“The Times They are A-Changin’”
“The Times They are A-Changin’” was the opening song as well as the name of the 1964 album by Bob Dylan. The last verse of the song would resonate with many today. It begins:
“Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
…
Seth Godin in a 2014 conversation with the host of On Being, Krista Tippett reminds the listener that “when the Industrial Revolution came, there were 20 years when basically everyone in Manchester, England was an alcoholic. Instead of having the coffee carts, they had gin carts that went up and down the streets. Because it was so hard to shift from being a farmer to sitting in a dark room for 12 hours every day doing what you were told. But we evolve, we culturally evolved to be able to handle a New World Order.”
Seth Godin writes a daily blog, Seth’s Blog and is the author of many best-selling books the most recent of which is This is marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See. During the 2014 podcast with Krista Tippett she quotes him:
“Four questions worth answering. Who is your next customer? You mean that conceptually. Their outlook, hopes, dreams, needs, and wants. What is the story he told about himself before he met you? How do you encounter him in a way that he trusts the story you want to tell him about what you have to offer? What changes are you trying to make in him, his life, his story? And then you wrote, start with this before you spend time on tactics, technology, scalability.”
Mr. Godin seems to suggest that it does not matter whether the product is a blog, a book, a new piece of technology, a new food product or a new way of approaching the changing culture in which we find ourselves. Recently I was listening to a recap of the various approaches over the last several decades to the so-called war on drugs. I think all of us can agree that they failed miserably. The various approaches to halting or, at least, significantly slowing down the current opioid epidemic has not been very effective. Even some of the best treatment centers do not have much success in helping individuals refrain from active, life threatening addiction for a long period of time. I was encouraged this morning to hear that some school systems are instituting classes on such subjects as decision making. Certainly, we all need to know the criteria on which we are going to make decisions which will affect one both in the short and long term. Still, as the high rate of alcohol use in Manchester, England in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution showed, there was other issues which members of the community had to work through. They had to find a new purpose or connection to the changes which were occurring. Most people who have spent time working on a farm will tell you that they feel a connection to the earth; a connection to the cycle of life. They also, along with mother nature, enjoy being their own boss. Suddenly during the industrial revolution there was a disconnect with the earth, Mother Nature and the place of employment.
Many individuals in communities around the world are feeling disconnected. Some are grieving what they have lost. Even if what one loses is a delusion the pain of losing it is still acute. Some have never felt connected. I have never spoken to a recovering addict who did not report that before their active addiction they felt disconnected – not a part of. Frequently during their initial period of addiction, they might have felt connected to a community. That, too, fades as they find out that the only relationship active addicts can focus on and be true to is the one with their addiction.
We could explore applying Seth Godin’s four questions to our approach to those who lives are kidnapped or controlled by addiction.
1. What are the outlook, hopes, dreams, needs and wants of the addict before active addiction to drugs?
Most of us and perhaps all of “know” that it is the questions one asks which are important.
Let’s explore asking different questions to deal with the many issues which threaten to kidnap our souls and our hearts.
Written September 22, 2018
“The Times They are A-Changin’” was the opening song as well as the name of the 1964 album by Bob Dylan. The last verse of the song would resonate with many today. It begins:
“Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
…
Seth Godin in a 2014 conversation with the host of On Being, Krista Tippett reminds the listener that “when the Industrial Revolution came, there were 20 years when basically everyone in Manchester, England was an alcoholic. Instead of having the coffee carts, they had gin carts that went up and down the streets. Because it was so hard to shift from being a farmer to sitting in a dark room for 12 hours every day doing what you were told. But we evolve, we culturally evolved to be able to handle a New World Order.”
Seth Godin writes a daily blog, Seth’s Blog and is the author of many best-selling books the most recent of which is This is marketing: You Can’t Be Seen Until You Learn to See. During the 2014 podcast with Krista Tippett she quotes him:
“Four questions worth answering. Who is your next customer? You mean that conceptually. Their outlook, hopes, dreams, needs, and wants. What is the story he told about himself before he met you? How do you encounter him in a way that he trusts the story you want to tell him about what you have to offer? What changes are you trying to make in him, his life, his story? And then you wrote, start with this before you spend time on tactics, technology, scalability.”
Mr. Godin seems to suggest that it does not matter whether the product is a blog, a book, a new piece of technology, a new food product or a new way of approaching the changing culture in which we find ourselves. Recently I was listening to a recap of the various approaches over the last several decades to the so-called war on drugs. I think all of us can agree that they failed miserably. The various approaches to halting or, at least, significantly slowing down the current opioid epidemic has not been very effective. Even some of the best treatment centers do not have much success in helping individuals refrain from active, life threatening addiction for a long period of time. I was encouraged this morning to hear that some school systems are instituting classes on such subjects as decision making. Certainly, we all need to know the criteria on which we are going to make decisions which will affect one both in the short and long term. Still, as the high rate of alcohol use in Manchester, England in the beginning of the Industrial Revolution showed, there was other issues which members of the community had to work through. They had to find a new purpose or connection to the changes which were occurring. Most people who have spent time working on a farm will tell you that they feel a connection to the earth; a connection to the cycle of life. They also, along with mother nature, enjoy being their own boss. Suddenly during the industrial revolution there was a disconnect with the earth, Mother Nature and the place of employment.
Many individuals in communities around the world are feeling disconnected. Some are grieving what they have lost. Even if what one loses is a delusion the pain of losing it is still acute. Some have never felt connected. I have never spoken to a recovering addict who did not report that before their active addiction they felt disconnected – not a part of. Frequently during their initial period of addiction, they might have felt connected to a community. That, too, fades as they find out that the only relationship active addicts can focus on and be true to is the one with their addiction.
We could explore applying Seth Godin’s four questions to our approach to those who lives are kidnapped or controlled by addiction.
1. What are the outlook, hopes, dreams, needs and wants of the addict before active addiction to drugs?
- To feel a part of.
- To belong.
- To have a purpose or feel like there is a purpose other than working hard to buy more stuff which has to be maintained which cost more which leads to more work which leads to more stuff to reward oneself which….
- You cannot trust anyone.
- Adults do not seem very happy.
- I am different.
- I do not fit it.
- I do not want to fit in with the adults or other young people I know.
- Be honest about many aspects of the futility of the life of consumption we have created.
- Be honest about how one finds meaning or struggles with finding meaning.
- Be honest about the fact that all those caught up in the rat race of consumption are just as addicted. Their attachment or addiction is slower to kill.
- Listen, listen, listen to his/her concerns and desires.
- To help them experience what it feels like to take care of each other – to have a we.
- To explore with them ways of duplicating the good aspects of community living inside of treatment centers outside of treatment centers.
- To explore with them a new definition of success.
Most of us and perhaps all of “know” that it is the questions one asks which are important.
Let’s explore asking different questions to deal with the many issues which threaten to kidnap our souls and our hearts.
Written September 22, 2018
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