How to Adopt a Mindset of Personal Responsibility
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Nov 20, 2008
Clearly we can not expect to approach the amount of change we currently face by relying on our old way of thinking about things. Our old mindset is no longer working.
Everywhere you turn, there is talk of change. I even started off planning on writing about this upcoming change. That’s when it occurred to me. I was surprised to find that everything I was writing down, regarding change, could just as appropriately be grouped under a heading of “personal responsibility”.
So, below is a list of eight observations about the kind of a mindset that I believe we will need to adopt in order to learn from our past and to successfully navigate the upcoming structural changes we all will be (or already are) facing.
Why I Blog
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Nov 8, 2008
More and more, we see and hear about social media, social networking sites, and micro-blogging tools. You probably heard about how the current election was impacted (some even say won) by the grassroots efforts of social networking strategies.
Amid all of this social media enthusiasm, there have also been recent reports about how the older forms of Web 2.0, namely, blogging, is dead or at least dying. This has prompted some to wonder if we should be dropping the old tools for the new.
Election Day is Just One of Many Decisions
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Nov 4, 2008
Election Day is just one day. One Day that has been a long time coming. One that will soon be here and will soon be gone. But is it an end or a beginning? Either way, many will say that it will be another four years before they get their chance to vote again. But, that isn’t quite true.
The General Election is no doubt a very important decision day. Yet it need not be a once-every-four-years event. This election period has been one of the longest and most polarizing in a long time. Combine that with the current financial crisis and the recent bailout package, one good thing that has happened is that people have again found their voice. Current technology is making it so much easier to get information, to organize a collective voice, and to get those voices heard. Keeping informed on the issues and participating to our government in any way that we can (including writing to our representatives) is something we can and should continue to do, Election Year or not.
Positively Realistic
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Oct 25, 2008
Does having a positive outlook during tough times really change anything? Granted that a positive attitude alone doesn’t change anything (i.e., it is just one ingredient in the equation), yet I do believe that not having a positive outlook will certainly make the struggle to dig yourself out of trouble much harder than necessary, too.
Clearly, choosing to be stressed, resentful and angry isn’t going to help you. In good times or bad, being negative will almost always make things more difficult than need be, both in the short- and long-run, i.e., by likely affecting our health (e.g., diet, sleep-patterns, blood-pressure levels, etc.), the quality of the decisions we make , the options we perceive being available to us, as well as the quality of our relationships with the people around us.
Lessons Learned from Blog Action Day 2008
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Oct 15, 2008
Blog Action Day 2008 has finally arrived! What a great campaign this has been. There was an appropriate amount of reminders to raise awareness, to keep the issue of Poverty top of mind, and to focus on the “Action” part of the event.
Here are three things that stood out for me in the months leading up to today’s “Blog Action Day”:
(1) From the folks behind “Blog Action Day”, there was a steady, yet appropriate, amount of buzz, a.k.a., reminders, in various online mediums, focusing not just on the upcoming event date but also on providing easy-to-consume resources as well as telling compelling stories of what people were actually doing for the event. This really kept the issue top-of-mind over a longer period of time (several months if I recall correctly) yet without being overly intrusive or annoying. All causes should be about more than just a one-day drive-by type of activity.
(2) And, what great timing for this Day, too. Had you also heard the great news announced last week regarding aid for poverty-stricken countries? I was so glad to hear that amid the uncertain financial turmoil that the developing countries are now facing, and especially considering the man-made nature of this occurrence, that despite that, the World Bank and the IMF had unanimously agreed ”that as governments turn their attention to domestic matters, they do not step back from their commitment to provide billions in aid to poor countries.” I think we can take a lesson from this, perhaps that even in bad times, we need to remember that there are always those less fortunate than ourselves.
(3) I was also amazed to find out that there are so many different ways people can really ”do” something about poverty. You must check out the awesome list on BlogActionDay.org under their Action Blog entitled: ”88 Ways to DO Something About Poverty Right Now“. Making a difference is about so much more than just sending in money!
So, what will I DO! Well, the activity that caught my eye is relatively simple yet quite effective in more than one way. As best I can, I will cut out (or at least drastically reduce) my consumption of plastic and aluminum bottled drinks and I’ll take the money I put aside from that and donate it to a Poverty Elimination cause. What’s really great about this idea from the list is that there are the additional side benefits of doing something good for the environment, too, (by reducing consumption of plastics/aluminum) and also a benefit to my own health (by cutting out the soft drinks.) No doubt a big enough incentive is there for this to get done. I’ll be doing my best to follow through! What will you be doing?
