I often have some of my best insights of any given day while thinking in the shower. So on January 5th i was thinking about the state of the world. It dawned on me that we empower one another to do Everything. Sometimes even when we’re empowered we might fail. Sometimes we empower the wrong people, like politicians, and then it becomes a race to disempower one another.
If someone has an awesome idea for an art project, and their friends think it is worth helping out on, they put their energy together and make it happen. Another variation of that is a sports team. Or even a corporation, or an open source software project, like WordPress. Crowd sourcing is another variation, such as Kickstarter.com.
Unfortunately, there have been way too many examples of treachery overtaking trust as the way people get power in the World’s history.
But when trust is earned and empowerment given, there has been beautiful results, time and time again.
That’s what I was thinking about in the shower the other day…
That same day my Dad brought my Mom to the Emergency Room at a local hospital. She was dehydrated, catching bronchitus, and experiencing severe mental disorientation, nor had she eaten anything for a day or two. Also that day I hung out with one of my only first cousins that I have, & his son, who I’d never met. It was the second time I’d seen Greg since 1987. The other time was a few months ago at my uncle’s funeral. His son has the same first and last name as I do. Wierd.
I went down to see my Ma on Sunday. They had her in restraints. She had ripped out the IV tubes earlier. She didn’t know where she was. It was painful to see but she was happy to see me and my Pa. She was scared and confused for moments, then in good spirits, then, down, then up again. This is brutal. She would not eat the food they had brought her. Later in the day she ate a few grapes and we got her to drink maybe twelve to sixteen ounces of water. I got her to smile for a photo though.
I’m not sure what any of this has to do with empowerment. I just know I love my mother and would do anything to empower her to get well. 2013 has started out in a very surreal way.
