COMMON WEALTH

DOUBLE YOUR IMPACT: Help Us Give toward Syrian Refugee Relief this Holiday Season

2015-12-26T20:11:00.001-08:00

The Canadian government has pledged to match every dollar donated by individuals to registered Canadian charities in response to the Syrian refugee crisis - up to $100 million and until the end of the year.

I'm proud to see our government take action toward assisting Syrian refugees and want to do all I can to encourage others to respond in turn; just as the Government alone can't solve this problem, neither can I or you - it is only by working TOGETHER, combining our efforts and leveraging our commitments that we can make an appreciable difference in responding to this crisis.

On that note and in that spirit, my wife and I are committing to MATCH dontations pledged through this GoFundMe campaign up to $1000. This means that for every $1 you give to this cause, we will double it and then the Canadian government will MATCH that - doubling your donation AGAIN. As a result, if we can raise $1000 dollars between now and December 31, 2015, it will equal $4000 in actual on-the-ground aid toward the settlement of Syrian refugees!

I am Nick Leeson, a lawyer who has worked with Legal Aid in both Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. Prior to that experiece, I worked as an international legal intern with human rights advocacy clinics in West Africa. There I spent a portion of my time advocating for those at the Buduburam Refugee Camp in Ghana. I've witnessed the hardships faced by people displaced due to conflicts over religion, ethnicity or politics. No matter the cause, the results are the same: a refugee camp is no place to call home, it's no place to raise a family, no place to live; being displaced provides few opportunities to contribute, develop and grow. If we can help to end such suffering, we must.

All monies raised will be pledged to Oxfam Canada, a registered Canadian charity that is receiving donations in response to the Syria crisis, and earmarked specifically for response to the Syria Relief Fund and contributed before December 31, 2015.

Please donate, please share this campaign with your friends and family. Let's work together to make a far bigger difference than we ever could individually and help show the people of Syria we stand with them.

Remember, for every $1 you give, $4 dollars will be going to this worthy cause, as we will match your donation and then Canada will match our combined donation, dollar to dollar. Talk about making your charitable contribution count!

*On December 31st, when I match your pledge and re-direct the monies from this GoFundMe campaign to Oxfam Canada I will also personally pay the GoFundMe fees (5%) in order to ensure that your donation is matched in full.

Since we will be closing this campaign in the next 72 hours, please note that you can also give directly on your own, here: http://www.oxfam.ca/syriacrisis

RIP GRANDPA GORDON NORM PRETTY - My first hero and role model

2014-11-15T20:22:00.000-08:00

My Grandfather was a humble man, he never needed to be the centre of attention. In life and now in death, I'm not sure he would want us to focus on him; and I know he wouldn't want us to centre our attention on the sadness of his passing. So I've instead chosen to focus on the happiness that he brought into all of our lives and the indelible mark and impression that he made on our family and the way that we not only care and appreciate one another but also our country and community.

See, Grandpa was the patriarch of this family - a father, husband, provider, soldier, gentleman, grandfather. I remember as a child when I was just a little boy, he would entertain Eric and I with stories of his adventures as a soldier fighting in World War II. A master storyteller he was - tales of woe, fortitude, sometimes unexpected fun, bravery, ... adventure. As two little boys from the countryside of Chatham-Kent, we were captivated; totally in awe with the things our grandpa had done, seen and places he had been.

Grandpa was my first hero (Eric's too). Every visit to the Wabash farm Grandpa would take us around with him, play with us - perhaps to the dismay of mom, he introduced us to the World Wrestling Federation and the likes of Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior and the 'Macho Man' Randy Savage. We'd enact what we saw: Grandpa lifting Eric and I into the air together, each of us hanging from one of his biceps. The wrestling would inevitably end with all of us herding upstairs for a huge, delicious meal that Grandma had prepared.

When I think of my Grandpa, I understand why I have such a great mom; why it is that my mother has such a loving spirit. Grandpa was courageous and brave. He was selfless and kind. His sacrifice will never be forgotten. He was a great teacher to have, not only for my mom and all of us, but also for everybody else. He loved being a parent to his 8 children and a grandparent to his 18 grandchildren. It was his calling in life.

Though I've gotten older and both time and circumstance have pushed me further from home, I've always looked forward to my holiday visits - to seeing Grandpa, sitting at the poker table with his broad smile, home-brew in hand, and my uncles by his side. Like all of you, I will miss him dearly and it pains me to know that we've shared our last hug 'hello'; he was so much fun to be around, he loved to laugh and to have fun and I adored him. But a man as humble, loving and fun as Grandpa will always be remembered by those of us who knew him and loved him. Although we will miss him, his smile, his stories, his jokes, his love, we take consolation in the good feelings of our memories.

"Sorrow comes in great waves...but it rolls over us, and though it may almost smother us, it passes and we remain." - Henry James

Grandpa, I will always miss you. But I have so many wonderful memories to hang on to. You were my first hero, a role model and a great friend. Your guidance and love will carry me through to the end of my days.

I love you Grandpa, until we meet again.

LIFE AS A LAWYER IN THE GREAT CANADIAN NORTH

2014-02-22T07:30:00.002-08:00

In school I was most captivated by constitutional and government studies classes. When I realized that law was the glue that held it all together, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer. I love the law - its ability to shape social change and impact people’s lives has always inspired me, and its potential for building a better society has been a constant motivator.

I saw becoming a lawyer as a primary means of engaging with that promise – though I admit the rigors and conformity of law school at times clouded that initial inspiration. I attended UBC in Vancouver, a large faculty with a strong emphasis on ‘BigLaw’, and, though I enjoyed my time there, I realized pretty early on that “one of these things is not like the other” - everyone was focused on corporate law jobs, summer clerkships, working on big figure deals. It all just filled me with dread, yet the social pressure to take that path can be pretty intense, and I did it too, for a short time. I’m glad that I did. It provided a slew of challenges and confirmed for me that I was right to pursue a brand of work that intrinsically made me happy. So I left.

