I am a dot

E41: Vacation edition part 1

I am vacationing in Scotland with my family. I plan on unplugging as much as is possible for a digital nomad who wants to keep up her publishing streak.

I have set this edition 41 of the newsletter to auto-publish on schedule. Let’s see if I can use technology as an enabler, instead of me being led by an algorithm! I do not know where I will get access to functioning WiFi on publication day. And I am upcycling some older content that many of my recent subscribers may not have seen before.

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I am a dot

I wrote this personal rant-turned-manifesto during Covid. It seems to resonate with many people.

This is what I know:

I am a dot.

• I’m just one human in a world of 7.8 billion

• I exist at a specific point in time, stepping gratefully in the footsteps of those who came before

• Ours is just one of so many species that have covered this same earth for billions of years

• Our world is one planet, a dot in a galaxy and universe that is so wide and spans dimensions

I am a dot.

And like a dot, I believe in connection. Connecting with friends and family. Connecting a young generation with their elders. Connecting problems with solutions and opportunities. Connecting our future with our past. Connecting peoples across space, place and time.

I am a dot.

While a dot is small, it is not without impact!
You pile enough dots on top of each other, and suddenly you have substance and form, weight and shape which we can choose to use to move towards better.

I am a dot.

And a dot is a beginning.

This is what I believe

– that we are capable of amazing possibility.

The world – in all its glory, dirt and grime – has been handed down to my generation by all the hundreds of previous generations who battled through despair, disease, war, and so much more.

What do we do with it? How do we accept this gift?
Do we tie a ribbon on it, and hand it forward to the generation after us?
Or do we open it, take a hammer to it and offer up the shards?

I believe

I believe we are capable of generosity and possibility.
I believe that the generations coming after us are filled with imagination, moral courage and a passion for righting wrongs and that we are here to empower and encourage them.

I believe that we will create a new tomorrow that protects our environment.
As a society before us challenged the morality of keeping slaves though that had been a tradition for centuries across multiple cultures, we will not accept an economic structure that demands that we pillage the earth’s most precious resources purely to sustain our national economies.
Instead, we will protect all the resources, particularly the water and clean air.

I believe we can invent the technologies that allow us to indulge in the advances of modern science and technology, but make the move to a greener use of energy.
We can feed the Earth’s growing population.
We can find meaningful engagement for each human so they contribute to society as a whole - embracing robotics and AI as our ancestors embraced the plough, made bigger, not less, by technology.

I believe in nurturing the generation that follows us with compassion, but also charging them with the responsibility to care for Mother Earth, not to squander its resources.

I trust and I know

I trust in the power of connection – families, communities, and classes like Acumen & Akimbo, BASB & WoP that connect like-minded souls to each other so that we are able to foster a mindset of abundance and possibility. I am sustained by my connection to humanity and to nature: to the sunrise, the melting snow, the enduring cycle of tides and daffodils that bloom in the spring. Nature teaches us the resilience of rebirth.

I know that this world will survive past my race. So I believe in the Earth and place my trust in my generation and the generations after me to respect the Earth as a living being that pushes back when hurt but embraces when whole.

I will do what is within my power – stretching that capability to all its might – to make a green and wonderful world available to the next 7 generations, to gift to them as was gifted to me: the wonder, awe and amazement at what Nature can give us.

And in doing so, I honour the memories and sacrifices of the generations before,
as well as the powers that created this beautiful Earth
and bequeath it all to the generations that will follow.

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I am a dot and I believe are previously published podcast episodes and blog posts.
Have you written a personal manifesto? Try your hand at it. You, too, may surprise yourself with the depth of your convictions.

P.S. A little piece of vacation candy:

Our visits to various castles and cathedrals in Scotland reiterates for me my place in the broader history of the world, and the sacrifices made by many so that I can enjoy the privileges I have.

Want more photos? Follow my Instagram story @tiltthefuture. Dropping photos whenever I get decent wifi.

Those who followed my publishing journey know that “solstice” is one of my magical words. It was extra special to be standing on Calton Hill at 11 pm, in the blue light, watching people from different nations gather to honour the sun and watch the dying embers of the day disappear over the horizon.

See you soon. Till then, dear Tilters, stay healthy and happy.

Karena