Rodney Smith Jr. Disrupting the Status Quo for the Good
Rodney Smith Jr. is the man who is traveling to every state mowing lawns for the elderly, the disabled, single mothers, and veterans free of charge. He’s been the subject of the “feelgood” segment of all the daytime news outlets as well as various online news publications. He’s been lauded as a beacon of kindness in a world that feels clouded by the darkness of inhumanity. But that’s unfair to Rodney; his existence shouldn’t serve as a comfort that simply makes us feel good enough about humanity so as to prompt us to continue our inaction.
Too many people hear about stories like Rodney’s and feel like they are participants in his kindness by sharing his story via their favorite social media outlets. The problem is, by stopping after sharing his story, we miss the point of what Rodney’s actions actually represent. Rodney’s initiative to mow lawns across the country and eventually across seven continents is about more than being neighborly, his actions show us the power of disruption.
Rodney’s non-profit organization, Raising Men Lawn Care Service (RMLCS) is about more than cutting grass and giving boys across the country free tee-shirts and lawnmowers. It’s about more than him creating strategic partnerships with businesses that fund his entire operation including his travel expenses as well as his supplies. It’s about more than altruism and news attention. It’s about more than taking contrarian action to the self centered nature of the rest of the world. Rodney’s actions are disruptive because he is singularly focused on using his life force to do what he believes will make lasting change in the world.
His actions don’t align with “conventional wisdom.” He stopped pursuing his computer science degree to do what in many ways is much more challenging. He started a business and is responsible for everything that comes along with that e.g. managing employees, maintaining a website, cultivating strategic partnerships with business and donors, and on top of all of that he is performing manual labor and traveling everyday. By all measures Rodney’s actions don’t make sense, he shouldn’t be successful because he is literally giving everyday. But he is successful, and has been for the past two years.
There are always currents that we contend with in our everyday lives. Currents that influence where we should go educationally, personally, professionally, relationally, politically etc. and the people around us are constantly allowing those currents to sweep them into directions that assign them their purpose. These people live in the world of “should” they are constantly affirming what the currents say they should do and who they should be. Rodney has shattered this idea of “should” and replaced it with “will.” He has effectively disrupted the current and assigned himself his purpose by deciding what he will do.
Amidst everything that is going on in the world we have to be disruptors by taking action for the good. If enough of us make the decision to maximize the good that we want to see in the world by taking action then we can really change things for the better. Mowing lawns may not be your thing but find the thing you’re good at and leverage that thing for good. Give that thing to the world and keeping on giving it. The collective impact of disruptors has the power to change the flow of the current for the better.
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Young Men’s Nation’s mission is to provide the most impactful, scalable and continuous character development experiences for young men so that they can achieve lasting peace of mind and professional fulfillment on their journeys to solving the most pressing issues of our time.
