Today we wake up to the news in the New York Times that “the House narrowly approved a sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system on Saturday night, advancing legislation that Democrats said could stand as their defining social policy achievement. After a daylong clash with Republicans over what has been a Democratic goal for decades, lawmakers voted 220 to 215 to approve a plan that would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 Years. Democrats said the legislation would provide overdue relief to Americans struggling to buy or hold on to health insurance.”Government always has a way of underestimating how much things will cost. Times Online Feb.08, reported,  “On the eve of Iraqi  war, there were discussions of the likely costs. Larry Lindsey, President Bush’s economic adviser and head of the National Economic Council, suggested that they might reach $200 billion.  Mitch Daniels, the Office of Management and Budget director, and Secretary Rumsfeld estimated the costs in the range of $50 to $60 billion, a portion of which they believed would be financed by other countries. (Adjusting for inflation, in 2007 dollars, they were projecting costs of between $57 and $69 billion.) The tone of the entire administration was cavalier, as if the sums involved were minimal. “ 

Five years later this war is known as the Three Trillion dollar war  blog and video here.

In The Three Trillion Dollar War, book, Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz and Harvard professor Linda J. Bilmes cast a spotlight on expense items that have been hidden from the U.S. taxpayer, including not only big-ticket items like replacing military equipment (being used up at six times the peacetime rate) but also the cost of caring for thousands of wounded veterans—for the rest of their lives. Shifting to a global focus, the authors investigate the cost in lives and economic damage within Iraq and the region. Finally, with the chilling precision of an actuary, the authors measure what the U.S. taxpayer’s money would have produced if instead it had been invested in the further growth of the U.S. economy.

No big right?  A trillion is just the new billion – want to see what a trillion really looks like – check it out here  and here.

Besides all these costs are being “deferred” to future generations.  Maybe apologies are in order before they get stuck with paying our for accumulated debts. Which is worse -  a huge asteroid hitting earth or a debt this size?  Why don’t we focus on paying off our national debt which now stands at over $11 trillion.  That makes each citizen’s share of the national debt $38,400 and rising. Other estimates of $24 trillion, state that the debt is 375% of GDP not including derivatives.  

Also check out IOUSA the movie, which clearly explains the national economic and leadership deficit - as it seems most American’s seem to be in the dark that America may be on the brink of a financial meltdown.  To my knowledge, no nation has attempted to support both a health care system and a military as they typically understand the improbabilities of economic sustainability to do both.  It’s frightening to think that a government lacking in leading by example, basic business sense, economic responsibility and simple foresight would be trying to create and execute health care reform legislation before resolving outstanding financial committments.

Hmm.  Why am I not blogging? What if you were a visionary type / big idea person and what if all your big ideas started happening simultaneously?  What if you started executing your ideas and suddenly found yourself blessed by and surrounded with talented people who wanted to help you implement those ideas and who are on similar journeys?

Suddenly you are an artist /entrepreneur who has become a catalyst, founder, missional entrepreneur and director who needs a COO. You find yourself not only wearing twenty hats but you are suddenly in a number of quickly expanding universes that happen to be converging. Convergence is another word for chaos, complexity and network theories, disruptive innovation or change continuums. You’ve realized and projected yourself into future converging  intersections and as a result, you need to adapt and also try to turn your brain off to go to sleep at night. You neeed to be on multiple learning curves and learn multiple languages given the situation or person you may be working with in the next half an hour will be in a completely different universe or tribe than the one you corresponded with two hours ago.

You need to recruit and figure out how to be sustainable - monitize, subsidise, fundraise, hybridize, continue to innovate and build community. All innovations need to be flexible, unique and holistic because nothing is static but perpetually evolving. You need to be relentless and unreasonable because you are tying to tackle things reasonable people won’t touch or haven’t considered. You need to absorb disappointment and hardships and take responsibility to fill in the gaps when something goes wrong (since much of this came out of your imagination anyway) and so you are on the constant look out for experienced leaders and partners. Building teams with those whom you can trust and depend is key, but building community with people who are also unreasonable and have like passions and mission is essential.  Together, those communities or tribes are changing the world and can produce amazing things.  I guess you could say I’m not blogging but tribing.

I am acquainted with a local family whose son, Eric Volz, is an American citizen whose wrongful imprisonment in Nicaragua made headlines around the world.