The corporate law experience prompted me to embark on a legal internship with a human rights organization in West Africa. As unconventional and surprising as this decision was at the time, quite simply, it was the best one I’ve ever made. I found myself in an environment where the rule of law often existed in name only, conditions that created rosters full of clients but no access to the lawyers needed to represent them. I worked with clients who had been forcibly removed from their homes, minorities and impoverished groups whose legal rights were either forgotten or ignored. Being their advocate filled me with a deep sense of purpose and meaning. I emerged with a reconnection as to why I became a lawyer in the first place – to be someone others confide in and seek advice from, to solve problems for people, and to help improve their lives.

My return home was with the vision and intent of serving my own community in this same way – promoting accessibility to justice. The opportunity of practicing with the Legal Services Board in the North has presented this and a whole lot more. Practice here has a frontier aspect to it; you feel as though the legal system and local community are evolving together. The legal community has a similarly collaborative tenor – a legal body that is largely collegial, not needlessly adversarial, and where sharp tactics are frowned upon rather than rewarded.

That’s not to say coming North has all been easy. It has its own unique difficulties. Friends and family are thousands of kilometers away and mail never seems to arrive on time, to say nothing of the -50 winter chill, but its charms are unparalleled - the midnight sun, northern lights, and a chance to experience some of the world’s last untouched wilderness. And, while the cases I work on aren’t likely to get me before the SCC, they are equal in their significance; there is something to be said for work that allows me to spend my days assisting some of the most vulnerable members of society. Although the difference I make here isn’t likely to change the world, in a community that is small enough to retain the true meaning of the word, there is a heightened intimacy that allows the impact you make to be felt all around you. In short, while there are still moments where I say to myself “is this nuts?” – such as the first time I walked on the open tundra – my only regret with coming North is that I didn’t do it sooner.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: Part 2 of 2

2014-02-18T22:05:00.003-08:00

Life for the Other Half

I confess that I wasn’t initially prepared for some of what I saw.

Walking through the unpaved streets and disorganized red dirt roads of a place like Lomé was more than a little unsettling. Though I had of course scurried past shantytowns of similarly unspeakable poverty in my many travels – and perhaps even exposed myself to smaller samplings of it in my brief bouts of community service at home – never before I had experienced poverty of such size and scale. The first time a colleague of mine told me that, since sanitary wear was simply beyond the reach of many local girls, they were forced to resort to the use of old rags, pieces of blanket, sack, newspaper or even leaves to contain their menstrual flow, I refused to believe it. The next day, I had a client who prostituted his daughter to help pay his wife’s hospital bills – my introduction had only just begun. By the time I walked through the Buduburam refugee camp, I thought I had seen enough to be prepared for anything, but I had difficulty believing what I saw was even real: there was what felt like an endless chain of pleas for food, help, comfort – anything. Body after body, so thin and emaciated, that it was legitimate to ask, how are they still alive?

While true that in some ways I had never felt so helpless, in an ironic twist, at the same time I had never been so empowered. The former being obvious – the poverty that surrounded me was not just confronting but inescapable and impossible for me to heal – but the latter, because every client I spoke with and represented expressed a sincere appreciation and genuine feeling of gratitude. There was none of the bitterness one would expect from someone who had too often been ignored and neglected and too seldom shown so much as a sliver of decency or mercy. Instead, there was a warmth to these interactions that seldom occurred in private practice; they believed that I could help them and, slowly, I began to believe it too.

"The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems" - Mohandas K. Ghandi

For the first time, I truly understood just how dangerously out of balance our world is, and I was determined to do something about it.

A World Divided

As I took in the reality that surrounded me everyday, I couldn’t shake the feeling of a global wrong or help but to begin to connect the dots. Coming from my world of relative plenty, it was difficult to digest that such abject poverty even existed, much less persisted, unabated and with little more than the most fleeting levels of attention or urgency. Knowing we live in the wealthiest of times in all of human history, the cruelty of witnessing so many lives condemned to either untimely death or unnecessary suffering was incomprehensible.

"He is now rising from affluence to poverty." - Mark Twain

Technology and globalization have made our world smaller than at any time previously, only heightening the fact that the fittest of the First World really does live smack in the face of the Third. So why is it that so few of us get to enjoy our "first world" membership whilst the majority of the human race is denied this gold card status? As my days turned to weeks, and weeks to months, that was the burning question that I couldn’t shake from my mind. Perhaps as you read these postings, you may begin to ask yourself this same question. While the answer is not a pretty one, I do believe that it is an essential acknowledgment that should be part of each and every step that we place on this Earth.

Yet, in spite of painful story after painful story, misery upon misery, I found people getting on with their life, rising gloriously above conditions that would break the best of us. In this ability to persevere through the worst, I gained not just a newfound perspective, but a worldview. What moved me most was finding such a large number of people in places as poor in economic wealth as Ghana or Togo, nonetheless standing together to make life better, not just for themselves, but for one another. I was blessed with the opportunity to talk for hours on end with inspiring and dedicated companions. I was privileged to work alongside lawyers earning modest 5-figure salaries with a desire, indeed, a shared obligation to give more than they took. It was a far cry from my experience back home with 6-figure salaried lawyers for whom more never felt like quite enough. I quickly learned from this experience that the degree of one's happiness has far more to do with their disposition than their circumstance.

It's also why I view seeing other places and cultures as, not only a way of understanding the special challenges that are unique to different parts of the world, but also as quite possibly the best means of appreciating the common interests and aspirations that unite us. After living with people on the edge of survival, it becomes difficult to go back to your old ways and, to my surprise, I soon discovered that I was able to live quite comfortably with an almost monkish simplicity. Gradually, I learned to be indifferent to myself and to my own deficiencies. I came to center my attention increasingly upon external objects: the state of the world, various branches of knowledge, individuals for whom I felt affection – ways in which I could seek to become much more than just an armchair critic.

"The tragedy of life is not death, but what we let die inside of us while we live" - Norman Cousins

Witnessing firsthand how seemingly small and fragmented individual efforts can add up to a powerful social force, provided that enthralling eureka moment that finally rid me of the 'excus-itis' that had always held such sway. The period that proceeded was one characterized by a ravenous quest for answers, and the topics and discussions that follow are the fruits of this labour. I am most humbled by all who read these pages, encouraged by those who may share them and anxious for any that may actively participate in their evolution. I hope that what I have produced herein conveys some of the passion that I feel about the issues that follow and, ideally, helps you to foster some of your own.

