Nobody does it without help

I recently returned to my hometown in Minnesota after spending 7 months in Peru. There have been some pretty big changes. Not only in the way people perceive me but also the way I perceive my family friends and American culture at large.

Conclusion: We all need help

First three months I spent in Peru were very typical of most long-stay tourists. I found a place to stay and a group of friends to go out with during the nights. I lived with a few students and a few backpackers. We all had private rooms surrounding a kitchen area. Very comfortable and affordable.

But-

I had no plan to make money. I simply didn’t have (and still don’t have) the will to offer my skills in a market-oriented interaction with people. I certainly have goals I would like to achieve and big elaborate plans for the future. Still deep down inside there is a different motivation that doesn’t involve the acquisition of money as a step to achieving these goals. I happily spent my savings away while doing things I determined would bring me closer to my goals.

My plan went like this:

Step 1: Grab attention — but not meaningless attention.

I created a personal message, brand and I started putting my ideas into the social avenues with which I interacted most easily. I was successful at grabbing attention.

Step 2: Meet people and form a team (The Dream Team)

I met many people, too many to count. I was not the best at identifying the stories of each person I met. I just expected people to ask me what the hell I was doing. (Some did) Maybe some expected me to initiate a market-oriented interaction with them. I encountered many groups of people. We would have great moments together but I failed to communicate my ideas in such a way as to include the potential new members. I isolated myself further.

Step 3: Create things just for fun, gain momentum as a team

As a result I rarely (if ever) reached the creation step with people.

Step 4: Join the market as a business

I have no interest in market interaction. There are plenty of people who do. I encounter these people all the time. Some of my best friends have this skill. I expected to come to some kind of right brain/left brain compromise where we strike a balance between cash flow and creative process. Maybe I’d even get to learn a thing or two from the best.

Epic Fail

Instead the same group of people I intended to join left me all alone. I became an object of discussion. A problem to fix. A piece of entertainment. You know the rest of that story.

We all need help

Everyone needs some recognition from society that what they are doing is good and valuable. For many people that confirmation comes in the form of money in the bank. For others, this is not the case. Whatever motivates us, we all have this planet and its resources to share.

There is no possible way to have everyone working for somebody else. It is possible however for people to work for themselves. Everyone self-employed. We must all realize that the most important work we can do for this Earth is the work we do for ourselves.

Governments need not develop large complicated programs to organize people one way or another. We can instead quietly observe the global conversation between individuals. Individual people can propose projects that turn into global movements in a matter of minutes. There are infinite potential combinations for the formation of new groups and organizations.

Taking care of the planet also means taking care of the people

People are the magic robots that we have been trying to create to solve all of our problems. Governments from the very beginning have been trying to figure out how to bamboozle everyone into uniting together. We now live in a time when it is possible to fool the perception of any human. This is the ultimate checks and balances. Nobody can create 100% of the reality on planet earth without the permission of everyone else.

If we are going to make any meaningful changes to the planet, the changes will come from the decisions made by people. At the very least everyone deserves food, shelter, security and transportation. These are the gifts we give ourselves. They do not come from the government or corporations. They will come from the individuals who decide to make Earth a free safe and open place.