In February 2007, Eric was falsely accused of the rape and murder of Doris Jimenez and sentenced to a 30-year prison term. The trial court excluded or discounted iron-clad alibi evidence from 7 independent witnesses who were with him in Managua when the murder occurred in a town two hours away, as well as cell tower and instant messaging records that confirmed his whereabouts.

During Eric’s imprisonment, a massive social media and prayer campaign was launched on his behalf. He was miraculously pardoned and is now dealing with post traumatic stress syndrome, political turmoil around the case, and he is currently an advocate for others in similar situations.

Knowing the hardship his family endured, and yet the freedom they prayed and fought for on their sons behalf is gut wrenching. The story of Current TV journalist’s Laura Ling & Euna Lu hit home not only for this reason but because I know of, and now personally work with people who  put their lives on the line to tell the story of the oppressed in hopes of raising awareness and inspiring advocacy. Such was the case with Laura and Euna, as they were researching a report about women and human trafficking in North Korea, when they were arrested and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for supposed illegal entry into North Korean territory.

Laura and Euna’s plight, which was turning into a 7 month ordeal, was starting to keep me awake at night especially after reading this article by Jeff Jacoby.  I am very relieved and overjoyed that they have returned home safely. Great New York Times article here.   Facebook group / newsfeed and videos here.

The Onion -a fairly demented publication, majoring in irreverant irony, posted an article in their Science and Technology section entitled ” Twitter Creator On Iran: “I Never Intended for Twitter to be Useful” below, refers to how people using Twitter are playing an active role in circulating news and information on the current events in Iran, as the options to transmit communications from within the country are severely restricted:

SAN FRANCISCO—Creator Jack Dorsey was shocked and saddened this week after learning that his social networking device, Twitter, was being used to disseminate pertinent and timely information during the recent civil unrest in Iran. “Twitter was intended to be a way for vacant, self-absorbed egotists to share their most banal and idiotic thoughts with anyone pathetic enough to read them,” said a visibly confused Dorsey, claiming that Twitter is at its most powerful when it makes an already attention-starved populace even more needy for constant affirmation. “When I heard how Iranians were using my beloved creation for their own means—such as organizing a political movement and informing the outside world of the actions of a repressive regime—I couldn’t believe they’d ruined something so beautiful, simple, and absolutely pointless.” Dorsey said he is already working on a new website that will be so mind-numbingly useless that Iranians will not even be able to figure out how to operate it.

For a serious look at citizen journalism, Indymedia, and user generated media, check out my corresponding essay,  “The Rise of IndyMedia.”

 

·         An estimated 143 million children in the developing world are orphans

·         Every day 5,760 more children become orphans, 1,667 under 5 die from malnutrition or preventable disease

·         Every 15 seconds, another child becomes an AID’s orphan in Africa

·         800,000 Ethiopian children are orphans due to AIDS

·         35% of Indians live on less than $1 a day

·         8 out of 10 children in rural Guatemala do not complete primary school

·         15% of children in Sub- Saharan Africa are orphans

·         18 million children in urban India live on the streets

·         1.5 million children in Russia and Central  Europe live in public care

·         150 million children worldwide live and work on the streets

·         87.6 million of Asia’s children are orphans

·         7,000 Columbian children are child soldiers

·         60% orphan girls are lured into prostitution

·         70% orphan boys becomes hardened criminals

·         Orphans throughout the world face the challenges of malnutrition, starvation, abuse, disease, poverty, loss of family, property, forced labour, trafficking, decreased school attendance, and death.

 

To get an idea of how big 143 million is - the entire population of Russia is 145 million. (200 million people worldwide also use social networking sites such as Facebook)  The orphan population is one in a series of issues resulting from poverty and disease.  Looking at some of these stats, how will the growing population of orphaned children effect the future?

 

For the complete story, check out my related articles on this topic, “Let Love Conspire,”   “Wide Horizons for Children” and  “Drawn from Water.”

 

Last week I got called in for jury duty - it was a day of grueling boredom (worse than traffic school) sitting through the selection process of which I was relieved not to be interviewed and thus dismissed.  Don’t get me wrong I value the jury aspect of the judicial system and consider it foundational to many freedoms we enjoy. It also makes me realize how undemocratic some systems many of us participate in really are and how many people within various social and economic structures are unfairly represented.

