#7: Mission

As I am sure is true for you, every business or organization I have worked for has had a mission statement, defining concisely its purpose for being. Mission statements may encompass goals and serve to focus the work to be accomplished, separating out what is important from what is not. As such, every decision to be made from the most significant to the most minute ought to hinge on fulfilling the mission. I can also say resolutely that every business or organization I have worked for has struggled to stay focused on its mission. Humans are easily distracted and struggle with the complexity decisions may embody.

In public discourse, I think we often fail to discuss the mission of our institutions and often proceed without building consensus. One might ask what is the mission of government and certainly ascertain that opinions vary greatly. Yet, if government is to serve all its citizens, then certainly the public must dialogue until some agreeable conclusions are established. Further, one might ask, "What is the mission of health care?" Given the myriad of constituents, I think the answer might differ greatly if you were the CEO of a health insurance company or a health care provider or a patient with a life threatening illness.

I read the latest op-ed column by David Brooks titled "How Would Jesus Drive?" Brooks discussed the Pope's New Year's Eve homily in which he shared:

that the people who have the most influence on society are actually the normal folks, through their normal, everyday gestures being kind in public places, attentive to the elderly. The pope called such people, in a beautiful phrase, “the artisans of the common good.”

I too love the phrase "the artisans of the common good." I think this might be a wonderful personal mission statement: I strive to be an artisan of the common good in all my deeds and decisions. I have been noticing that the common good doesn't receive much attention these days and service seems to be reserved for those with religious inclinations rather than as an important component of a civil society. Imagine how our social milieu might change, if each of us adopted this personal mission statement and became an artisan of the common good?

In this light, I thought I might make a first attempt at a personal mission statement for 2018, a compass to align my actions with my personal beliefs/my purpose/my reason for being. My hope is to center myself and remain focused. My mission may need some tweaking, but I want to share my first cut as it is written from my gut and may be most true to myself.

A Very Personal Mission Statement

Be kind.
Be generous.
Give to your limit; then give a little more.
Embrace change, encourage growth, cultivate hope.
Work hard for the common good with tenacity and ferocity.
See diversity and complexity; seek commonality and solutions.
Keep the stranger in mind in like measure as those most beloved.
Remember you are no more or less deserving of your privilege than anyone else. ~

Kindness

Stephen Dunn

In Manhattan, I learned a public kindness

was a triumph 
over the push of money, the constrictions

of fear. If it occurred it came
from some deep
primal memory, almost entirely lost-

Here, let me help you, then you me, 
otherwise we’ll die.
Which is why I love the weather

in Minnesota, every winter kindness

linked
to obvious self-interest,

thus so many kindnesses
when you need them;

praise blizzards, praise the cold.