“That’s just the way the world is.”
You go to your job whether you like it or not. You pay your taxes. You send your kids to school. You buy a house. You carry credit card and student loan debt. You hear about wars on the news. You prepare for retirement.
Wait, but why? Who’s authoring this script? Why not build savings and pay off debt? Why not start a business? Why not take a year off (18 min.)? Why not do what you love and never officially retire? Why not consider new possibilities?
A similar mindset translates to the notion that it’s necessary to treat/view children in particular ways. “It’s a rough world. We need to teach them to listen to their elders, to disregard their individual needs, to toughen up, so that they can survive in the real world.”
How about creating a new real world?
The real, adult world is simply an outgrowth of how children are treated. If we evolve paradigms in parenting and education, the future can be dramatically better. But we have to play the long game. We have to believe it’s actually possible to live in a world without violence, without coercion, a world with respect, mutuality, rationality, trust, joy, harmony.
Why accept the status quo?
What’s exciting is that I sense it changing already. Go listen to the Isaac Morehouse podcast and get inspired. Like Isaac’s apprenticeship program for young people, as an option outside higher education, more and more possibilities are springing up via the creative economy. The world has changed significantly in the last 10 years. What can you or I create over the next 25?
When I consider a healthier, happier world, I’m not describing a world without conflict, without challenges, without adversity. Those are certainly aspects of life (how would we derive meaning and fulfillment without embracing challenges?). What I am saying is, you are an individual, and you are worthy of creating your unique story.
I don’t have all the answers myself, but I think I’m asking the right questions.
Cheers,
Joel
