Yesterday I had a decent idea.
It started with an old friend saying that she had a couple
of "Up With People" dreams, and one dream involved letting alumni travel for 6
week mini-tours. (We both traveled in Cast D'90…a one year adventure with 107
students traveling the world learning, singing, dancing, and promote the
concept that we're all connected)
My response?
"IBM has a program that takes employees for 6 weeks
into developing regions to help with basics. Imagine if Up With People did
that? Organize a 6 week focused program for alumni to gather in groups of 10-12
and apply their skills to help a struggling community. Not only do we have
experience from our year of travel, but we have a life-time of learning under
our belts we didn't have when we first toured…we could help others even
more."
I thought that was pretty good. And lately, since I've really struggled with my purpose in
my last 1/2 of life, I pondered what I
wrote
...and did some googling
...and followed up with this
"So I want to name this program, and it made me think
that if this were an actual thing, it would accomplish exactly the opposite of
terrorism….and we could be exactly the opposite of a terrorist. So I look up
"antonym of terrorism"…
…and interestingly there isn't an antonym.
That's sad.
So maybe we can start something new: "Hope-ism"
and we can be "Hope-ists". Maybe another phrase would be better.
Thoughts? "
I was getting pretty excited. Except for the name, since I
know it's not a word (yet), and people would by default write it as
"hopist", and then I think of bunnies, and then I think of my yard,
and then our pup who loves to chase bunnies…
In other words…I get distracted
…which is why I engaged the group to think of a different
name. Besides, it still bothered me that while a small group of people hated
with such passion that they had a house-hold name for what they did, but it didn't
seem like there was a name for people who loved with such passion.
Then I continued…
"But imagine the headlines: 'More Hope-ist cells…formed
back in the 90s in an Up With People group, emerged again and surprised a local
community by acts of hope: this one just dug a well in an emerging
economy...another taught young mothers how to budget for a
micro-business...another partnered with a homeless shelter to feed and
educate"
And then reality hit.
I was just an idea generator. It would take real work to get
this running. Maybe I'm guilty of this a lot…great ideas but lacking the grit
to act on them.
Yet it still bothered me: Why is there not a
"house-hold" name for a group who loves with such passion? Is it
easier to hate than love? Is it harder to get passionate about helping others than hating others?
It sure seems like there are a lot of similarities in the commitment level: your time, your money, you must believe in your cause…with enough
passion to push past the roadblocks, and possibly give your life dedicated to
your cause, and finally a conviction that the world will only become what you
want if you continually repeat acts on unsuspecting people you want to impact.
I know there are many, many groups working to do great
things. But imagine if everyone was passionate about hope…enough to actively
engage those without hope?
I finished my discussion by suggesting an "Agile"
approach (my passion for design is never far away)…experiment, start small, fail
fast, learn, and grow…
"Well, maybe we start small...even a friendly competition
within our cast...share how we delivered hope in our individual communities.
"I was a hope-ist today...drove a struggling youth to her job today...one
small step to independence". And whoever is voted the most awesome hope-ist
of this group gets a free meal at our next reunion"
So will I turn my idea into action?
I hope so.
Hmm…maybe hope-ist isn't such a bad name after all.
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