Appreciate the Hercules gif. Honestly, pretty underrated film from the Disney Renaissance.
I think this post highlights the importance of the oral tradition. How we as a species began relaying our beliefs traditions and values from generation to generation. Stories are powerful, and as you highlight, it’s important for us to learn how to tell them for ourselves. In our house, we love love love books that take classic tales – whether from the Bible, Greek Mythology, US History, and more – and articulates them for our kids in a way that is fun, but also engaging and educational. Watching them make real world connections to their lives is incredibly special.
This was an amazing collection of articles. The article about reentering society is especially poignant.
"Quarantine has given us all time and solitude to think—a risk for any individual, and a threat to any status quo. People have gotten to have the experience—some of them for the first time in their life—of being left alone, a luxury usually unavailable even to the wealthy. Relieved of the deforming crush of financial fear, and of the world’s battering demands and expectations, people’s personalities have started to assume their true shape. And a lot of them don’t want to return to wasting their days in purgatorial commutes, to the fluorescent lights and dress codes and middle-school politics of the office. Service personnel are apparently ungrateful for the opportunity to get paid not enough to live on by employers who have demonstrated they don’t care whether their workers live or die. More and more people have noticed that some of the basic American axioms—that hard work is a virtue, productivity is an end in itself—are horseshit. I’m remembering those science-fiction stories in which someone accidentally sees behind the facade of their blissful false reality to the grim dystopia they actually inhabit."
This to me is the key difference as to why our pandemic is such a cultural shift, unlike the previous one - we were still able to be productive and work from home, or at least adapt with knowledge of how to properly stay safe. We are informed daily of current statistics, and how the people in power are both supporting and failing us. We have a broader view from a narrower vantage, and it's making people much more aware of the issues existent in our current systems. This is why BLM, AAPI, LGBT+, wage gaps, and a lot of other significant social and political issues aren't simply acknowledged briefly as they had been in the past, but are more directly addressed. People are coming from a place of comfort where they can complain about it, and then act. But moving from all of that back into the came societal structures we had built beforehand... that's a tough sell.
Thank you Kay. That's so true. It's a conversation I've been having with friends for the last two weeks. How do we protect ourselves as we go back into the world now? How do we make sure life doesn't go back to how it was before. I think setting better boundaries and saying "no" to more (even when your ego tells you to say yes) is going to be a superpower for the next year (and maybe even further).
Indeed. Learning to say no, stopping yourself from apologizing so much, and generally having stronger boundaries and work/life balance I think are skills that, while very challenging to acquire, can eventually lead to a more satisfied and effective workforce.
Great read once again, Kevin. The power of stories is what builds a better community is what builds a better society.
Also started reading the Daily Stoic this year. A few minutes every morning to read and usually set a daily intention based on it. Not a surprise we named our project after a daily entry mentioned the concept of proper actions (kathēkon).
Kevin - really enjoying the newsletter. Thanks for this!
Appreciate the Hercules gif. Honestly, pretty underrated film from the Disney Renaissance.
I think this post highlights the importance of the oral tradition. How we as a species began relaying our beliefs traditions and values from generation to generation. Stories are powerful, and as you highlight, it’s important for us to learn how to tell them for ourselves. In our house, we love love love books that take classic tales – whether from the Bible, Greek Mythology, US History, and more – and articulates them for our kids in a way that is fun, but also engaging and educational. Watching them make real world connections to their lives is incredibly special.
This was an amazing collection of articles. The article about reentering society is especially poignant.
"Quarantine has given us all time and solitude to think—a risk for any individual, and a threat to any status quo. People have gotten to have the experience—some of them for the first time in their life—of being left alone, a luxury usually unavailable even to the wealthy. Relieved of the deforming crush of financial fear, and of the world’s battering demands and expectations, people’s personalities have started to assume their true shape. And a lot of them don’t want to return to wasting their days in purgatorial commutes, to the fluorescent lights and dress codes and middle-school politics of the office. Service personnel are apparently ungrateful for the opportunity to get paid not enough to live on by employers who have demonstrated they don’t care whether their workers live or die. More and more people have noticed that some of the basic American axioms—that hard work is a virtue, productivity is an end in itself—are horseshit. I’m remembering those science-fiction stories in which someone accidentally sees behind the facade of their blissful false reality to the grim dystopia they actually inhabit."
This to me is the key difference as to why our pandemic is such a cultural shift, unlike the previous one - we were still able to be productive and work from home, or at least adapt with knowledge of how to properly stay safe. We are informed daily of current statistics, and how the people in power are both supporting and failing us. We have a broader view from a narrower vantage, and it's making people much more aware of the issues existent in our current systems. This is why BLM, AAPI, LGBT+, wage gaps, and a lot of other significant social and political issues aren't simply acknowledged briefly as they had been in the past, but are more directly addressed. People are coming from a place of comfort where they can complain about it, and then act. But moving from all of that back into the came societal structures we had built beforehand... that's a tough sell.
Thank you Kay. That's so true. It's a conversation I've been having with friends for the last two weeks. How do we protect ourselves as we go back into the world now? How do we make sure life doesn't go back to how it was before. I think setting better boundaries and saying "no" to more (even when your ego tells you to say yes) is going to be a superpower for the next year (and maybe even further).
Indeed. Learning to say no, stopping yourself from apologizing so much, and generally having stronger boundaries and work/life balance I think are skills that, while very challenging to acquire, can eventually lead to a more satisfied and effective workforce.
Great read once again, Kevin. The power of stories is what builds a better community is what builds a better society.
Also started reading the Daily Stoic this year. A few minutes every morning to read and usually set a daily intention based on it. Not a surprise we named our project after a daily entry mentioned the concept of proper actions (kathēkon).
I truly look forward to your email. Thank you!