On my way to a public education event this afternoon, I was reading Mitch Albom's story of ten people on a lifeboat. Imagine them making an inventory of their rations after a yacht explosion: half can of water, three protein bars from the ditch bag, four bags of cookies, two boxes of cornflakes, three apples, and few peanut butter crackers. Wait a minute, one more: one seasickness pill, and that’s all.
On my way home, I delved into another book, Humankind, written by a historian and provocative thinker Rutger Bregman. He asked us to imagine two different planets.
On Planet A, the passengers turn to their neighbours to ask if they're okay. People are willing to give their lives, even for perfect strangers.
On Planet B, everyone's left to fend for themselves. Panic breaks out. It'd be like the cut-throat reality competition Survivor in which you either trample others underfoot or you get eliminated.
Now the question: Which planet do we live on? Choosing the planet is like opening our mind's eyes so that we can see humanity from the most positive possibility: upgrading from the operating system of surviving to thriving.
No comments:
Post a Comment