With that, we begin...

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED: Part 1 of 2

2012-09-11T19:02:00.001-07:00

Before we go any further on this journey together I feel that I should probably properly introduce myself and set out my qualifications as your guide. First, as has already been stated, I’m a lawyer and, as such, I’m acquainted with public policy and familiar with the rule of law. In fact, I love the law – I actually enjoy leafing through tomes upon tomes of statutes and I particularly relish the opportunity to get up in front of a full Court. The law’s complexities and intellectual challenges energize me and its power to effect social change both inspires and motivates me. Yet, neither my interest nor my intellect is fully satisfied by legal questions or problems; indeed, my attention, awareness and curiousity have always extended far beyond the realm of legal issues and concerns. Second, and perhaps on a related note, I have lived and worked in a surprisingly diverse set of locations and conditions – including the heat and congestion of equatorial Africa and the cold and isolation of the High Arctic. I’ve also spent my 9 to 5s toiling above the world in 40-storey monoliths of steel and glass, as well as on the ground floor in compounds of dirt and mud covered by a roof made of corrugated scrap metal. I feel as though the cumulative experiences of having seen our world from many vantage points has helped me to appreciate the real circumstances of both people and the planet in a way that few others have. I see this as giving me a unique perspective on the world in which we live and the issues that this blog intends to engage. [You are of course welcome to come to your own conclusions.] Third, and as my last post hopefully makes clear, I have not always been a ‘public interest lawyer’. I understand the world of business. But I also know that business cannot exist without strong communities in which to thrive and to grow. I like to think that I can fit into boardroom just as easily as at protest rally; at times I've found myself working along the ambitious and unconcerned, people in dark suits with standardized minds, and I don't think I rocked the boat too much. Yet, few who know me on a personal level would ever say that I belonged on Wall Street or Bay Street; nonetheless, this full range of experiences has been indispensable to me – some things in life can never be fully appreciated or understood by a virgin.

I know that such a CV is by no means an automatic qualification of being either well-informed or of having the right answers but it should at least reveal that my views and opinions have been thoughtfully formulated and well-tested in the laboratory of life. I didn’t just wake-up one fine morning and decide that I wanted to find intolerable and corrosive problems with our present-day society and priorities, they hit me in the face. And I wasn’t born with any predisposition towards wanting to change the system; in fact, I - perhaps even more than most - was initially far more hung-up on fitting in and proving myself within that system than on changing it... and that's where my story begins.

“All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them" – Galileo Galilei

The Personal Story that Frames My Understanding

The hard truth is that when I was much younger I think what I wanted most was to find a high-status, high-paying job. Like many of my peers, I thought that was the surest way of not only proving myself but also to paying off my school debts and stamping my ticket out of my middle-class background. But I don’t honestly ever remember questioning whether or not achieving this goal would make me happy – it was more than assumed – and I certainly never thought about how reaching it would impact those around me or what effect it would have on society as a whole.

Then, somewhere along the way, things changed. My experiences began to alter the way that I looked at things. For instance, when I was in high school I thought I would go to Wall Street, make millions, and retire by 35. Then I took a trip around the world. I was 25. I visited developing countries for the first time in my life. I saw real poverty, not the poverty of the urban slums in my native Canada but those of the squalid shantytowns of South East Asia, refugee camps in Ghana and the ghettos of places in Palestine, Bosnia, Mexico and Russia. It was only then that I started to contextualize my own life.

It was a series of moving and unforgettable experiences for me. I found myself both changed and broadened. Perhaps at risk of sounding a bit cliché but, gradually, I was filled with a burning desire to ‘give something back’. I slowly began to understand what all the great religions and revered spiritual figures of the past have preached (if not always practiced). And this marked the commencement of my own commitment to fight for those same things. To be clear, it wasn’t a transformation that occurred all at once and overnight – in my experience true change seldom does – but it was from this vantage point that the process of my developing a fuller humanity was underway.

When I returned to Canada I took my station in life at an office downtown, surrounded by people who cared more about client development than personal development. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the right way to go. What I learned was that those making large six-figure salaries generally were not sages a whole lot smarter than you or me. Sure, a few of them could throw around stirring rhetoric or drown you with their rolodex of global contacts but, underneath the veneer, the judgement and intelligence of the brightest in a ‘seven sister’ law firm was about on par with what I find in my day-to-day life. No more, no less. I was far from impressed.

I went through my routine well enough I suppose, but there was a deep sense of having taken the wrong fork in the road awhile back. What I wanted was to lead a life of integrity, one where the things I cared about were given a level of attention commensurate to their value. In the pit of my stomach I knew that spending time at a job which made me dread waking up on Monday mornings, and with people whose lives were filled more with desire and pride than meaning or value, wasn’t going to get me there. Realizing that so often who it is that we become in our twenties determines what we’ll do for the remainder of our lives, I knew I had to take another road before I found myself aged and worn, looking back in time only to discover that I wasted the majority of my hours on things that meant absolutely nothing to me personally. It was from here that my individual search for authenticity was born.

'Voluntourism'

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” – proverb

Leaving old trails for new ones always entails a certain quantum of risk but in my heart I knew that I had absolutely everything to gain and nothing to lose by leaving behind a career path that I despised. I knew that the path I was on was wrong for me; although everybody around me told me that it was the road to success, I was certain it wasn’t the one to significance. (I never did understand, how being a spectator in the effort of building a better and fairer society, rather than an active participant, could mark a life of substance?) See, what moved me wasn’t a hunger for a bigger house or a faster car: it was the far deeper desire of wanting to live a life of congruency and meaning. In short, I had come to the Rubicon – to that moment of decision which faces most young people when they start out in life. I didn’t want much - not to change the world or even necessarily to ‘make a difference’ - my goal was far more modest than that: all I really wanted was for my work and personal life to be just one life.

