Lau de Bugs
journal
dev
1What it takes to change the world
I have often heard the refrain that’s usually a rendition of “I want to change the world”. Swap out “the world” with “my country”, “my continent”, “my community” and this can be generalized to the ambitions that burden a plenty the intelligentsia in most underdeveloped or war-torn nations. While this kind of statement is not one I hear often in my time in the United States from the youngings around me, I do wonder a couple of things about how young and hungry people come to make such a seemingly monumental claim towards their future and that of their people.
At the heart of it is a recognition of the problems around them and the world of possibility. These problems could be that there’s too much dust on the road, there’s a pile of trash blocking the drainage of rainwater, the traffic police are collecting bribes from Public Service Vehicle drivers or having blackouts that last days. All these are inefficiencies that can and have become so common that they blend into a person’s lived experience that they don’t think twice about them. In order to speak out, one has to observe and learn that there is a world outside of their own where such issues have been solved. This learning can happen through reading, watching, and even better experiencing such a world. The disconnect between articulating the problems and finding solutions to them comes up in understanding what it takes to solve the problem. One then realizes that solving problems isn’t just about building systems but enabling the people to understand why the systems exist and what problems they solve.
I left my country of birth with a naïve understanding of the complexity of the problems around me. Peeling back the layers of the kind of work it takes to get people to do things can be a heartbreaking process that can leave one hopeless, cynical, and angry. My 9 to 5 brings at times leaves me feeling like I’m not doing anything to chip away at anything worthwhile. It’s easy to get comfortable, and even worse – complacent earning a living and building a life of one’s own in a world that feels like it’s burning down, and I have no active part to play in it to make it better. And this – the being okay with the status quo, becoming averse to change and unwilling to confront my fears is a temptation is that is becoming ever more palpable each waking day. I can see the things that not quite right and could be better – points of friction at work, the uncomfortable conversations that need to happen, or an even more mundane task of cleaning the pile of dirty dishes from the last meal. Do I ignore it or try to explore what might be uncomfortable?
Growth isn’t easy, isn’t instinctual. It requires facing deep-rooted insecurity about one’s on ability; requires recognition of one’s own inadequacy; requires facing challenges with humility and vulnerability in the moment. Opportunities present themselves in situations where there’s friction of any kind and they provide moments of potential learning. Two possible paths of action usually emerge – either embracing the discomfort and working through it or folding giving in through avoidance and casting blame on others. The latter often boils down to pride. Pride is saying to oneself that I’ll look at his later and not reach out for help now when it’s needed; it’s finding an excuse to fill in the time and wait it out. “We’ll see what happens” is a statement I’ve often used that I am beginning to dislike because it absolves me of my agency to change what’s wrong with the situation. What it takes is confrontation, not retreat.