The Difficult Work Ahead

Evolving our work to address 3 critical social issues.

Photo by Sushil Nash on Unsplash

So many of us live in our own worlds, forgetting about how others are experiencing life. We think about our project, our classroom, our company, our side-hustle and our unique context. From this silo, it’s so easy to lose sight of how others are experiencing the world without even realizing it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created what’s being called a “K” curve. The wealthy were able to create more wealth. The poor were entrenched further into poverty. For some, the pandemic has reduced costs by moving work online. For others, they’ve felt increases in domestic violence.

Whatever you’re working on, understanding the context in which others are living is critical.

I don’t mean this in a fluffy, “wouldn’t it be great if we understood each other?” kind of way. I mean this in a “what new and different actions will you now take?” kind of way.

It’s too easy to read this, nod your head in agreement, and then go right back to your life saying things like “I donate enough money,” and “I volunteer one day a month.”

What I’m asking is for each of us is specifically about the largest issues of our current world: racial injustice and inequity, the COVID-19 pandemic, and global warming.

What I’m asking is for each of us to do the difficult work of seeking out experts, asking questions, being wrong, asking for forgiveness, listening better next time, and making actual changes to the way we operate in our day-to-day lives.

If you’re in a position where the pandemic has not crushed you, you’re in a position called “privilege,” and we are all counting on you to step up. I’m one of those people and the responsibility of understanding others and making changes to help them is on your and my shoulders.

If you’d like to do something but you’re not sure how to help, reply here and we can start a conversation. There are many ways to be part of the solution of helping others in the work you’re already doing, and it usually starts by engaging with your local community.

I say all this, not as a public service announcement, but as a reframing of your work.

No matter what your project or career is about, framing it in terms of these crises is critical.

We live in a world where selling widgets and making money solely for oneself isn’t good enough. It can’t be. We must expect more from the capitalist economy we’ve created if we are going to have the peaceful green world we all envision. Our day-to-day work must perform double- and triple-duty. Helping others impacted by COVID or racial injustice must be baked into the operations of our work and lives.

We’re all counting on you to do the right thing and in this case, it’s also a difficult thing.

How can what you do for a living be used for good? If it already is being used for good, how can it be used to address these multiple and specific crises?

To be clear, this isn’t the time to come up with answers. This is the time to ask more questions and understand these issues more deeply so that you can then see solutions when they’re revealed to you.

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Resource Document for Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

If you’d like to educate yourself on racial inequality and injustice, specifically, I’ve put together this resource drive to help. There is a ton of information to help you get started in learning about the root of these problems and what you can start doing in your day-to-day life to help. This is a working document that I will be updating and adding to. Please let me know if you would like to add to it. It’s a public document which means you can freely steal this, share this, and refer to it as much as you like. I made it for you.

Resource Drive for dealing with COVID-19

This is a less robust drive, but still has some helpful resources, like the details of the CARES Act as well as the CDC guide for employees experiencing work stress due to the pandemic.

I’m also looking for more resources like these around other key issues. If you have recommendations or would like to be a contributor, just reply and let’s start putting more resources together!

Thanks for reading. Thanks for caring. Thanks for actually doing something.