Backbone

Remember Frances Moore Lappé who wrote Diet for a Small Planet so many years ago? Well, I just came across an article she wrote for Ode magazine entitled A Call for Guts that makes so, so, so much sense that I want to urge you to go read it. I can't really convey the message here with an excerpt but I'll tell you how it gets started:

Like a lot of us, I keep asking myself, How did we get into this mess? Since humans have innate needs and capacities for cooperation, empathy and fairness, which science now confirms, why does so much suffering and destruction continue? For many, the answer seems obvious: Humans just aren’t good enough; we need to become better people; we need to overcome selfishness and evolve into more caring and cooperative creatures. I disagree. Since these positive qualities are hard-wired in virtually all of us, maybe what we really need more of is something else: backbone.

Have you ever considered we’re too cooperative? Maybe we’re hard-wired to follow others, even if we should say “no way.”

Please go read the rest of it. It's short. And makes a truly powerful point.
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