Oh, Papa Seth, you hit it outta the ballpark this morning

Oh, Papa Seth, you hit it outta the ballpark this morning.

 

You helped me see the weeds for what they are once again.

 

You delineate what’s about to go down in the world of higher education, which in your estimation is at a crossroads, or at least, there are those in the industry who might could be awake to the fact that there is a crossroads coming their way.

 

Like the one that “blindsided” that pesky newspaper business, as you most aptly point out.

 

Or the musket makers. Or the stage coach companies. Or the train systems. Or the music companies. We could go on, no?

 

So the decisions that the upper echelons of systems that promote hoop jumping of any educational kind could make fall between these three polarities:

 

*Should this be scarce or abundant?

*Should this be free or expensive?

*Should this be about school/[hoops] or about learning/[empowerment-brackets mine]?

 

Hmmm…these choices sound vaguely familiar.

 

Could a certain combination of those decisions be the very issues that keep institutions of any kind in business, and our culture perpetually mired in clever distractions that do their best to reduce us all to less than we could be?

 

Perceptions of scarcity, expense and hoops—that way lies what we’ve got.

 

Abundance, free, and empowerment—that way lies, what?

 

Some of us are so afraid to find out, we won’t even consider going there, even in our heads.

 

My question is, could it really be any worse than the status quo?

 

Let’s see. Scarcity, expense and hoops means prisons, rehab programs and therapists’ offices all filled to overflowing.

 

I say we’re already experiencing hell on earth.  

 

There oughta be a version of The Secret that includes traditional medicine, the food industry, organized religion and lack-based marketing when describing what knowledge gets deemed unsharable by those who don’t want it spread around.

 

Seth finishes this morning’s blog post by saying, “If I were going to wager, I'd say that the free, abundant learning combination is the one that's going to change the world.”

 

It’s the only kind that ever does. 

 

Humans seem to be able to endure only so much self-imposed repression and despondency before we decide to wake up every once in awhile and reclaim our power.

 

How ‘bout we do that sooner rather than later around this timeless topic of hoops versus empowerment, huh, humanity? How ‘bout we stop buying into what doesn’t work, and hold the space for what does? How ‘bout we retire the drama of politics as usual and live well anyway?

 

Somebody get me a pill, or a cookie, or something to buy, quick.

 

Comments

[Deb Schanilec]

Yes, indeed. I've swallowed the red pill and gone down the rabbit hole.

[Chris]

Sounds like you already took the red pill Deb :-)