Monday, April 02, 2012

Big Events in Sports and Religion

Around the world Christians will be celebrating Easter this week. Tonight college basketball fans will be doing their own form of celebrating, as the national championship is decided between Kentucky and Kansas. Then later this week a new Major League Baseball Season starts.

In total these events will attract the attention of millions, perhaps over a billion people.

As you reflect on these events, think with me of ways we might attract a fraction of this many people to read articles about poverty and how it affects education, public health and even our country's future well-being.

I've written over 1000 articles over the past 6 years, and tagged them under topics like "leadership, complex problems, education, violence, media, innovation, collaboration, etc." In these I point to research and I point to strategies, that groups of people might adopt in their own efforts to create a future where there is more hope and opportunity for those who are most oppressed in our world.

For instance, in this set of article I talk about a "battle plan for a war on poverty".

In this set of articles I talk about how "unmet social needs worsen poverty"

In this set of articles I focus on "learning" not in the context of teaching kids reading, writing, and STEM education skills, but in teaching adults more about ways they can use their own time, talent and wealth to solve some of these problems.

I integrate maps into numerous articles, intending to inspire strategies that draw resources into all places where poverty is a root cause of other evils.

Religious traditions date back for centuries, and events like Easter encourage reflection and re-thinking of habits and values. Great basketball and baseball teams are the result of years of hard work and training by players, and coaches, along with huge investments in infrastructure by universities and sports franchises.

Unless we find ways to engage millions of adults in on-going learning and personal involvement in issues related to poverty, the environment, racism and other local-global issues, we will not have the commitment to long-term "good to great" solutions in all the places where our maps show where problems need to be solved.

I'm just a small voice pointing to big ideas and a vision of a future that we might have if more people work hard to achieve it. I did not win the Lottery this week, so I'm still looking for benefactors, friends and sponsors to help me raise this voice to a higher level. If you want to help take a look at this page.

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