A Different Place

A man once came and asked for a poem about buildings. He was a city planner or architect or something, but he was interested in reconsidering how we can use what we’ve already built. It made me think about Asset Based Community Development, but he was thinking more of a building by building basis.

Nevertheless, I do think that we often take what we’ve been given for granted. From the buildings we live in to the society we inherit, I think we would do well to rethink some things and reinvent where we are able. For instance, although we’ve been very well-trained as Capitalists to believe that Capital is the most important thing in the world, without necessarily embracing Communism or Socialism, we should give some consideration to the inherent importance of both Community and Society and how much of them we’ve sacrificed in order to serve the call of Capital above all else.

Instead of using one, fixed ideology preoccupied with only one thing, I think that moving forward, we will find the ability to see things from a more balanced approach. Instead of thinking that all of our economic energy must be focused on only one goal, like the accumulation of Capital, the conformity to Community, or the standardization of Society, we’ll be able to recognize a more integrative approach. But we have to walk before we can run, so before I get off talking about my ABC Squared Economics approach of reinventing the economy by valuing the Artistry of our lives, the service of our Business, the engagement of our Citizenry, and the development of our Community, let’s remember that this poem is about buildings.

A DIFFERENT PLACE

In the places we inhabit

we sometimes forget

exactly what is possible

when we find the strength to let

our imagination stretch

to see beyond the walls we build

to reimagine where we live

and how we choose to fill

the spaces and the places

of where we live our lives

and how we build society

and how we will survive

amid the constant change

that comes with trends and fads

as we often make our buildings

structural nomads

but we can reconsider

how we use our space

and we can allow this world to become

a completely different place

I think there’s a lot to be said for reinvention. I sometimes feel like I’m reinvented every day, and I don’t consider that an entirely bad thing. Granted, I’m usually completely scattered and not usually known for any one particular thing I do or have done, but not having hard edges does help me feel more well-rounded.

Nevertheless, as I consider reinventing myself again, opening myself to move beyond the comfort of obscurity into the melee that is modern media, I think, or at least I hope, that the world around me is reinventing itself as well. We’ve got plenty to complain about the way things are, and some wish they would go back to the way things were or want them to be better in the future. However, humans have never been content with what we have in the present until it becomes nostalgia and the good old days are dead and gone.

Over the last few years, I’ve actually given a lot of thought to this presidential candidacy thing. I’ve wondered if my particular journey of uniqueness would qualify me to make the decisions that need to be made in order to move into the future that awaits us beyond our current obsessions. I’ve wondered if my experience with homelessness, minimalism, and financial abstinence might help broaden our collective understanding of the human experience in order to more broadly serve the populace through a more effective federal government, but I think the reinvention we’re looking for, if we truly want a Renaissance, is beyond the federal government.

Regardless of that, I do know that for anything I might do, I have to show up consistently, a habit I’ve not nurtured very well through my 55 years of constant, daily reinvention. So perhaps the reinvention I need most is just that, to reinvent my sense of consistency. At least I can say that I’ve posted here for three days in a row so far.

Perhaps if I recognize the value of the several hundred poems I’ve written over the last few years, I may just reinvent myself again. If it goes the way I think it can, it will be a different place, indeed.

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