I don’t mean to be melodramatic, but if I succeed at changing culture, what are the odds of me being shot?
[EDIT: I had no idea the New York Times would post its profile of me the day after this piece]
Sorry for the in-your-face title and I don’t mean any time soon, but I think it’s a fair question. Other people have asked me the question when I describe my mission.
Maybe you think I’m kidding myself that I could be so successful as to create enough animosity in others that they’d resort to a lethal level of animosity. I usually doubt I could reach that level, but I think I would be naive not to think of where my path leads.
If I succeed at my mission, I will help many people choose to improve their lives by stopping spending money on things that pollute and deplete. The richest and most powerful people, companies, and governments derive their power from products and services that pollute and deplete. My success might put some of them in debt. Debt prompts people to act outside of usual norms.
My role models including Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Malcolm X, and Abraham Lincoln. Mandela didn’t get shot but was imprisoned for 27 years.
I intend to help people restore lost values embodied in sayings like “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” “love your neighbor as yourself,” “live and let live,” and “leave it better than you found it.” These values promote connection, not violence, but people who have lost those values by definition practice something different.
If I do my job well, people will understand my actions, but I think I would be naive to think if I succeeded no one would want to hurt me.
Here is target from when I went to a range with a friend. My aim doesn’t look bad to me, except that if I remember right, the target was maybe fifty feet away.
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