John Godden, Founding Board Member and current President
May 29, 2020
If COVID-19 has done one thing, it has removed most distractions from our daily routines. More time to reflect has reminded me that I am not what I do or what I have done. It’s easy for us to define our identity by a job, a role or a position in a group of people. Each of us may have to redefine ourselves, in the new normal, after this pause.
“Being” is what is left when we pull away the content in our lives. Vision is looking forward to where we want to go, but revision is making changes, and that is actually a harder task. Human beings are built for survival for the short term. We’re not especially good at planning for the long term.
We have to figure out what is working with the old normal and apply those things to a new definition of our future. This process does not happen outside of each person. It happens by each person making the small changes they can in their own sphere of influence.
The Sustainable Housing Foundation has been around for approximately 15 years. It seeks to engage people at the grass roots level, as individuals, who come together in a collective to change the aggregate. As the foundation’s founder, I plan to continue to reach out virtually. As soon as it is possible, we will start having our dinners and think tanks again.
We are the authors of our own destinies and the pandemic has provided us with a challenge where we can learn to work together to create a better future for the planet.
Stay safe and keep the faith.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.” – Abraham Lincoln