11/26/2023
My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,
My computer restarted itself this AM. It didn’t ask, it just did it. Is this the world we are entering, when computers & robots do their own thing? I’m not ready! Are you?
As usual, I am ruminating about change this AM & arrived at the question of whether I am an incrementalist or a radical. I got going down that rabbit hole by reading your quote about Gaza, “we have to take this a piece at a time,” & then seeing David Brooks arguing that to “stay sane in brutal times” we need to “be incremental & patient & steady.” He suggests combining a “tragic mentality” gleaned from the Greeks with an open heart, based on the Abrahamic faiths to “to lead with curiosity, lead with respect, work hard to understand the people you might be taught to detest.”
As I went on my Google quest to further explore incrementalism, I found David Altman blogging about going big by thinking small. He defined incrementalism as, “the idea that small changes in starting conditions can have non-linear impacts on a complex system. Single acts can serve as catalysts that can then affect system behavior and functioning.” He quoted Barbara Frederickson (BLF) who studies how “a micro-moment of connection shared with another… fortifies the connection between your brain and your heart and makes you healthier.”
BLF’s has lots of instructive constructs such as “positivity resonance,” “biobehavioral synchrony,” & “self-transcendence.” Her research provides scientific evidence for why “Banter Ministry,” an activity my Quaker Friend & I like to talk about, should be practiced frequently. Her work also explains why you are so healthy.
I hope your time in Nantucket rejuvenated you for the week ahead. Please keep an eye on the China/Burma border. Bejing has expressed concern over the safety of Chinese assets & residents in the area. Let’s hope they take an incremental approach to the situation & use diplomacy rather than violence to secure the area.
BYBS,