Conventional Wisdom Isn’t Always Right (or Wrong)
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Oct 12, 2008
Is Conventional Wisdom good or bad? I would say: “it depends on the circumstances.” I tend not to describe things as being only “black or white” anyway. I often see things in shades of gray. There seems to always be extremes and exceptions, or a new combination of elements finally coming together in just the “right” or “wrong” way, that theories just can’t blindly be applied in the same way every time, e.g., what’s good for one person, isn’t always good for all people.
On the other hand, there are those “hard and fast” rules and laws that can seem to be more absolute. For example, if we all follow the “rules of the road” when driving, order is maintained. The system works quite well. But there, too, is were we begin to see those gray areas of “lawful” versus “ethical”, e.g., is it really okay to speed just a little, especially if everyone else does it, too?
Win-Win Is Relative
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Sep 28, 2008
Generally when we hear of a “win-win” solution, we probably think it refers to something good, right? I know I did. I didn’t realize that win-wins can actually be placed on a “scale”, ranging from “good” win-wins all the way over to ”not-so-good” win-wins.
It’s common knowledge that, often, negotiations include some degree of compromise where each party gives in on some points and as a result gets something that they value in exchange. If the “gives” and the “gets” are perceived as comparable (and along with the big assumption that the negotiation was conducted in “good faith”), the outcome is usually considered to be a good deal. Maybe throw in a little face-saving for good measure, too.
I think the difficulty and disappointments come when not all people involved in the negotiations are working towards the same outcome. Read the rest of this entry »
Is Fighting For Solutions the Only Answer?
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Sep 21, 2008
Blogging about politics is always risky. Usually quite early on, a reader will recognize which party you support and will respond accordingly — they’ll either keep reading if they identify with you or they’ll move on if they don’t. Few stick around to hear what someone of an opposing political party wishes to espouse unless they’re looking to judge that opinion and its believer as being ridiculous. I say this because I, too, have been there and done that (and try as I might, I still go there more often than I’d like to admit). We are all human (if that’s an acceptable excuse, I don’t know; you be the judge on that.)
I could avoid the topic all together, or not. As citizens, I don’t think we can continue to avoid these difficult conversations. I would agree that fighting for the sake of fighting doesn’t accomplish anything. So what do we do? How do we approach these conversations respectfully while still being true to ourselves as bloggers and as citizens with points of view looking for solutions and not as journalists that are obliged to be objective in their reporting of events?
Taking Sides
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Sep 17, 2008
How’s a consumer to know what to believe? Anything and everything can be debated either way. Check out this post about the new High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Lobby commercial as posted on Triplepundit.com and Twittered about by @thecitizen. Look at the comments to this post, too. A strong argument can be made for either side.
Then also find, in the sidebar on that same site, an ad for a movie trailer about the business and the future of Water, check it out at flowthefilm.com. The trailer seems to depict a film full of convincing arguments, told in a documentary style similar to An Inconvient Truth and the 9/11 Loose Change films. These films can be convincing. Some people are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. Some are not. Some fall somewhere in-between.
Looks like we need more places that let us hear both sides of an argument so that we can then choose for ourselves about which side we think should win, such as in the relationship-related site called: Sidetaker.com (as heard on Twitter). But then again, I guess our upcoming elections will be the largest scale version of this. It’s amazing how each side of an argument will have its share of people that are adamant about its side being the only way to think about something.
The Game as I See It
Posted by Helen Hoefele on Sep 7, 2008
Will politics ever be anything but a game to be won or lost?
Court cases are often won or lost based on the skill-set of the attorneys hired or appointed. It is not necessarily the facts or circumstantial evidence alone that determine innocence or guilt, but it is how those elements are argued. Facts aren’t allowed to speak for themselves any more. Facts just don’t have the personality for it.
Rhetoric
The online post, “The Rhetoric and the Reality“, has found appropriate words to describe how politicians historically “tell the truth creatively” with “dubious claims, exaggerations, and selective statistics”. Or, as the WashintonPost.com’s “The Fact Checker” points out, we are seeing the ”usual share of outlandish spin, misleading rhetoric, and outright fibs.”
Yet in this sound-bite world with busy, low-attention span audiences, oversimplication seems necessary. Wasn’t John Kerry criticized for talking too much? Aren’t other speakers criticized for being boring? Omitting facts does occur when we simplify. But then who is keeping track of the details? How do we know when important facts are being omitted or not? Who has the time to keep informed on all the details? Who are we trusting to keep us informed? And, what are the consequences of placing our trust blindly?