Totally unrelated, but after wards I came home and was in a state of comatose and could barely move.  Started thinking about my “job descriptions” some self imposed and others not - some inside and others way outside my strength zone, some old and some new - which  I think I will list randomly as a mash up and see how it comes out, so here goes: designer, artist, musician, writer, landscaper, researcher, entrepreneur, 501c3 social entrepreneur, editorial manager, product marketer, mom of a 14 year old boy, chauffeur, wife, cook, domestic, household and property manager, founding director, creative director, exhibition designer, architectural designer, illustrator, idea architect, creative media professional, brand architect, project manager, business development, trends analyst, web, print and media producer, social media strategist, lead editor- collaborative publishing projects, girl geek, lover of justice and liberty, insatiable reader, migrator, inspirator, occasional blogger, business partner, business owner, dog owner, home owner, Murano owner, advocate and partner in global projects regarding women, the fatherless, the oppressed, activist, dreamer, media and grassroots media activist, tribal recruiter, presenter, strategist, optimist, visionary/future (main strength), maximizer, enlightened generalist, counselor, perpetual learner - trying to exercise  my body as well as my mind all equals - either exhausted (no wonder) or exhilarated - maybe living life a little too fully. This may look like total chaos to anyone looking in, and it is, but as past posts indicate - creatives dig (and create) chaos as part of the creative process. Time for some R&R.  If I where to delete one uninspired post on this blog this one would definitely be my first choice.

The best leaders are those who seek the best for those they serve, who define what they are for rather than what they are against, and those who those who empower and inspire.  Great leaders can emerge from either gender or any walk of life and leadership styles vary given a persons temperament and giftings.  Here are a few quotes about leaders:

Lance Secretan
Leadership is not so much about technique and methods as it is about opening the heart. Leadership is about inspiration—of oneself and of others. Great leadership is about human experiences, not processes. Leadership is not a formula or a program, it is a human activity that comes from the heart and considers the hearts of others. It is an attitude, not a routine.

More than anything else today, followers believe they are part of a system, a process that lacks heart. If there is one thing a leader can do to connect with followers at a human, or better still a spiritual level, it is to become engaged with them fully, to share experiences and emotions, and to set aside the processes of leadership we have learned by rote.

Marian Anderson
Leadership should be born out of the understanding of the needs of those who would be affected by it.

Peter F. Drucker
Leadership is not magnetic personality—that can just as well be a glib tongue. It is not “making friends and influencing people”—that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person’s vision to higher sights, the raising of a person’s performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations.

Lao Tzu
A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him….But of a good leader who talks little when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, “We did it ourselves.”

Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men.

Donald H. McGannon
Leadership is action, not position.

Bible - The greatest among you will be servant of all.

I am in the process of launching a few projects. The award winning Wikiklesia Project  is an experiment in on-line collaborative publishing. Wikiklesia may be the world’s first self-perpetuating nomadic business model: raising money for charities - giving voice to emerging writers and artists - generating a continuous stream of new anthologies covering all manner of relevant topics.

Volume One broke new ground as a crowd sourced, collaborative ecclesial publishing model.  Wiki One. Voices of the Virtual World, presented a “far reaching exploration of spiritual journey contextualized within a culture of increasingly immersive technology.”  Wiki Two enlarges the virtual anthology by exploring the rapidly changing perception of women in faith leadership and how their participation will shape the future church.

Can a publishing organization thrive without centralized leadership? Is perpetual, self-organizing book publishing possible? Can literary quality be maintained in a distributed publishing paradigm?  Wikiklesia was created to answer these kinds of questions.  John La Grou (yep we’re married) and Len Hjalmarson launched the first Wikiklesia Project in May 2007 with the following objectives:

• CREATE a self-sustaining, para-ecclesial organization without solidified leadership - a franchise that changes hands as each new project begins.
• GATHER a diverse cross-section of the virtually connected church into a common forum to discuss the most important issues facing contemporary Christianity.
• GIVE voice to emerging writers along side accomplished authors.
• RAISE money for benevolent organization

After the first book is published and in the marketplace, the original editor-facilitators pass their commission to a new crew of editor-facilitators - and on it goes. As a participant in the first project (cover art / animation and prologue) ideas for Volume Two have been brewing for quite some time. I will be participating as production assistant to Peggy Brown and  lead editor along with Ed Brenegar and Julie Bogart. So here goes….the title for volume two:

Taking Flight: Reclaiming the Female Half of God’s Image.  A Journey of Freedom and Reconciliation

Feel free to check out the Wikiklesia website.  If you are interested in submitting a chapter, see submission  guidelines.  We will select fifty of the most visionary and thought provoking articles for a six month interactive publication at Missional Tribe.    

