essential question: How do we bring about lasting, positive change?

Skill 9: Appreciating Interdependence

Skill 10: Engaging with Discernment

Appreciating Interdependence

Anonymous Journal:
You pass a person experiencing homelessness. They ask you for money. What do you do?

I personally, will walk by because I never have cash on me, and I also know there are better support groups and shelters that are helping solve the homelessness crisis. I rather put my money into the shelters. I sometimes ask what they would want to eat.

social workers say that giving people experiencing homelessness money/food makes them believe that they can get by just by begging for money/food. they aren’t getting into the mindset that they need to get out of this situation.

would rather a system where people exploit it or fall through the cracks?

when people make a change that does more harm than good, they think the problem is a vacuum

what is a system? - a set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network

how to take a systems perspective:

direct violence - ie. catcalling

structural violence - what are the laws against women? and how may that trickle down to direct violence against women?

cultural violence - how does society condone the violence against women? if pop culture supports this violence, it’s a matter of time before it effects the structural violence.

cultural violence → structural violence → direct violence

humanities is the direct way to change the culture and narrative

The Burkean problem:

society is like a balloon. You inflate it and tie it off., and what happens when you change what part of a balloon? what if you squeezed it? it’s going to expand elsewhere.

if you make a change, it's going to make a little change somewhere, but it’s going to expand elsewhere. you have to make sure it doesn’t make any negative change

contemplative journal:

event: getting the student-chosen award on Honors Day

people: Jackson

who did they need: Mr. Arjona and the board of teachers who chose his nomination

how many people: seven?

Engaging with Discernment

the path to hell is paved with good intentions

you can’t just have compassion; compassion needs discernment; the act of compassion isn’t determined by the act but by the motivation behind it; the motivation to help and the motivation to harm

discernment - the wisdom to know what to do

compassion orients us to action and provides motivation but does not tell us how to get there; compassion gives us an end result; discernment tells us the best way to do it

my compassion approach is: leader
The leader always sees a path to reach the next level. They are motivated from within and can serve as both cheerleaders and coaches to others. This compassion seeker doesn’t stop at one success but creates ongoing success all around them by mentoring and supporting others.

how you get to compassion through discernment:

1. check your motivation

2. map the system

3. make a choice (existentialism)

4. evaluate consequences (utilitarianism)

epistemic humility - I can understand that I can be wrong, nothing is certain; I could be making the wrong choice and hurting people
- Bill Clinton used epistemic humility in the ‘94 Crime Bill and apologized years after the bill was
implemented to the NAACP

Cancun: inside the resort vs. outside of the resort

the veil of ignorance: how would I construct society if I didn’t know what position i’ll be born into?

pareto principle = 80/20 rule
80% of your results come from 20% of your causes
if there is a 20% of something that leads to your results, you can find that and tweak it to maximize your results. then you don't have to focus on the whole, larger portion, but you can focus on the 20%, the smaller, more manageable portion

the universal declaration of human lives

GDP - Gross Domestic Product GPI - Global Peace Index

society would be better if it had connections to much stronger human action

“The world has enough for the needs of fall people. But it does not have enough for the greed of one person.” - Gandhi