Inspirational Humanity

We celebrate outliers. Record-breaking and extremes of human achievement. Those being celebrated have a combination of barriers to entry the vast majority cannot possibly overcome, and hopefully... a smidgen of humanity we can relate to. Traits we can learn from. We can recognise the pain etched sharply in the face of a lone cyclist being pursued relentlessly by the peloton. With what we are given, we can apply these lessons and make the most of it.

I like the tough love concept of accepting responsibility and avoiding blame. I also get that part of white, english-speaking, male privilege is that I get treated as an individual and have no one to blame. I am not part of any category of people that is massively disadvantaged. So I have to take responsibility, but only from a strong foundation. That is empowering. If I succeed, I am acknowledged... not my category. If I fail, it is my fault... not my category. I get seen. 

It is true that massive groups of people have disadvantages that swallow their inspirational humanity. We are grappling with how to overcome those structural barriers and see people. How do you see the humanity and potential within people who aren’t breaking records? How do we avoid and unwind the disadvantages of a category becoming so engrained, that the shadows and scars remain even when walls fall and doors open? 

Austrian Mathematician wins Gold

Sport, Players and Teams

As part of Continuing Professional Development (CPD), I used to go to the Actuarial Conferences in South Africa each year. It was a quick way to get all the required annual CPD points. More than that, it felt like I was connected to something bigger than my company. My second role in the Corporate world was as a Marketing Actuary. That involved Competitor Comparison. It could get quite nasty listing the pros and cons of the competitors (who were all trying to provide for clients). It becomes a little like sport. Gradually you see players transfer. Senior members moving to other companies. Companies treating employees badly. A little like patriotism. I leaned deep into Rainbow Nation South African patriotism till the 2008 Xenophobic attacks. You don’t owe your company any loyalty. “They” won’t show it to you. Your team will change. You will develop loyalty with certain individuals and beef with others. Take the countries and companies we are a part of with a pinch of salt. There is something bigger we are all a part of. Institutions serve us, not the other way around.

Players Move

Identity Thread

Humanism raises up the identity of the individual. It celebrates each life. Some believe that each time we wake up, life starts anew. Each moment is a unique identity, made up not of our history, or our future. Made not of what we are physically capable. Not of our dreams or goals. Each moment is made of the people, environment, emotions, objects, and words that exist then and just then. As we close our eyes at the end of the day, who we are will never be repeated. I can build a story that connects yesterday me, to tomorrow me. We can build a story that connects us to each other. Identity can lie in the thread or the moment, but the individual is no more, or less, a story than we are together. Fragile. Beautiful. New.

Divided Individual

Positive goals can have unintended consequences. One push back on liberalism is a push back on individualism and selfishness. A suggested answer is to create bigger groups. This allows us to focus on something bigger than ourselves. If that group is defined by its differences from others, even though that difference is common ground within the ingroup, it leads to the same negative effects that repulse us from selfishness. Thomas Leonard tells of the progressive movements push to give moral gravity to bigger groups of the individual. To focus on the 'nation, state, society, commonwealth, public, people, race, and, especially, the social organism'. If the story we use to build our confidence is a story that pushes us above others, by finding strength in others like us, that isn't a push back on individualism. That is just redefining the divided individual.