A friend and I were discussing the ways the world has changed over time as well as the ways it has stayed the same. True confession: I brought it up, because it’s one of those things I think everyone should think about, especially those who want to do good. My friend falls into that category, and I believe you do too.
The first bottom line to the whole thing is this: in all of the generations from Adam and Eve to me and you, people have not changed. All over the world, people are people. They always have been, and reason tells us they always will be.
The second bottom line is that cultures around the world can and do change, but never on their own.
The third and final bottom line is that how we do things changes all the time. But, because people are still people, we are still doing the same things people have always done.
What’s different?
When I was a boy of 12 and I wanted to be entertained, I walked to the movie theater downtown. It was less than a mile one way. Now a boy of 12 can watch a movie on his phone or stream it on TV. No walking is required, and no theater is needed.
You probably have a dozen of those comparisons: we do the same thing in different ways. Cars instead of horses, for instance.
People have always written. The tools used to do that have changed dramatically. Likewise the ways in which we consume what has been written has changed.
The reach we have to do good has also changed in amazing and wonderful ways. Friends in Singapore have prayed for and helped people in Texas who needed both because of the terrible flooding there. That probably couldn’t have happened even 60 years ago.
And evil people can now pick your pocket using an RFID reader. They don’t have to have the skills of an actual pickpocket, just some technology they can buy on Amazon for a few hundred dollars.
People as a group haven’t changed. Some are good, and some are evil.
Changing cultures
In our context “culture” is the word we use to describe the attitudes and behavioral characteristics of a group of people. Companies have a culture, schools have a culture, families have a culture, and so on. Some towns, some areas, and some countries have an identifiable culture.
When I worked in Silicon Valley, the culture at Intel was legendary for its intensity. The cultures at Netscape, and later Google, were legendary for how many people slept in the office every night of the week.
I met a terrific fellow this week who played golf professionally and has now become a professional club fitter and occasional teacher of golf. He used to work for a very large and successful club manufacturer, and he was well compensated. But for him the money couldn’t overcome what he felt was a poor culture.
What can change a culture is leadership. It is something we specialize in at Do Good U, so if your culture isn’t where it should be, let me know and we can help you. In the meantime, get to know the culture of your home, your workplace, and anyplace else you hang out. It really is useful to understand those cultures.
People are people
If time travel existed, you could go back as far as you wanted and fit right in. It is why you can read Les Miserables (published in 1862) today and see yourself in the story. Canon in D (the Pachelbel Canon) was composed in the late 1600’s, and it is still used in weddings in 2025.
Today we can still relate to Amazing Grace (lyrics from 1772), Alice in Wonderland (1865), Superman (1938), and of course The Bible (really, really old). Why? Because we are the same. We have the same desires, feel the same feelings, make the same mistakes, and do the same good.
Why is that important? Because it allows us to learn from history, the greatest repository of wisdom and knowledge outside of God himself. But do we take advantage of it?
Rarely, because we labor under the illusion that we are different, that our experiences are unique, that people older than us don’t understand what we’re going through. Every generation has been that way, which simply proves the point.
Individual people can change
In 1978 Bob Seger (pictured) released Still The Same, a great song about people who get by on charisma, gambling that their charm and wiles will get them by, at least for a while. All of us have met people like that. Some of us have been that.
But while people are still people, we can change from one kind of person to another. My AI assistant tells me that “Personality is the unique set of characteristics, patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that define each individual.” That — who you are as a person — can change.
To quote the Carrie Underwood song Something In The Water, “Now I’m changed, now I’m stronger.” From that song to Man In The Mirror (Michael Jackson), to Changed, (Rascal Flatts), to several others, we recognize that we ourselves can change for the better.
The question is always twofold: do I need to change?, and if so, how do I change?
Listen to Jackson’s Man In The Mirror for a good starting point. Honest self reflection comes either first or second in figuring out whether you need to change. People who love you can also help you answer that question.
As for the “how,” history (a great teacher!) tells us that real change happens from the inside out. The Bible says, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
I’ll write more about that next week. In the meantime, examine yourself, your family, your company. What can you change for the good? That may be the most important question you’ll ever ask.
Do good. It’s already in you.
Still The Same?