I began down this path simply by travelling, truly seeing the world – living the life of an itinerant. I know what some of you are thinking, “I’ve travelled, I know the world”. And maybe you are one of those whom have and does, but I’m also skeptical because of my interactions along the way with all the travelling Westerners that I met who intentionally avoided seeing the countries they claimed to visit and know because they never experienced them in the way that the majority of people living there do. You can only get so much perspective from the comfort of your resort, your spot on the beach or even the local museums, attractions and tourist traps. These are the same Westerners who go on to say things such as, “you can live like a king on $1.25 a day in a place like Cambodia” when they themselves certainly never tried to do so while they were there. Such statements are filled with apathy and deception. Sure, many goods are sold for less but salaries more than offset the savings. In short, anyone who thinks people are living a life of comfort in any part of the world on $5 a day, much less 1/5^th of that, is disturbingly misinformed. I know this because I did it myself. Those who say otherwise are the people who come back home and still don’t know the difference between relative and absolute poverty, although they often think that they do due to their newfound 'worldliness'. Unfortunately, because of that they are often among those who do far more to confuse global empathy than to assist it. Alternatively, I found that the less I packed on my journeys (both physically and financially) the more that awaited me on all accounts.

My travels were expeditions undertaken in search of a greater and truer understanding of our global commons, ‘learning journeys’. I lived with people who had to make decisions as to whether or not they could afford to let their children go to school (and I’m not talking about college or even junior high), orphans who prostituted themselves in order to eat, children who didn’t expect anything for Christmas and young girls for whom sanitary wear wasn’t even an option. Seeing such suffering shook me to my very core and forced me to become more than just an armchair critic. [Please see an earlier posting of mine “Crossing Borders to Make a [small] Difference”, to get a fuller idea of my experiences]. I was fortunate during this time to engage with people and places that were worth knowing and to be exposed to problems and issues that were worth working on. This enabled me to transcend my normal, localized sense of self and it is this that has driven me to possess an almost obligatory passion for activism.

My experiences led me to volunteer in places I never expected, from WWOOF locations in Central America, to giving English lessons and on to West Africa as a legal intern working for medical advocacy and basic social justice. I’m not going to lie, there were times where I questioned myself. Times when I wondered whether or not there was any use in keeping on. For instance, after 7 plus years of post-secondary education I found myself surviving on a stipend of less than a couple $100 a week. I had moments of weakness where I let myself worry about whether I’d be able to pay off my student loans [I did] or if I’d ever make enough money to take care of the people I love [I do]. The key was that I never let those worries overcome me, veer me off my present path; never did they trump my passion to persist. The main source of my faith was a direct result of working with people undergoing far greater tragedies than my own, those enduring real misfortune. It was from this experience that I finally learned to put my own frustrations and worries into proper perspective. It is also for that reason that I sincerely believe that if you and the rest of us would put ourselves in these positions – work alongside others in this way, give a bit of ourselves for a cause and purpose greater than what we can ever do when only thinking, acting and living as individuals – we would all, united and together, come to these very same conclusions.

Once you’ve walked through a vanishing forest, you’ll want to try and save it. Once you’ve seen a woman die of a curable illness because she was deemed too poor or old to warrant medical attention, you’ll want to make a difference. Once you’ve sat with a sick and starving child without a family, you’ll want to get involved.

(To be continued…)

THE PATH TO PURPOSE: The Journey to a Life of Meaning

2012-08-19T14:42:00.002-07:00

The true purpose of life is a life of purpose. What that statement may lack in originality it more than makes up for in authenticity. The most enlightened amongst us know this and live it. They know what they want out of life – materially, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Unfortunately, as is revealed by the pervasiveness of our current societal malaise, these sage individuals and their wisdom appear to be in short supply. The most obvious misappropriation of our priorities would be in that area we spend the vast majority of our waking hours on this planet, namely, our occupation. And so, let us begin there.

I think it's a tragedy that so many people confess that they are either doing work that they do not believe in or that they feel unconnected to. In case you feel that I may be overstating this disaffection, we live in a world where such a massive number of people are dissatisfied with their jobs that there are actually businesses in the service of providing “vocational vacations” where people pay hard-earned money to work at another job. One they actually enjoy. Essentially, these people range from feelings of disillusionment and disconnection to outright disdain for that which consumes a large portion of their short time on this planet. Prostituting not only your skills, but also the most precious of non-substitutional resources – that is, your time – for something that clearly only provides you with a monetary or material gain, signifies the poorest of valuations.

This provides me with a good opportunity to distinguish between exotelic and autotelic experiences. We embark upon the former for external reasons only; whereas, the latter entail those experiences that are intrinsically rewarding, ends in and of themselves. For far too many of us, it seems that so much of what we do has no value in itself – we do it only because we expect some benefit from it. For those of us that this applies to, the time that we spend at work is essentially just wasted. Instead of being viewed as an avenue for helping you to reach your greater goals, it is seen as being called upon solely to make someone else’s goals – or as is increasingly the case, a corporate entity’s – come to fruition. In this way, the time that is channelled into such work is usually perceived as being subtracted from the total available for living your life. This is to say that, many people consider their jobs as being something that they have to do – a burden imposed upon them from the outside or an effort that takes life away from the ledger of their existence, rather than adding to it. This is because many of us find ourselves in jobs that do not contribute to our own long-range goals and passions. The dissonance between what we want to do and what we actually do is not only sad but, also, completely unnecessary.

“The deepest personal defeat suffered by human beings is constituted by the difference between what one was capable of becoming and what one has in fact become.” –Ashley Montagu

Be the Master of Your Own Fate

We frequently choose to do things purely for the expected extrinsic benefits, even if it goes against our larger interests. Doing something merely because you feel you have to is rarely a recipe for happiness or success, and most certainly not when that something is the means for making your livelihood on this Earth. Now, I do not object to money; I too generally would rather have more than less. However, there are better ways to attain it than by doing something which provides you with no inherent satisfaction. Too many of us seem to have lost our passion for life. Alternatively, if you make your career something that you want to be doing because you know that is it is the right thing for you to do, you will never have to work another day in your life. Your work will be play. Ultimately, I would auger to bet that the pervasive listlessness that characterizes contemporary society would largely be erased and replaced with a newfound energy if less and less of us were willing to exchange a paycheque for our passion, but instead sought an alliance of the two.

