How do we innovate our way through and hack this unsolvable problem?
I can’t sleep. I know tomorrow I get to be mom, the weekend mom my kids have been waiting for all week. Fully present, no distractions, plenty of time to play and be together, side by side, making pancakes and stargazing these big Texas skies at night before bed.
But I’m up. It’s 2:42am.
Tomorrow, another mom I know who is two states away that went to church with me years ago will be taken off life support. She’s younger than me, a few young kids, a few grown kids.
They just returned from a long-awaited trip to the beach, to head almost straight to the hospital with a fast-destroying virus that took down her health so rapidly, there were probably no chances to get her affairs in order. You know, those things we think we’ll do before we die:
Clean out her car and undies drawer
Make sure her pantry had food in it
Write that letter we all hope to find when a loved one dies (the one giving blessings, life instructions, expressing deep regret for the years stolen, the weddings missed, and the hugs she can’t give to grandbabies)
And share all the wisdom she gained from years on earth.
The letter or video than soothes a thousand aching grief-filled moments that our loved ones live with.
Somehow, the husband and children are sleeping fitfully or can’t. Maybe they’re awake and holding each other. They will turn off the machines keeping her alive in just a few hours. Though desperately hoping for a miracle we know after so many deaths will likely not come, their wife and mom will die.
Thousands upon thousands of mothers, fathers — primary caregivers, breadwinners, the sole providers, single parents, just gone.
We can’t take much more of this.
All the reasons why we can’t take much more of this are stacking up.
Something else must be done.
I’m watching messaging on dear friend’s Facebook pages, horrifying ideas of evil intent that terrify them to their core, pushing them to retreat more deeply into the lies that kill. People I love. People you love.
The unique skillsets that are needed to collaborate, to bring us together and back to community, all have to be present at once to stem the tide of this devastation to our world, nation, community.
Messaging alone can’t work. Neuroscience alone doesn’t stand a chance.
But — what if they all worked together?
A working group with -
- Human behavior and decision making science, JonLevyTLB
- AI, technology and data science, Chris Mattmann
- Change strategy and innovation like Greg Satell and Todd McLees.
- Leaders and influencers within communities like Dr. Froswa Booker-Drew.
- Psychology, Dr. Romie and Dr. Carlene Macmillan.
- PR, creative expression, marketing and storytelling, Lola, Mo, Ashwin, Jae.
- Business leaders like the Chamber’s Eric Griffin and the Fed Bank’s Alfreda Norman.
- Nonprofit and philanthropic leaders like Kim O’Neil, Jennifer Tescher, Cathryn McClellan Kelly, TD Jakes.
- Design thinking like Jeff Eyet and Eric Stephan Moore
- Influencers
- Policy
- Journalists
And we could build back community with enough wit, careful listening, love, firepower, smarts, gentleness to bring us to a place of connection. And once we’re reconnected, there’s a chance.
