DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

I almost didn’t go to the One World Summit last week. As is a regular risk in activism, I had lately been having a falling-from-grace experience in my amorphous journey into social entrepreneurship. I found myself asking the questions, “what the heck even defines social entrepreneurship?” And, “should I really go to this event if I can’t answer that basic question?”

 

But when the 7am alarm woke me and urged me to dress, arm with coffee, and catch my ride up to SPARK Boulder, I felt almost like I was headed to Church. The early morning, the group assembling, the quiet yet persistent vagueness of spirit quelled only by the resiliency of faith…

 

…  I’d been in this space before. I felt simultaneously comforted and questioning. Thankfully, I’ve been remembering lately that my integrity is often all I have to give. So I rose, dressed well, and pilgrimed up to the One World Summit.

 

While it didn’t (totally) solve all my internal questioning about social impact and my future as an entrepreneur, I’m so glad I went to #OWSBoulder.  The power of events like these are not in their achievement of a perfection, but in the innate resilience and humanity interwoven to the fabrics of connection. Creator Alex Jeffrey is a powerful force of humility and humanness, in the driver seat of OWS and his company, Onely Inc. In recognizing Alex and seeing his work on the human scale, I came out of OWS with a powerfully refreshing perspective:

 

Social entrepreneurship isn’t a narrow field, by any means; just as the entrepreneurs within it reflect a diverse array of skills, objectives, and interests, so the field of innovating social change must accommodate the breadth of heart we find in the human spirit.  Whatever the next steps in my journey to positive impact and social change may be, I am moved by the democracy of this field, and the diversity with which the people embrace new ideas. Even if, as my ebbing tide of desire and revulsion for titles flow, I decide to strip down to identifying solely as an artist…  Do I lose credibility as a socially-minded millennial because I fully embrace artwork as my medium for impact?

 

In the eyes of some, I’m sure I will. And while I can’t know what the future has in store, today I continue to unpack my heart in this crazy, wild world. In the depths of this inquiry, edging closer to my true path, the values of titles are falling away. My commitment to my creation in this life is beyond speculation today, or quantification and labeling. Which reminds me of a quote I favor, from a hero of mine; Zephram Cochrane, says,

 

“Don’t try to be a great [person]. Just try to be a [person, and] let history write itself.”

 

   In the name of fluidity and all that is organic, -- so say we all.

 

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.