Volume One is at sale at Lulu.com

The cultural divide continues to rage producing bitter waters full of rivalry, rancor, hostility, demonizing, and fault finding. Are the trees growing alongside this stream producing good fruit? 

The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and GOOD FRUITS, unwavering, without hypocrisy (partiality). GOOD FRUITS are referred to as  love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. 

Many are choosing to opt out of the bitter waters.  Early stages of a massive migration are under way. Even though accused as false and apostate by those enmeshed in antagonism, many Christ followers are looking for ways to transcend the divide and pursue paths of service and reconciliation through reaching out and community. They realize that this comes through humility, courage, patience, and practice, all which BTW produces good fruit. The focus is on action and attitudes of service, not necessarily issues.   

Love casts out fear and opportunities for fresh expressions of faith abound. A recent series of articles capture brief snapshots of ideological flux and possible shifts that may or may not occur within “evangelicalism” in the west:

Michael Spenser predicts the “Collapse of Evangelicalism” in the Christian Science Monitor     

Further commentary  confirming these observations  in Newsweek;  “The Decline and Fall of Christian America” by Jon Meacham (I’ve never been one to read or trust Newsweek)

Troy Jackson sees fresh streams and fruit springing from the margins:   “The Collapse of Evangelicalism?”  in Sojourners.

Craig Detweiller writes “The End of Christian America: a Way Forward.”  Craig notes, “Co-exist doesn’t mean setting aside our beliefs, but finding enough common ground to allow us all to worship in peace. On this Good Friday, we must recognize that Jesus was killed by religious violence. He threatened the established political and religious order. His radical life and teaching caused those in power to panic, to practice injustice to preserve their position. Following the way of the cross involves laying down our arms.”

All dovetailing viewpoints, each with a different perspective.  No one knows the possible outcomes, although we all try to hit the fast forward button. Hesitant to jump on a bandwagon for the music – I prefer to run ahead and check out the road and the destinations.  Is it a dead end, what are the pitfalls, will it lead off a cliff, and most importantly, what are the converging global forces or scenerios? Some streams lead to political streams which can be fatally polluted.

The theme for Good Friday is the cycle of death giving way to new life.  I’m very optimistic and consider the roads of diplomacy, mercy and reconciliation without compromising good fruit, worth traveling.

A few years ago I was in an art museum in Seattle.  The piece that captivated my imagination, and now that I think about it, the only piece I clearly remember, was a wall sized collage of refuse art from Africa.  The main theme was a collection of discarded beer bottle caps that had been masterfully woven together with other types of discarded materials. The texture, design and colors were astonishingly gorgeous. I spent more time absorbing it than most the other pieces in the museum. 
Recently, I am revisiting a metaphor of broken and stained glass in terms of refuse art.

When looking in the glass do we see our true identity or do we see illusions about ourselves that have subtly crept into our lives especially in terms of how we compare ourselves to others. And are we focused on our self image- how we appear to others or focused on our inner man or woman and how we appear to God.  The colorless narcissistic view sees only self and rejects reflections of others that are not identical to their own. Applied to a social group, narcissism is sometimes used to denote elitism or an indifference to the plight or concerns of others.

Often life circumstances are like a glass cutter, cutting deeply through our self image and ego, we suddenly find ourselves broken and shattered. We no longer fit the image of a person or group that makes up our identity and we are denoted as worthless and ruined. People typically avoid circumstances that may pose the risk of pain or rejection – the personal and group image must be maintained at all costs. Sometimes the circumstances cannot be avoided.

For that which was used or broken is thought to be worthless and collected for the dump.  But the hands of the master Designer tenderly scoop up the broken, discarded pieces, and caringly mixes them all together with infinite amounts of color, fashioning them into a living mosaic with other broken pieces and ultimately into a radiating non static stained glass with living stories to tell.  (People in the original stained glass era were illiterate and relied on stained glass to tell Biblical stories)

Lord,  let me be an instrument of peace and gather that which has been broken and thrown away by those who seem to have it all together.  It’s time to fashion something beautiful and meaningful out of that which has been discarded and shattered, that your light may shine through and illuminate stories of brokenness and redeeming value.