Peter Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is an Emmy Award-winning composer, NY Times best-selling author and noted philanthropist. Currently, he is releasing socially-conscious music and touring his "Concert & Conversation" series in support of his book Life Is What You Make It .
 
 

As I will probably say in many blogs, I’m all too aware that there are people that know way more than I do regarding just about everything I write. Generally, I’m just making observations as a casual but curious (and concerned) bystander. Often I find that my thoughts about a lot of things haven’t changed that much from when I was, say, 4 years old.

So with all that being said. This is what my 4-year-old self thought this week:

I’m surprised that we’re not further along in our development as humans.

We’ve all heard the old, “If they can put a man on the moon, why can’t we have ...” (Something like – “shorter lines at the DMV?”)

But seriously, we’ve gone through some ice ages, fought a gazillion wars, built pyramids, and come up with a bunch of math and science and amazing art. We can put a man on the moon.

We can fly thousands of planes around the world safely everyday and build a network of satellites that move ridiculous amounts of data.

So why are we still calling each other names, trying to hoard all the stuff, and shooting each other?

Is this it? Can you really call the last few thousand years progress? If you’ve been reading earlier blogs, you know I’m a fan of indoor plumbing. And refrigeration is handy. There are plenty of things about our march towards the future that are nice to have around. But we’re still treating each other the same way that we have for a really long time.

Now I use “we” pretty generally. There’s no question that there are pockets of cultures and communities that were not constantly beating each other up in some way. But, on balance, I’m not seeing a great improvement in compassion and respect over time. 

What’s the story? I don’t want to believe that this is it—human nature, etc. I want to believe that we have some evolution left in us.

At this moment, we are the custodians of our future. This is a relatively new concept in its totality. Sure, we know most indigenous communities have a deep understanding of how their actions will effect future generations. But let’s face it: it’s easy to have that worldview when you aren’t facing problems on a global scale. Things are different now. So we have to behave differently. And we’re not.

And because we’re not, we’re going to quite possibly kill our children’s children. Does that get the point across? Do you care about your children’s children? Or will it be enough that you’re off the planet and you got yours?

I think that’s pretty much the world we’re living in. And, again, I use “we” generally. There are billions of people that have no real say in the matter. But we’ll probably kill their children’s children, too.

We’ve got some serious story changing to do.

I think some radical shifts in thinking have to occur. The good news is that we probably behaved pretty well in our deeper past. I actually think human nature is a pretty loving and kind nature. It’s culture that gets in the way. A culture is dead when a set of beliefs kills. And we have a lot of killing going on. And sometimes in very subtle ways.

I think placing blame just feeds the beast. That’s pretty obvious. So what do we do? All say “truce,” lay down our arms, cash in our stocks, shake hands, and have a party? Oh right— my 4-year-old voice can only take me so far.

And John Lennon and Yoko Ono thought of that in the '70:

War Is Over
If You Want It.

I hope we get some folks talking back here. Or over at Change Our Story. I’m not the “end of the world” type. But there are all sorts of graphs that show really terrible things happening if we don’t change our behavior quickly. There’s been a long search for unifying theories—it’s a classic quest. Can we find one that works for mankind?

What do you think? Share your story at changeourstory.com . Visit www.peterbuffett.com to learn more and Change Our Story to join the conversation on how we all can become active participants in shaping our future.   

Image courtesy of DaMenace through Uncyclomedia Commons.

Peter Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is an Emmy Award-winning composer, NY Times best-selling author and noted philanthropist. Currently, he is releasing socially-conscious music and touring his "Concert & Conversation" series in support of his book Life Is What You Make It .
 
 

As I thought about a Thanksgiving themed blog, I was sort of overwhelmed with various places to start the conversation. Personally, I have many things to be thankful for, but we all know that there are lives filled with such pain and complexity that it’s hard to tick off all the things to be thankful for without some sense of survivor’s guilt.

But is there one thing that we can all be thankful for? The obvious answer: the sun.

And then I started thinking about how hard it works every day. Massive interchanges of energy without a single thought of how important it is. It has no sense of whether we’re “entitled” to its output; no judgment about how deserving we are of its hard work. Of course, it’s not hard work—it just comes naturally.

It’s being perfectly the sun. It’s not trying to outdo other stars, or wishing it could cool off so we would visit.

You may be thinking at this point that I’ve lost a little bit of my mind. But I think if we could all remind ourselves—and be humbled by—the significance of this event that is ongoing in the sky that allows us to live our lives. And how this star is also a lesson in how we can become our best selves. It might bring us all back down to earth a little and remind us that the very best lessons are all around us in the natural world.

We will be reminded if we stray too far off the path that keeps us connected to the natural world around us. And the sun may just be the first in a series of these reminders. Yes, the climate is changing. And there’s no reason to think that the fifth major ice age was the last one. But the sun just has to burp a little to deliver the knock out punch that brings us back to, say, a few hundred years ago—before electricity was king.

So this Thanksgiving, when you’re listing off the things you’re grateful for. Remember old reliable—the sun. And remember that just like it, being fully you—fully present in your humanity and your connection to the world around you—is all you really need to be.

And you might want to keep an eye on this website: http://spaceweather.com/ 

What do you think? Share your story at changeourstory.com . Visit www.peterbuffett.com to learn more and Change Our Story to join the conversation on how we all can become active participants in shaping our future.   

Image courtesy of NASA Goddard Photo and Video, licensed under Creative Commons. 

Peter Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is an Emmy Award-winning composer, NY Times best-selling author and noted philanthropist. Currently, he is releasing socially-conscious music and touring his "Concert & Conversation" series in support of his book Life Is What You Make It . 
 

