specialists and really only saw myself supporting that work. Not that I had a creative and powerful perspective to add. However, after this TEDTalk, I see otherwise.

Ms. Warnick talks of multipotentialites, people with a variety of interests and passions. These people work those into skills. Something richer than simply generalists supporting the more valuable specialists. People whose brains work like mine. And, most importantly (to me at least) that this is good. That we have a great deal to offer the world. Considering the multi-faceted issues that our world faces, we have a particularly critical viewpoint to offer.

So, I offer you this video. One that has transformed my personal view of the world, my life and my definition of my “life’s work”.