More pointedly, have you ever known anyone working to be happy? In my experience such people have one thing in common: they're not very happy. On the other hand, if you live your life in pursuit of what matters most to you, and you do your work with people whose friendship you value, you will have all the happiness you need. In this sense, happiness is simply a by-product of a life well lived. An additional benefit is that when you do something that you genuinely feel connected to, your interest and mental focus will bring new energy to the task. In this way, your work will improve along with the quality of your life; conversely, when work is no more than a means to an end, quality suffers. For this reason, many people find that when they dismiss the morals of our money culture their passion brings them not only meaning and significance, but greater financial reward as well. Accordingly, I’ve found that the most successful people often aren’t those directly pursuing conventional notions of success; instead, they’re working hard and persisting through difficulties because of their internal motivations and their desire to accomplish something that matters to them.

The importance of this cannot be overstated. I'm one of those authenticity seekers and I truly believe that I’m not alone. People go to work for more than just financial rewards. They go to work to be a part of something. And those who find inner alignment with their work are able to bring all of themselves to their endeavors. Equally, someone who finds their work and passion to be at cross-parallels is likely to feel that they are unable to bring their whole selves to the foremost task in their life (if not in importance, then in time spent). This is a poor use of the limited amount of time that exists in the hourglass of life, and such a misalignment between our true selves and how we devise the hours of our days is unlikely not to manifest additional problems. For instance, after a while these people often find that they’ve been living so long in the house of mirrors that they begin to mistake the image they were projecting for who they really are. If my authority in this respect comes across as a bit bullish, it is only because I was once one of them.

Sure, you are busy. But as Henry Thoreau said: “It is not enough to be busy, so are the ants. The question is what are you so busy about?”

Live with the Knowledge that Time is An Inelastic Resource

[A brief disclaimer before we move forward: I believe strongly in helping people to challenge their own assumptions. That is, to challenge their beliefs and, when the facts dictate, change them. While I know men’s lives are not always wholly consistent with their ideals – and, on the aggregate I’m certainly no different in this respect – I am not writing anything here, nor will I moving forward, that I am not prepared to practice or do myself].

See I’ve learned firsthand how so very easy it is to get caught up in the thick of thin things, to lose yourself in something because it’s lucrative and carries social approval, rather than because it holds any great meaning to you personally. The paper chase of law school, which concentrated far more on testing than education, resulted in my becoming great at jumping hoops and meeting targets but terrible at choosing which questions I should be asking or those hurdles that were worth overcoming in the first place. Consequently, the script given advised that the best law students were employed with the biggest corporate law firms. I obediently followed instructions.

I soon found myself surrounded by people who possessed robust resumes and lofty academic credentials; however, and most unfortunately, one doesn’t necessarily learn to be a better person in school. On the whole, they were far more talented than I was or am, and they certainly came from more esteemed backgrounds but they also knew it. There was a certain carried sense of entitlement and misplaced hubris that gave them an exalted sense of market value that I never did understand. For the most part, they generally seemed to feel as though the world owed them something far in excess of their service and even in advance of their performance. I may not have completely comprehended where this entitlement came from exactly but, as a farm-boy from Southern Ontario, I knew that putting the cart before the horse was neither beautiful nor useful. Ultimately, after having worked with and met a great number of corporate lawyers and never finding even one who bore the slightest resemblance to me, I knew I was merely counting the minutes. My colleagues and I had, so far as I could tell, absolutely nothing in common. To be quite honest, I thought as seriously of being a life-long corporate lawyer as I did about becoming a hippopotamus. Nonetheless, I persisted, not because I read the office memo and slowly bought into it but on the notion that copping out in order to get my finances to the point that my bank account could no longer be balanced with an abacus was a good idea. Yet, I knew from the countless cups of coffee that I needed to drink just to get through it that this wasn’t the right decision at that time – but then, life is not always a matter of making the perfect decisions but, rather, a matter of what we take away from the choices that we make.

To that end, life in a corporate law firm taught me some of the most important lessons in my short life. It taught me how easy it is to get caught up in an activity trap, in the busy-ness of life, to work harder and harder at climbing the ladder of success only to discover that it’s leaning against the wrong wall. This is also how I discovered that it’s possible to be busy, very busy, without being particularly effective. See, I knew I was unhappy with my work but I don’t remember ever stopping to analyze where it all fit in my life’s equation. To be fair, my days seemed to be fragmented into such short intervals that it precluded any time for meaningful observations or deep reflection - and I don’t think that I’m alone in this respect, I’m inclined to believe that it happens all too often and to far too many. We’re so wrapped up with egotistical things: our career, having enough money, paying the rent, getting a better car, maintaining all the things we already have – we often forget to take the time to ask whether we’re directing our energy in the right places. We don’t get into the habit of standing back and looking at our lives and saying: is this all? Is this what I want? Is something missing?

It was questions like that which eventually got to me.

I could both see and feel the deep disconnect between my work and my heart. There was so much more that I had wanted to do with my life. So much more that I had wanted to become. Without sounding too trite, we all consciously or subconsciously know of the forks in the road of life. We understand that frequently there exists an easy, convenient path and then a harder path to integrity and purpose and that the two are rarely one and the same. We are constantly revealing the substance of our character in how it is that we navigate through these choices. As I know of no other way of making these choices more visible than by walking it myself, it’s at this juncture that I’ll digress from this entry to be followed with one which will embark to you my own intellectual and spiritual journey or, more specifically, of how it is that I learned the humility to run my own race.

Sources:
Anieleski, Mark. "The Economics of Genuine Happiness"
Covey, R. Stephen. "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People"
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. "Flow"
Pink, H. Daniel. "Drive"
Sharma, Robin. "Who Will Cry When You Die?"
Thoreau, Henry David. "Walden"

SHATTERING THE MIRROR: the All-Pervasive Introspection of 21st Century Life

2012-08-19T00:33:00.000-07:00

I’m going to say something that you might not expect of me: our generation is far too introspective. Being introspective is not, of course, a negative thing in and of itself; in fact, striving for personal understanding and improvement is commendable and can have an overwhelmingly positive effect on both individuals and their society. However, in the context of a culture that already preaches a form of hyper-individualism that would’ve taken aback Adam Smith himself, such focused self-discovery often appears to be all-consuming and to the exclusion of other deliberations. More specifically, in our single-minded self-reflection we rarely appear to even notice, much less consider, the problems that are faced by others and the meanings ascribed to their enduring struggles in everyday life. This has arguably produced an even greater level of distance and disconnection between people and the world in which they live.