Here's another one from Mark Twain's "history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes" department. Take a look at the map below. I saw maps similar to this posted on various websites after the 2012 presidential election and I think it's fascinating:

We all know that we live in a divided country along various ideological lines. But this map illustrates just how consistently divided we are. I'm certainly not suggesting that today's Republicans are supporters of slavery! But this map clearly illustrates that some fundamental thing or things have not changed very much. What's the story?

For the answer to that, I'm asking for your help. I don't think there's a simple answer. And, I think more importantly, there's not an easy solution. When politicians talk about getting the country "back on track," what does that mean? When did we go off the rails? And is it one track or multiple tracks? Is it really possible to unite a country that's been divided since the Civil War; a country that only seems to come together when we have an obvious common enemy? (I say “obvious” because I believe there is a common “enemy” in our midst that many of us fail to recognize.)

A few observations:
• The country was and is an extraordinary experiment. When it was formed, the concept of a Nation-State was new. Nations of laws governing large landmasses and large groups of people was new. Free market capitalism on the scale it was adopted was new. And myriad outgrowths of this experiment—public education, for instance—were all new.

• For thousands and thousands of years, this is not how societies organized themselves. There were versions of parts of all these things. But nothing in scope or scale of the United States of America. My feeling is that this experiment is far from over. And this particular iteration of the experiment is one of many.

• I'm hoping—as I've said in the past—that change will come through a natural evolutionary process. I don't think we need revolt. But change will come. The future is far from a static march towards life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

• There needs to be radical thinking regarding how people organize themselves in community. And the thing to remember is that much of what we came from will serve us well in the future. For instance, many consumers are recognizing the value of eating organically grown vegetables. Our grandparents didn't have a name for that other than "food."

I have hoped that this blog would spur thoughts that will help lead us to a future where we see commonality in a shared humanity instead of arbitrary lines on a map that show us who's "with us and against us." 

Please write your thoughts or post links to ideas that might give us a roadmap to the future.

I’ll start with one I found interesting:
http://www.wildethics.org/

and another:
http://www.greattransitionstories.org/wiki/Main_Page
 

What do you think? Share your story at changeourstory.com . Visit www.peterbuffett.com to learn more and Change Our Story to join the conversation on how we all can become active participants in shaping our future.   

Image courtesy of Mod-n-Pop Studio, Dan'l Linehan.
 

Peter Buffett, son of billionaire investor Warren Buffett, is an Emmy Award-winning composer, NY Times best-selling author and noted philanthropist. Currently, he is releasing socially-conscious music and touring his "Concert & Conversation" series in support of his book Life Is What You Make It . 



“Where We Are” by Peter Buffett  

My book, Life is What You Make It, has been received very well. It’s been translated into over 15 languages and sold over a half a million copies. But every time I’m asked to speak about it, there’s a small part of me that just can’t get behind the title.

For many of us, it’s true. We’re defined by the choices we make and the stories we believe. Wrong turns become unpredicted life lessons that help us find our way. Seemingly impossible odds become just the thing that propels us into fulfillment of a destiny unseen at the outset of life’s journey. And certainly committing to a life path is the first sure way of getting there.

But for others, the story we’re born into breaks us before we can get through the first chapter of our lives.

Recently, I spent the afternoon with some beautiful souls—young women who shared their life history with me. I’ve seen what a broken system can destroy. But it’s almost always been on the other side of the world, slightly abstract. Rarely has it been easy to relate to someone’s story as possibly your own. But somehow this was different. These were girls that methodically and personally walked me through their lives from their earliest memories. Describing how their lives were shattered through sexual abuse at an age when most of us were learning to tie our shoes.

How do you say, “Life is what you make it” to those young women and the thousands of women (and men) like them? You don’t.

But here’s what you do: listen.

What I have learned over and over is that giving voice to the truth inside you is the first step in making your life your own. And when you listen, you bear witness to that truth ... that story. Only listening can begin to provide the safety that is required to take a step into life. And real listening—done without judgment, without needing to “save,” without being repulsed—is no small feat. But speaking truth is even harder.

My latest song, Where We Are, was written after meeting these young women. Because I know that we are only as free as the most bound among us. And as long as voices are silent, we will never know where we are as a species on this planet. We will never know how truly evolved we are—assuming that we’re defining evolution as greater acceptance, understanding and love of our fellow man.

As long as the truth is not spoken, we will be living a lie. And that lie will manifest in the societies we create. In every disconnected experience—whether it’s in the food we eat, the things we buy, or the experiences we share—if there’s not truth at the core, it will continue to add to the disharmony that seems to permeate so much of the world around us.

I truly believe that nearly if not all ills this society faces are symptoms. Poverty is not the problem, war is not the problem, obesity is not the problem, a broken education system is not the problem, GMO’s are not the problem, the 1 percent is not the problem.

These are all symptoms of massive disconnection. It is no surprise that the internet exploded like it did with Facebook being the biggest thing on the internet. We crave connection.We need to be seen and heard. We want to be loved.

But Facebook won’t get us there. We’ve moved from an organic ecosystem to a digital ego-system in a few short generations. How do we take the best of what we’ve created (like refrigeration, indoor plumbing, electricity, you know—actually useful things) and marry it with what has worked for thousands of years?

Why are so many people afraid? Hungry? Bought and sold? And not just somewhere else but right in our own backyard.

I don’t think this is human nature. I think we’re better than this. I think we’ve been better than this. What’s the story?

What do you think? Share your story at changeourstory.com . Visit www.peterbuffett.com to learn more and Change Our Story to join the conversation on how we all can become active participants in shaping our future.  

Image courtesy of mRio, licensed under Creative Commons.