Figmentations

I’m glad to be hearing more and more about a more civil rhetoric on the airwaves these days.

We’ve got our two ex-Presidents (Bill Clinton and George Bush I) palling around together like “a pair of touring comedians”, according to a recent Associated Press report. They both even agreed that: “some of the best legislation during th(e tough times) were made through compromises.” Let’s hope the recent mid-term elections lead to the same.

And, on this Sunday’s “Up Close with Diana Williams” on ABC in an interview with Debbie Walsh, Director for the Center for American Women & Politics at Rutgers University, it was mentioned that the new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, has been talking about using her new role to bring “more civility to the debate”.

Couple that with the way George Stephanopolus signed off on the 11/12/06 episode of ‘This Week’ by stating how his show is about “debating all the issues civilly”.

And, now Harvard University is offering a class on “Positive Psychology”, i.e., Happiness 101 . While I’ve always been a Tony Robbins fan, it’s nice to see other people preaching the same message, too.

Far be it for anyone to fault civility, compromise, and finding a way to get along as being a bad thing.

According to recent reports in the media, we can make the world a better place.

• We know what to do
• The money is out there
• Smart people are interested in getting involved.
• There is current media attention on humanitarian-ism.

We know what to do: One of many examples is that: there are effective ways to get AIDs medicine to even the remote regions of Africa thanks to American philanthropist Anne Lurie and the outreach project of dirt bikers, Barry and Andrea Coleman as reported on CNN by Christiane Amanpour.

Another reference to ‘knowing what to do’ was in a recent Larry King Live interview with Bill Clinton:

KING: Poverty alleviation. Possible?

CLINTON: Yes, we know how to do that. We just don’t know exactly how to take it to scale…..The trick is to do it in enough places to lift the whole country up.”

The money is out there: So, we know what to do to resolve major issues. And, apparently the money is out there. too. At the recent Slate 60 Conference on Innovative Philanthropy , Ted Turner told his fellow philanthropists to ‘give until it hurts’. Apparently, the wealthy have no problem giving money:

“…billionaires try to outdo each other not just in how much they give away, but also in how smart and effective they can be in tackling a variety of problems…”

And there are many big money players out there….

Ben & Jerry’s is doing okay after being bought by Unilever.

Bono spoke on Larry King Live about ‘going corporate’ in his Project Red, which donates 100% of proceeds to the Global Fund. He’s okay with what some may criticize as being “punk consumerism”, or giving in to “the man”. His justification is that he has made a lot of money in the music industry and hasn’t had any bad experiences with it . He states that there are are lot of smart people in the corporate world, so why not work with them to raise needed money.

Smart people are interested: Social entrepreneurism is a growing trend. And, people want to ‘do some good’ (as the recent BusinessWeek ‘Best B-Schools’ article begins and goes on to suggest a growing interest in non-traditional careers and training).

Just search Barnes & Noble for ‘Social Marketing’ and find the book “How to Change the World” by David Bornstein (who was inspired by Bill Drayton of Ashoka) which highlights the growing citizen sector, a.k.a, the dot orgs, or the public service sector.

There is media attention on Humanitarian-ism: Michelle Kwan is to be selected as public diplomacy ambassador. And, Ricky Martin received the Latin Grammy Humanitarian Award. Along with them is the admirable Michael J. Fox fighting for the cause that chose him. And, then the Lance Armstrong foundation,….and the list goes on and on.

So, the climate is ripe. What will your place in it look like?

“Contribution is not an obligation; it’s an opportunity to give something back.” –Anthony Robbins.