Single unit value

Here’s a question to ponder about making an impact:

If we can only make a small amount of impact with our finite amount of time, is it more valuable to create an incremental gain, or create something new?

i.e., is 100 to 101 more valuable than going from 0 to 1?

Sure, real life is much more complicated than this, but the core question remains:

Is it worth focusing effort on something which is already OK, when something else hasn’t even been looked at yet?

Personally, I’d rather shift the margin than polish the centre.

Just enough foolishness

There’s a Franciscan blessing that talks about having:

…enough foolishness to believe that we can make a difference in this world, so that we can do what others claim cannot be done, to bring justice and kindness to all our children and the poor.

In a world able to measure more things than ever, we’re struggling to figure out how to measure the amount good in the world.

Maybe, we could focus on the margins: Instead of trying it understand if overall society is better of, there’s potentially some merit in simplifying the question and focusing on the poor. Positive change is easier to see when you’re starting with obvious lack.

It would also be interesting to explore the attitude of “whatever works for the poor, will work for everyone else, and if it doesn’t work for the poor, it doesn’t matter if it works for everyone else.”

In the mix, maybe we need is a little more foolishness to try.