Interaction Focused Life

The original electric signal text message was sent on this day in 1844. The words were from the King James version of the Christian Bible. “What god hath wrought” was the message, made from electric signals that left marks on a paper tape using Morse Code. It was a different time. By the time we discover or rediscover how to communicate telepathically the message is probably going to sound more like “This is so cool!” Before we go there, there are some things we may still be learning to understand the old fashioned way. Put away your smartphones now, I have a story. To make the original Morse Code, they counted the number of times each letter of the alphabet was used in a newspaper, and decided they would represent the letters they found the least with a series of dots and dashes. The letter that was used the most got a single dot. This got me thinking. When there is an abundance of something, we have to find an easy way to manage it. When something is uncommon, it takes a little

This is the story of a time that I failed as a leader because I was unable to communicate what needed to be said in a way that maintained the trust of a number of important people. To begin with, I was not on the best of terms with the boss. There was a reason for this, which I am going to tell you, and also how everything worked out in the end. This was in a school environment where it was common for parents to communicate a preference for their children to gain exposure to native English speaking people with white skin. There was a  volunteer in my program who fit that description. While acknowledging the reality of our families preferences and giving it some more thought, I decided it would be better for this person to volunteer during snack time rather than arrival time to better meet the needs of our program. This person raised a concern that their absence at arrival time would not be presenting a desirable image of the school for families that who openly or implicitly expre

Some people find themselves in a position of power without doing anything. And some people work invisibly behind the scenes but do not have a seat at the table. Then there is me. I have the responsibility to sit quietly and listen to all kinds of people. Members of a society depend on their leaders to consider their voices and viewpoints in making decisions. If people present what might be perceived as problems that make the leaders uncomfortable, they are less likely to be given a fair hearing. Quick answers mean that everything on the agenda gets covered, and that's what gets recorded in the meeting minutes. Divergent points of view can take more time, and they can also throw everything about the seating arrangement into question. Avoiding those types of conversations are what ensures everyone stays where they're at. I thought I knew what needed to happen to make life better for people who did not have a seat at the table. Unfortunately, my attempts to represent those p

I had a childhood friend I could talk to about the nature of reality. One day, we discovered pretty much everything there is to know. The story of everything there is to know if you have an afternoon in your childhood to think about it. It's easy. The problem is that we forget. So something needs to be said about why we forget, and what is possible for anyone to do to remember. What if we are all infinitesimal specks on the body of some larger being? That was the question we asked ourselves, as I am sure children have been wondering for all of history. Well, let me back up a minute. The first question was, “What are we doing here?” What is our place in the universe?  Why this Earth? What is it possible for us to know about these things? Some would say God is the answer. Some would say it’s a mystery. Some would say God is a mystery. All of this may be true, depending on your perspective. So it’s a question of perspective. What we discovered that afternoon is that something rea