Sustainability

With us reaching record high temperatures this week, it is impossible to not think about how our actions are impacting the earth’s climate. We all agree that climate change is real but we tend to argue over what is causing it. What is not deniable is that our actions, as a society, are not helping the situation.

Our economic models are based upon infinite growth. Stock prices of companies are based upon market growth, not sustainability. Investment is made on the assumption of growth, not just profitability. This brings us to a system where CEOs are rewarded for increasing the dividends of shareholders, not for strengthening the company they lead and thus. Constant and infinite expansion of the economy is impossible on a planet with finite resources yet our economic model is based upon that exact impossibility.

Doughnut Economics - a viable strategy that acknowledges the unsustainable nature and inevitably catastrophic outcome of our current economic model. Judging by how a large portion of us put the economy over the lives of our most vulnerable citizens during the pandemic, we have a long way to go before a model like this has a chance of catching on.

“Here’s the conundrum: No country has ever ended human deprivation without a growing economy. And no country has ever ended ecological degradation with one.” ― Kate Raworth (b. 1970)

Why

Why do we do anything? Have we forgotten? We have been conditioned to commodify everything so much that we forget why we did it in the first place. We work hard to earn money to improve the quality of our lives. Yet more often than not we forget about the quality of life we were striving for and only focus on acquiring more and more money, even sacrificing the quality of our life to to earn more than we need.

If we do not consistently remind ourselves of why we are doing what we are doing, our attitude will no longer align with our goals. Education becomes commodified to become about the degree instead of the knowledge that the degree represents. In kung fu, forms practice devolves into a hoop to jump through in order to earn another promotion as opposed to being about personal mastery.

Where am I? What am I doing? Two important questions that cut through the haze of distraction and remind us of why we do what we do.

“Fact: If standard of living is your number one objective, quality of life almost never improves. But if quality of life is your number one objective, standard of living invariably improves.” - Zig Ziglar (1926 - 2012)

Sifu Max Hayes

I think Max Hayes originally became my student because he was investing in his daughters’ kung fu training. He began kung fu with his three daughters, setting an example of excellence that inspired all three of them to earn their own black belts.

His daughters are no longer at home training at SRKF but that has not deterred Max from leading and inspiring other students to earn their black belts. Max sets an example by incorporating mastery into every facet of his life. When he is not actively training or teaching on the mats, he is applying himself at a level ten in everything else he chooses to do. The inspiration he provides is an integral part of my success.

Max Hayes has been part of my life for almost thirty years. First as a student, then a fellow black belt, and now as a trusted friend. Needless to say, his character and leadership are imprinted all over Silent River Kung Fu and for that I am eternally grateful.

"A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves." - Lau Tzu 

Wants and Needs

My province is getting ready to move into the next phase of our reopening. There have been so many phases of relaunch that we have passed through - both forward and backward that I don’t even keep track of what each phase means.  There has not been much logic behind our province’s decisions. Our relaunch phases always come too soon and our shutdown phases always come too late. While I am an advocate of putting the greater good of the public’s health first, I have to acknowledge that how our provincial government is handling things has made a lot of the public health measures in place ineffective. 

Like everyone else in a democracy,  I am subject to the will of the majority. Yes, our Premier publicly lied and cheated to win his party’s leadership but the majority of my fellow citizens wanted him to lead our province and so I accept that. That is how a democracy works. I may have not voted for him but he is my Premier and I am going to participate in my community by providing leadership and support where it is needed. 

The problem that I see us facing as a community is our inability to distinguish between wants and needs. We all want to make our mortgage payments while some of us need a ventilator. When our hospitals are full and we are running out of ventilators to help deal with the impact of the pandemic, the ability to logically differentiate between wants and needs is paramount. While it is not ideal to have a bank foreclose on my house, it is infinitely better than having my neighbour’s child die because he succumbed to COVID-19. 

The good of the whole has to be the priority of a community. Everyone understands that. Unfortunately we have all been conditioned to confuse wants and needs when it comes to the economy. Our economic policies have never been socially or environmentally sustainable yet we continue to support this self-destructive trajectory. As we fight with each other and continue to prolong this pandemic through our actions, this has never been as clearly highlighted as it is now.

“Democracy is not simply a license to indulge individual whims and proclivities. It is also holding oneself accountable to some reasonable degree for the conditions of peace and chaos that impact the lives of those who inhabit one’s beloved extended community.” - Aberjhani (b. 1957)