|
I love engineering, not like my father who was a civil engineer for a railroad, but as a "social engineer," doing the research and development of tangible structures which allow people to give their best efforts for the benefit of their community.
I've done events to promote peer-to-peer lending, growing potatoes in piles of leaves collected from city streets, celebrations of the International Day of Peace, nonviolence strategies, education about and collecting socks for the unsheltered, resolving conflict between the Occupy movement and city government, and built a mind-map, geographic map and database of the helping resources nearby. (Details)
Now, software engineers have joined with ECAN, donating their valuable time to build an interactive system directly linking the people who are acting compassionately with each other, so they will see their teammates and find ways to work together. After that is up and running, I want to build an index of community progress that documents measures of social well-being across a wide spectrum of issues.
It doesn't take much money to do these things. Although our technology can host many simple conversations that build enthusiasm, what makes these projects grow is in-person participation, which is the real cost involved, our time, talent and energy. The essential meaning of what it means to be a citizen is to be involved, to show up in public space.
Wouldn't you like to be a citizen of a City of Peace, a city that works for everyone? I don't believe that having the City Council make some grand declaration of this noble intention has any effect on social change. They've been there, done that. I would much prefer that the City simply recognize that the City of Peace does exist as an operational entity, after all the engineering has been done and is working.
I intend to stick with projects that are all-inclusive, tangible, user-friendly, mainstream, achievable, meaningful, measurable and common sense solutions to gaps in security, prosperity and quality life.
A City of Peace is just an idea until the blueprints are drawn, prototypes are built and tested, and marketing begins. You could be part of this process. It's your choice, now or later. You can be part of the designing, the early adopters, the early majority, the late majority or the laggards (who may have some really good reasons to not follow the crowd).
This growth is unstoppable, it IS happening, and I may have planted a few seeds, but the fertile ground is here, all around us, in the enthusiasm of ordinary people. Got seeds? Got fertilizer? What would you like to grow, to contribute to the communal feast?
~~ David Hazen 
 A remix with full-screen slides, in this video I describe the purpose and features of Stretching Our Actionable Reach (SOAR).
Recorded at the Ignite event on Feb. 8, 2019, which was produced with the generosity of the Technology Association of Oregon, Southern Willamette Valley Chapter.
From ECAN Board member, Kris McAlister: Carry It Forward helps makes life more dignified, by urgently addressing emergent needs; with logical, and measured means. If you feel compelled to contribute to a nonprofit in the next couple of years, I suggest you check out what that outfit is working on.
Honored to serve with the same level of compassion, and energy for real actions, as their founder, Arwen. She has helped me save people from dire situations, multiple times, and weathers meetings on behalf of her works. We are fortunate to have her and her family, and her organization's membership and staff, helping create change, with ideas that bring it forward.
|
From Juan Carlos Valle: 
