We are heartbroken by the impact of the Corona virus and it’s unbelievably sad and difficult consequences impacting all of us, at all levels, all around the world.
Meteorologist, Edward Lorenz, once reflected: “One flap of a sea gull’s wings [is] enough to alter the course of the weather forever.”
One of his colleagues took off on that and asked: “Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?”
It seems so, and maybe more clearly than ever before for most of us.
Each of us plays a critical role in the challenge we all face. What each of us chooses to do will impact the future for everyone everywhere.
Stay safe. Stay healthy. Be sea gulls (…or butterflys) in ways that matter.
We are in the midst of an event of historical proportion and precedent. We are caught in a moment where our collective belief in a nascent right to determine our own wants, needs, futures, and fates is colliding with a force of unknown magnitude threatening that belief to its core.
There is a monster in our closets, a demon under our beds, and we are frozen in the paralysis of unreasonable fear that it will strip us of all we hold dear.
Now, more than ever, we must do exactly those things we as a species contend we do so well: think, analyze, reason, and behave in ways that are consistent with what we do know and are able to surmise as a result.
Design Thinking
The solutions to our problems should come from clear and grounded understandings of ourselves, our social interdependencies, our environments, and the particular characteristics of the challenges we face. Reacting solely to symptoms and consequences may be instinctive, and perhaps even temporarily effective. However, that kind of reactivity is, superficial and reflexive. It is often colored by fear and the desire to escape. It does not deepen our understanding of the nature of the challenges themselves.
“Some years ago…a truck driver tried to pass under a low bridge. But he failed, and the truck was lodged firmly under the bridge…..
…it caused massive traffic problems…emergency personnel, engineers, firefighters and truck drivers gather[ed] to devise and negotiate various solutions….
A boy…said…, “Why not just let the air out of the tires?”
When the solution was tested, the truck was able to drive free with ease…. The story symbolizes the struggles we face where oftentimes the most obvious solutions are the ones hardest to come by because of the self-imposed constraints we work within.”
