Would it surprise you to know that there is, in fact, a point to this blog?
The home page reads…
The Revolutionary Misfit site is a forum for thought, conversation and inspiration on the topic of impact mindfulness.
So, if you kinda get an inkling about that vague word, impact, you’d at least be getting really warm, as you’re struggling to grasp the impact point.
Because the fact is, we all have one…
It’s hard to get away from it, really.
Remember when grocery store check-out clerks always would ask, “paper or plastic?”
Seems like an innocuous choice, but an impactful one nonetheless.
If you stop to consider that plastic is made of the same substance that when burned releases dreaded carbon into the atmosphere.
And if you consider that normal plastic basically never breaks down, environmentally.
And then there’s the matter of so much plastic waste ending up as floating garbage dumps in our oceans, or in the bellies of fish and sea mammals.
Of course, there’s a problem with paper too…it can get confusing.
So, the decision, as small and insignificant as it might at first blush seem, has impact…
As does the stupid act of giving us that choice to begin with.
Whenever you use a public restroom facility, do you leave the light on, or do you flip it off?
Again, a choice with impact.
When you shop for groceries, do you buy locally grown stuff, or manufactured food, filled with chemicals, and that has to be shipped in from afar?
Impact-full choice, once again.
And then there’s the bigger impacts…
Like what we choose to do with the vast majority of our life time allotment in exchange for those little green pieces of paper adorned with images of dead notables.
Who we vote for.
What we consume, physically, or mentally.
How we use our “free” time.
What we contribute towards enhancing the well-being of others, including the less fortunate.
How we simply treat other people.
What we think of them if they happen to have been borne different from us.
So, you see, there probably isn’t a more point-full topic to blog about than impact.
You know, like to leave the earth (and its inhabitants) better than the way we found it (and them).
And I believe that there are three things that generally impede our being mindful of impacts…
- Self-interest (especially the economic variety)
- Small us thinking
- Impact blinders
If you desire to know more, there is a plethora of posts regarding each of these impediments.
But, in our westernized world, it’s private property that gets the lion’s share of our mindfulness.
We work hard to acquire it, maintain and grow it, protect it and ultimately pass it on in some form or another (sale, inheritance, etc.).
We only ask of others that they refrain from impacting our shit in any negative way.
What they do with everything else…who cares!
That pretty much sums up the narrow spectrum of popular thought regarding impact.
“Don’t tread on me”, becomes our battle-cry as we engage in grave struggles in the name of private property protection (we call it freedom, since that provides better motivation)…
We even coin a new phrase for the acquisition of stuff and immortalize that in our most cherished freedom document…
We call it…
The pursuit of happiness.
But then the reality finally hits that this is a non-sustainable notion.
As we just witnessed in 2008, when the excesses of Wall Street’s great decade of capital sequestration ended up impacting Main Street in a negative way as the value of everyone’s stuff plummeted…
Except for those that didn’t have any to begin with…
In that case, the people themselves were devalued.
Impact is simply hard to get away from…it’s sort of built in, like a physical law.
Now, granted, hedging against all hell breaking loose may not be the most laudable reason to be impact mindful.
But, hey, at least it’s a reason.
[…] I believe there is in fact a point. […]