The Introspective Approach

I would like to commence by drawing a distinction between introspection and what I'll call "outrospection". In the 21^st century, most of us are preoccupied only with the former – the idea that the way to find meaning in our lives is to look inside ourselves, to our drives and priorities – and we seem content to completely ignore the latter – the idea that the way to discover how to live contentedly is to uncover how others see the world, to put yourself in their shoes. These approaches to finding meaning in the art of life should not be treated as mutually exclusive; alternatively, they ought to be used together with the goal of developing a proper balance between them. Currently, this is patently not the case and, as an ironic consequence, our present-day obsession with understanding and improving ourselves has been detrimental, not only to society at large, but also to our own personal growth and happiness. For instance, our affluence has never been greater and, yet, the numbers of people who report being genuinely happy are at an all-time low. I would argue that it is no coincidence that this has occurred at a time when all indicators of community and social capital have also receded. In the context of a society that is steeped in self-interest and trained to identify themselves with their personal accomplishments – which are almost exclusively recognized in the ability to amass material things – the consumptive force of the introspective approach can be difficult to resist and may even make it feel natural to omit any genuine concern for others. Simply put, intensive self-reflection and examination, no matter how admirable the intent, can have chilling effects on our relationship with the broader community if it is to the exclusion of communal considerations.

Let me be clear, I believe that it’s important that we examine ourselves – that is, that we attempt to understand our desires and motivations. Asking ourselves questions about what we want from our lives, such as: What drives you? What are you here for? What matters most to you? All are noble demands in any personal accounting and they are moral investigations that are worthy of both your time and contemplation. I firmly believe that when you clearly know which aims you wish to achieve over the course of your life – be they material, emotional, physical or spiritual – and you spend your days accomplishing them, that you will ultimately find eternal joy. The problem, however, is that in a commons and culture where all the voices recite both the ascendancy of the individual and the supremacy of material things over natural life, the above are not likely to be the sorts of questions that are posed in any self-analysis. Further, even if these are the questions being asked, in the prevailing context it is doubtful that the answers which carry the day will be those which place great attention on how others amongst us may see the world or deal with and find solutions to life’s daily challenges. As a result, any self-actualization that occurs in this process is limited in its application and does little to expand or widen one’s moral universe or understanding.

Egoistic Meditation

Perhaps I’m guilty for presupposing that the creation of an empathic civilization is a mark of progress for not only humanity as a whole but for each and every one us as individuals. After all, I’m not trying to tell you what your goals for yourself should be; each person needs to establish their own standards, values and meanings and I acknowledge that these answers will be largely subjective. For instance, my specific motivations and ambitions may not be the same as your own, nor necessarily should they be. However, what I’m referring to at this stage is not one’s precise priorities but, rather, more general human motivations. As, while we may not agree on whether or not a bigger house, faster car or better body are meaningful goals, we are likely to agree that increasing well-being and happiness are positive aims for us all. We quickly see that subjectivity only goes so far in such evaluations and this is where I want to focus my concern.

Despite being wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of any generation that has preceded us, dissatisfaction is widespread. For example, we in the Western world are awash with luxury and technology, among a list of other accoutrements associated with wealth; yet, suicide rates are among the highest in recorded history and the number of the rest of us treating our misery with drugs and other anti-depressants has never been larger. In fact, according to almost every measure of happiness, our lives are on the downswing. This is the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back: we have all the individualistic materialism but it’s not making us any happier.

If this self-indulgence was helping us to attain the levels of happiness we desired, I’d gladly step down from my soapbox and shut-up (for those who know me, that may be hard to believe, so you'll just have to take me at my word). In any case, it’s not, and in spite of all our current abundance many of us report longing for an earlier time. For example, 93 percent of Americans surveyed agreed that we are too focused on working and making money and not focused enough on family and community; 86 percent agreed that we are too focused on getting what we want now and not focused enough on the needs of future generations; and, 87 percent of adults believed that advertising and marketing aimed at kids today makes them too materialistic. The combination of a bias towards introversion and a consumerist culture has placed many of us in a trance-like coma of over-consumption, condemning us to seek meaning where it cannot be found and does not reside. Worse, while the above would seem to indicate that we understand how out of proportion our focus on individualistic materialism is, a response nonetheless appears to be lacking. The reality is that consumerism has become the new measure of our self-worth and our primary means of experience. As a result, we increasingly find ourselves with more and nicer things but less and less genuine happiness.

Identification in Accumulation

Western materialism teaches us that happiness and well-being can be discovered through a high-consumption, luxury lifestyle. This too is individuated. Indeed, our introspective evaluations occur within a culture that conditions us to believe that our ability to obtain such material goods is evidence of, not only our happiness, but also our personal value. In this way, we are programmed to believe that the more we can accumulate the better off we are – even if others are unable to obtain these same markers for success; in fact, especially when this is the case. For instance, our “progress” is often gauged by those possessions and accumulations we have that are able to distinguish us from others – be it knowledge, skills or, increasingly, things. In this way, the version of advancement that is sold to us is not one that is designed to bring us together but one which fosters a further separation.

As the above makes clear, our ongoing obsession with the introspective approach wouldn’t be of such a detriment to our development as individuals and as a people if it weren’t for the realities inherent in our current consumerist culture. Modern Western civilization indoctrinates us to believe that we are imperfect beings unworthy of love simply as we are and that, in order to mend this condition, we must constantly strive to improve ourselves. Unfortunately – although these initial conditions are universal and inclusive to all of humanity – the journey in overcoming them is largely understood to be a personal one, taken on by each of us separately in our individual capacity, rather, than by humanity as a whole, united, and in the common effort and goal of advancing civilization. More, self-interest, even to the level of obsession, is made into a healthy means of promoting this ambition.

