Creative Democracy

A conversation with my daughter when she was five:

"What's that sign, Daddy?"

"That's a political sign for the upcoming election."

"What's an election?"

I did my best to convey the abstraction of democracy
to a 5-year-old. "Do you know what voting is?"

"No."

"Okay... Pretend we're deciding what to make for
dinner, and we're choosing between pizza and
spaghetti. Each of us gets to vote for which one we
want... Which one would *you* vote for?"

"I want pizza AND spaghetti!"

Suddenly *I* was the student, and the lesson was
clear: either/or, win/lose thinking is not something
our kids are born with. It's learned. Even if we don't
actively teach it to them, we teach it passively
whenever we take scarcity and competition for granted.

Today, pay close attention to your decision-making
processes -- your private "elections." Are they based
on scarcity and competition, or abundance and
creativity?

Are you willing to concede your contentious elections
and surrender to the creative process?

http://dailygroove.net/creative-democracy