Category: Commentary

Thank you to all of the veterans who fought for the freedom of the United States of America. I cannot imagine the bravery, selflessness or call to duty to which you committed yourself, and it is something that will forever move me.

It is impossible to argue that I do not take for granted the freedom for which you have risked your life, for no amount of thanks or recognition that I or anyone else gives you could revive what you, your families and friends could have lost – your vigor – your pep – your esprit – your life — your love.

My late grandfather, Clifton Francis Rogers, served for two years on the USS Rowan, landing in Nagasaki. Whether I was too young or it didn’t seem right, I never thanked him for serving, but his service was and continues to be one of the many things I admire about him.

My uncle John Goebel served. Thank you, Uncle John, for your service.

My uncle Guy Goebel served. Thank you, Uncle Guy, for your service.

My uncle Jon Palomaki served. Thank you, Uncle Jon, for your service.

It is just me or do you, too, ever look back at how you spent a day and wish you could have done more with it? Today was not one of those days, but I’ve have a few lately that, if I could tweak them a little, I would. I’m not talking about the days when bizarre or unexpected stuff happens that messes up what you had planned to accomplish. What I’m talking about is those instances when you chose to do a task that, even in the short run, didn’t have that high of a value to you.

For example, a few days ago I opted to sync my Google contacts list with my Apple AddressBook. This wasn’t hard, but it took about an hour by the time I sorted through stuff and shifted files around. This is a chore that I know will make me happy in the very short run. I’ll be able to say, for about 24 hours, that I have no duplicates in my contacts list, that the information is accurate and well organized. In just over a week, however, discrepancies work their way back in, there are two John Smiths, etc. So, I look back at that hour I spent and wonder why I bothered. Did I spend my time wisely?

Multiply that experience by several dozen and you get what I and most people in the digital age deal with on a monthly basis. I don’t have to look hard to find some transient discrepancy within my own little world that could use sprucing up. But why? What is the cost? And what is the alternative?

Why re-sort my storage shed instead of trying to write a book? Why search for duplicate songs in my iTunes instead of learning how to better invest my savings? There are a dozen trade-offs that I face everyday, and many times I make productive decisions, but there is also a lot of waste. The waste is getting to me because there are an increasing number of distractions (for whatever reason).

A certain order is necessary, and a variable amount of time and effort is required to maintain that order. But I’ve always believed in two things:

1. Little things done right can change big wrong things; and
2. Never let the big picture fall (too far) out of focus.

I propose that instead of doing something mindless and long-run-irrelevant, find meaning in something – even the little things. I’ll do the same, and the collective improvement will leave us both feeling better about our days past and our days to come.

Pop!Tech is a:

unique innovation network – a global community of cutting-edge leaders, thinkers, and doers from many different disciplines, who come together to explore the social impact of new technologies, the forces of change shaping our future, and new approaches to solving the world’s most significant challenges. We are known for our thriving community of thought-leaders, breakthrough innovation programs, visionary annual conferences and deep media and storytelling capabilities.

I attended the conference in 2004 when I worked for Ruckus. I vividly remember the trip north from Washington D.C. – arriving in Portland, Maine on a JetBlue flight – driving up the coast to Camden, Maine where Pop!Tech takes place – the classic coastal views of water crashing against the rocky shore – beautiful leaves full of red, orange and yellow – the Talking Heads blasting on my car radio. By the time I arrived in cozy Camden, I was on an emotional high like none other I’d experienced before and had no idea how transforming the next few days would be.

The conference astonished me. I couldn’t believe how many ideas, things and experiences there were beyond those I held personally. I tried to capture as much of the conference as possible by furiously taking notes and recording the conference on my iPod. (I didn’t know that it would later be available online and they had yet to start showing it live or post videos – now they do both.)

I quickly realized that there was no way that I could process all of the information being presented, and didn’t, and still haven’t! I’ve still got the notes and look at them from time to time. I’ve kept up online since, but the experience isn’t the same as when you’re sitting in the Camden Opera House elbow to elbow with a bunch of geeks, entrepreneurs, artists, and thinkers. There is an atmosphere to it – an atmosphere that I’ve found present few other places – Sundance to a degree, the Traverse City Film Festival, and a handful of undergrad and law school lectures.

For all of the schooling I’ve been through at the University of Michigan and the Franklin Pierce Law Center, I look back and must say that I am underwhelmed by both of the experiences. There are a scant few professors, classes, and individual lectures that moved me the way Pop!Tech did/does. There is a difference – conferences have exciting presenters and powerful streamlined flashy ideas. I don’t care. At the end, higher education should be as powerful as a good conference presentation. Students should leave each semester with an excitement and hunger for more information.

If I were to travel back, knowing what I now know, I would do only two things differently. First, I would major in English instead of Economics. I thought I would make more money majoring in Economics. Whether that was true or not, I now view it a foolish. I should have followed my heart and my talents, which both fell firmly in the English Department. Second, I would worry more about the courses that captivated me than those that fulfilled some predetermined study path – e.g., concentrating on financial economics, etc. I closed a lot of doors before I looked through them.

As I walk through life meeting new people, moving to new places, and attempting new challenges, I am slowly coming to the realization that doing is living – that if I don’t open my mouth or take the first step or make a decision then the world will continue and I will stay. I think back to Pop!Tech 2004 when I say that because although I took in a lot of information at that conference and it exposed me to many new things, I didn’t stick out my hand and introduce myself, I didn’t realize how much I had to give, and I still feel as though I’m hoarding my experience and knowledge. It bring me to tears, as I write this, to think about what I could do and what I have done and I feel as though I’ve let the world down. I realize that’s a very narcissistic thing to say, but the feeling of great personal potential is something I’ve come to believe is integral to being human. What are we if not potential? There is a bigger message here than me feeling a responsibility to make this world better – it is that we should all be doing our part everyday to make this world a better place to live in now and in the future.

With all of that said, I’ve been watching a good deal of the 2009 Pop!Tech conference via their live stream. I like the theme this year – America Reimagined. It places the focus on home, while showing what we can do to make a better world. I am personally setting goals for the coming year that will change the feeling of lost potential and make the world a better place for all of us.