Personalizing this quest serves to abrade and erode social connectedness and sets the boundary conditions in a way which preordains our isolation from one another. For instance, if you are constantly looking inside yourself for answers to life’s big questions, it is quite natural that during this probing you will tend to forget or delimit the significance of those around you; unsurprisingly, and in turn, others reciprocate this lack of concern for you in their own analysis. As a result, the wedge between us expands, societal discontent grows in equal measure and, in the effort to bridge the ever-yawning gap we become more and more wrapped up in egotistical things. In this way, the approach becomes a self-reinforcing process and one which leaves us further away from each other and our personal happiness.

Finding Our Way

You’ve probably picked up by now that I feel we’re simply too obsessed with the self and all of its formulations. This obsession has limited the way that we pursue living the "good life" and has had unexpected and anomalous results. The more we look inside ourselves for an answer to our dissatisfaction, the more others withdraw from us – a vicious cycle is born. Under these conditions, it's only natural that we seek solace and meaning in the only place society and mass marketing tell us that we should: accumulating material possessions. This brings with it the constant stress of an unrelenting pressure to consume in order to fill the emotional vacuum that exists inside us. We’re forever anxious in the hopes that the next new, new thing will finally fill the void and each time it leaves us dismayed as it fails to give our lives the meaning we so desperately desire. And so, the need for fulfillment and unhappiness only grows. The more frantic and neurotic we become in our efforts to consume and hoard things we think might just finally give our lives meaning, show how worthy and wonderful we are and, ultimately, save us from our never-ending depression. It never does.

I would go so far as to argue that the very act of acquiring so much stuff has turned us ever more into individuals and ever less into members of a community, exacerbating the problem and isolating us in a way that runs contrary to our most basic instincts. Our current culture is sick with 'affluenza' and consumption and is desperately hungry for real meanings. Meaning that can only be found and realized through human relationships and the more of them the better. All of us share an impulse that is in favour of such social interconnectedness (a connection that is not merely superficial but deep and to our core). We are the most social of species; we need one another. For example, few people when asked to recount the most important moments in their lives describe moments of solitude. You can cook yourself the most wonderful gourmet meal night after night but unless you’re sharing it with someone it’s not going to give you much enjoyment after a while. The short of it is: non-material needs simply cannot be filled by material means.

I think what we really need is a more empathic perspective. That is to say, I think that empathy – the ability to imagine yourself in someone else’s life – can help us to overcome our current surplus of individualism and deficit of companionship. I know that some of you will undoubtedly criticize such a call for fraternalism as merely a reactionary romanticism against an unstoppable individualism. In a world that is dominated by isolation and the dehumanizing effects of urban life, it's easy to see why such an alienated perspective might prevail but I caution you against it. I’m not preaching against your being an individual. There is a very notable difference between "individualism" – I’m out for myself – and "individuality" – I’m myself and my society benefits from my uniqueness. My indictment against the one should not be misconstrued as a lack of the support for the other. The debate is always about seeking an equilibrium point between societal obligations and individual rights. Repeatedly we are brought back to the natural relationship that exists between the two – or what I call 'responsible individualism'. So that the next time we look in the mirror, maybe, just maybe, we’ll challenge ourselves to see more than our own reflection.

Sources:
Korten, David. "The Great Turning"
McKibben, Bill. "Deep Economy"
Rifkin, Jeremy. "The Empathic Civilization"

STEP ONE: Getting Started

2012-08-12T22:03:00.000-07:00

“Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with just a single step.” -Proverb

I’ll start with a simple confession, the works I’m about to begin to share with you are not entirely out of altruism. While I do seek in this forum to make a series of serious contributions to debates in what I see as the key issues of our time, the real reward for me personally is not in who reads that which follows or embraces the subjects discussed; rather, my main motivation for both starting and creating this blog stems from a deep, driving desire to learn. I have an insatiable appetite for information, a natural flair for research, an affection for serious speakers and an earnest appreciation for critical thought. In short, I love learning.

However, that is not say that I don't hope that by reading these postings I can provide you with the inspiration and energy to get involved with these issues yourself – whether intellectually, physically, financially, spiritually, or all of the above. Ultimately, I would like for this blog to invite discussion and, hopefully, action. If I do my job well, by the end of our journey together you will become as interested and passionate about the pursuit of knowledge and truth in these areas of human concern as I am. To that end, my promise to you is that in the postings that follow I will impart a cornucopia of knowledge on matters and events that are worthy of not only your time and attention, but your commitment and most sincere regard.

And, yet, although I am someone who is very much engaged in these issues and who actively seeks to remain fully apprised and informed, I am also quick to concede that my own knowledge and understanding is far from complete. In fact, I’m not the world’s leading authority or even a noted expert on any of the topics that are to follow but I am someone who has taken the time and effort to read through and analyze the publications of those who are. I know that makes me, at best, a very diligent student and an imperfect practitioner of the remedies and solutions that have been developed by others. Nonetheless, I’m sure that my opinions will often come across as objective proofs. This has much to do with both my personality generally and my profession more particularly. As a lawyer I’m accustomed to operating in a role of pure advocacy, where the goal is of course to “win the argument”; however, where inquiry and advocacy are combined – such as in the present forum – the goal is no longer to “win the argument” but to find the best argument. Accordingly, I like to say that my opinions herein are strongly stated and loosely held – strongly stated in order that my points are clear and lucid but loosely held so that new facts and persuasive arguments of others can get at them and change them where necessary. Thus, what I offer you is a rough draft for raising awareness and disseminating information about the issues of our age. It is designed to encourage others to make better drafts. If it does that, it has served its purpose. In this instance, it could be said that the map is far less important than the compass.

The above should not, however, be taken to infer that my arguments are anything less than balanced and fully researched, it is only to say that I’m not so arrogant as to ignore other positions (provided they are informed and presented in accordance with the same standards for critical thought and discussion). I myself am beholden to no institution or title and I am wary of people who are incapable of seeing virtues in arguments for differing or opposing viewpoints. My thoughts are guided solely by a life that I have dedicated to the pursuit of truth. Therefore, I will not subjugate my understanding or prostitute either my tongue or my pen to any cause or ideology. More specifically, I do not believe that the solutions for society are going to come from the Left or the Right or the North or the South but, rather, from the grassroots of society – that is, people who feel compelled to do something and I sincerely doubt that this urge from within them (as with myself) will have much, if anything, to do with their political leanings or their particular location on this planet.