A friend and I were discussing the ways the world has changed over time as well as the ways it has stayed the same. True confession: I brought it up, because it’s one of those things I think everyone should think about, especially those who want to do good. My friend falls into that category, and I believe you do too.
The first bottom line to the whole thing is this: in all of the generations from Adam and Eve to me and you, people have not changed. All over the world, people are people. They always have been, and reason tells us they always will be.
The second bottom line is that cultures around the world can and do change, but never on their own.
The third and final bottom line is that how we do things changes all the time. But, because people are still people, we are still doing the same things people have always done.
What’s different?
When I was a boy of 12 and I wanted to be entertained, I walked to the movie theater downtown. It was less than a mile one way. Now a boy of 12 can watch a movie on his phone or stream it on TV. No walking is required, and no theater is needed.
You probably have a dozen of those comparisons: we do the same thing in different ways. Cars instead of horses, for instance.
People have always written. The tools used to do that have changed dramatically. Likewise the ways in which we consume what has been written has changed.
The reach we have to do good has also changed in amazing and wonderful ways. Friends in Singapore have prayed for and helped people in Texas who needed both because of the terrible flooding there. That probably couldn’t have happened even 60 years ago.
And evil people can now pick your pocket using an RFID reader. They don’t have to have the skills of an actual pickpocket, just some technology they can buy on Amazon for a few hundred dollars.
People as a group haven’t changed. Some are good, and some are evil.
Changing cultures
In our context “culture” is the word we use to describe the attitudes and behavioral characteristics of a group of people. Companies have a culture, schools have a culture, families have a culture, and so on. Some towns, some areas, and some countries have an identifiable culture.
When I worked in Silicon Valley, the culture at Intel was legendary for its intensity. The cultures at Netscape, and later Google, were legendary for how many people slept in the office every night of the week.
I met a terrific fellow this week who played golf professionally and has now become a professional club fitter and occasional teacher of golf. He used to work for a very large and successful club manufacturer, and he was well compensated. But for him the money couldn’t overcome what he felt was a poor culture.
What can change a culture is leadership. It is something we specialize in at Do Good U, so if your culture isn’t where it should be, let me know and we can help you. In the meantime, get to know the culture of your home, your workplace, and anyplace else you hang out. It really is useful to understand those cultures.
People are people
If time travel existed, you could go back as far as you wanted and fit right in. It is why you can read Les Miserables (published in 1862) today and see yourself in the story. Canon in D (the Pachelbel Canon) was composed in the late 1600’s, and it is still used in weddings in 2025.
Today we can still relate to Amazing Grace (lyrics from 1772), Alice in Wonderland (1865), Superman (1938), and of course The Bible (really, really old). Why? Because we are the same. We have the same desires, feel the same feelings, make the same mistakes, and do the same good.
Why is that important? Because it allows us to learn from history, the greatest repository of wisdom and knowledge outside of God himself. But do we take advantage of it?
Rarely, because we labor under the illusion that we are different, that our experiences are unique, that people older than us don’t understand what we’re going through. Every generation has been that way, which simply proves the point.
Individual people can change
In 1978 Bob Seger (pictured) released Still The Same, a great song about people who get by on charisma, gambling that their charm and wiles will get them by, at least for a while. All of us have met people like that. Some of us have been that.
But while people are still people, we can change from one kind of person to another. My AI assistant tells me that “Personality is the unique set of characteristics, patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving that define each individual.” That — who you are as a person — can change.
To quote the Carrie Underwood song Something In The Water, “Now I’m changed, now I’m stronger.” From that song to Man In The Mirror (Michael Jackson), to Changed, (Rascal Flatts), to several others, we recognize that we ourselves can change for the better.
The question is always twofold: do I need to change?, and if so, how do I change?
Listen to Jackson’s Man In The Mirror for a good starting point. Honest self reflection comes either first or second in figuring out whether you need to change. People who love you can also help you answer that question.
As for the “how,” history (a great teacher!) tells us that real change happens from the inside out. The Bible says, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
I’ll write more about that next week. In the meantime, examine yourself, your family, your company. What can you change for the good? That may be the most important question you’ll ever ask.
Do good. It’s already in you.
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