Nevertheless, these writings do have an overtly political purpose. They aim to encourage you to not only change the way that you live but also to get engaged, involved and active in forcing our government and corporations to make such changes easier for us all. In this respect, my intention is to make each blog entry a comprehensive and freestanding essay on particular issues deserving of your consideration. I will speak to many fundamental and global issues in this process, not because my interests are scattered and varied (which they are) but, rather, because I see all of these issues as intimately related to one another. More, it is my hope and expectation that as you read along they will help you to see these interconnections for yourself. In this way, these writings will serve to bridge the gaps that permeate our understanding by discussing issues pertaining to social justice and then seeking to connect-the-dots that are related to human rights, environmental degradation and larger deficits that exist in democracy.

Lastly, this blog is being written to be read and, so, I will be keeping it clear of footnotes and the usual grim apparatus of academic scholarship; essentially, I have tried to write something that you will enjoy reading. Don’t let that lead you to conclude that what I have to say is just a load of froth. My felicity to the facts will be both assured and certified. Underpinning each of these postings you will find a listing of the academic sources that were relied upon. Yet, I will not be supplying you with a full citation including pagination or paragraphs as schooling has made you accustomed. The reason for this is not only to keep the entries clean and readable but also in order to leave it to your individual curiousity to regard the whole of the author’s work - just as I have. See, I want us to get away from our facile understanding of people, things and events and to learn to study the whole. Equally, don’t regard what I have to say because I list a plethora of sources, spout off an endless blast of ‘factoids’ or write with a modest dose of eloquence, regard it because you seek to expand your own understanding and to contribute to the dialogue in a way that expands mine and others.

In short, you will find that this blog is for everyone who wants a better understanding of the world around them. It is for everyone who wants a better life and a better world, and who is looking for the practical tools to realize these goals. This is true whether you are someone who is struggling to make ends meet or striving to be a master of the universe. That is, no matter your present position, status or title, I believe that the material found on this site will be relevant to not only you but to your family and your future. It is intended for all those who harbour an honest appreciation and desire for the truth: discovering it, sourcing it and sharing it.

Now, together, let us take this first step.

Suggestions for Topics Moving Forward are Welcome:

What would you like to learn about in the next year? In the next week? Today?

CROSSING BORDERS TO MAKE A [small] DIFFERENCE

2011-07-18T14:10:00.001-07:00

I’m Nick Leeson, an international legal intern from Canada and I’m staying in West Africa for 4 months (17 weeks). As I write this, I’m 3 months into my volunteer work here and, looking back on the time that I have already spent in Ghana and Togo, it is unbelievable how much I’ve experienced: I will never forget my first trip to a Ghanaian hospital; the smiles on the faces of the children at the orphanage each time I come to visit; the beauty of Lomé’s beaches; or, my first time eating the traditional meal “Fufu”.

Over the years, both my work and education have provided me with ample opportunities to see much of the world but never in the same context as my time here in Africa. In truth, as a tourist and a backpacker travelling through places I rarely had the chance to do much more than “see the sights” and never felt I was actually helping the people I encountered. My time volunteering in West Africa has changed that: I’ve been able to contribute my personal expertise, knowledge, skills and labour with those in one of the poorest parts of the world.

I’ve probably experienced just about every emotion since I arrived – both good and bad. I’ve seen incredibly uplifting sights and those which have left me awake at night searching for answers. At times I’ve felt very proud of my achievements, and at other times deeply frustrated that I couldn’t do more. Yes, you will quickly come to grips with the realization that you are not going to single-handedly change the world in one trip; yet, by joining an aid effort you will make a positive impact in a way that buying wristbands and donating money from the comfort of your couch never could.

I assure you that if you’re considering donating your skills to a developing nation, your efforts and time abroad will do far more than add “overseas work experience” to your CV. To be sure, this opportunity greatly enhanced both the depth of my understanding about development issues and helped me to gain the incomparable first-hand experience of working in the field. It will also provide you with a real opportunity to get yourself out of your comfort zone – a new job, new culture, new living arrangements, new colleagues, new support network and, perhaps, a foreign language. Further, by working alongside locals in your discipline and allowing them to take part in capacity-building exercises (where you train local people in the skills that you possess) you can assist them in becoming self-sufficient. This approach of sharing skills, rather than simply money or things, is only possible if we are willing to make the real 'in the flesh' commitment that volunteering requires.

Yes, there will be frustrations, from the trivial to the immeasurable: getting used to “showering” with a bucket; having to negotiate for the majority of your purchases; or trying to understand how necessary medical treatment could be denied to someone by reason of ‘lack of funds’. But there will be unexpected charms as well: the excitement of your fist taxi-moto ride; the unexpected conversation with a local at the always busy Grand Marché; and the smiles, waves and chants of “Yovo” [white person] by children everywhere you go. Ultimately, in choosing to volunteer in Africa, not only will you make a very unique contribution to improving one of the world’s most underdeveloped regions, but you will also gain an experience that will stay with you for the rest of your life.

I’m nearly finished my volunteer commitment here and, while I’m looking forward to seeing my family and friends again, it is hard to imagine that I will soon have to say goodbye. My time here has provided me with the opportunity to work on a daily basis with and for people on issues that truly have a human impact. This experience has forced me to reassess what is truly important in life and where it is that I should focus my own priorities. For these and many other reasons, volunteering abroad was quite simply the best thing I have ever done. In short, if you’re thinking about assisting Africa (or any other developing region for that matter) by volunteering your time and skills, DO IT! It promises to be one decision that you’ll never regret.

UNICEF & the MDGs

2011-07-18T14:06:00.000-07:00

BP Oil Disaster from an Albertan Perspective: (see link attached)

2010-06-07T10:44:00.000-07:00

Regressive Effects of a Civilizational Oil[Money] Addiction