In early November, I logged off from my social media accounts on my phone and laptop, deleted the apps, and decided to refocus my energy. It felt odd to unplug for a week and a half, but it was a much-needed break from constantly trying to crack the social media code.
Since publishing Uplift and Empower, I’ve been trying to find the balance between short-term action and long-term vision. In the short-term, I want to spread the word about extreme poverty and poverty alleviation to anyone who will listen. In the long-term, I want to help eradicate extreme poverty in my lifetime. To do that, I know I need to think about the topics I didn’t write about in the book at length. I toyed with the idea of publishing my author’s note as a blog post in my first article series but ultimately changed my mind. Too many of the numbers regarding COVID have changed since I wrote it, and my ideas about the future of poverty alleviation are changing too.
Instead, I’m launching this new article series. These lengthier posts will partially be in response to the great feedback I got about the book from early readers and partially be my foray into topics I didn’t include either due to concerns about the length of the book or my fears of potential backlash.
I know now that the value of free speech lies in its ability to inspire debate and dialogue about important issues. So, over the next few weeks, I’ll be writing about topics like government corruption, capitalism, income redistribution, community-based development, and more. Not everyone who reads the articles will agree with my ideas or proposed methods to improve things in the future. I’m counting on it. Disagreeing about these topics is better than not thinking about them at all. As people read the book and blog and spend more time considering ways to alleviate poverty, I hope that we will all feel more compelled to act.
In the past few months, I have cycled between cautious optimism and pessimistic despair when thinking about joining the fight to eradicate extreme poverty. Sometimes the systems at play and the factors to improve seem too big and established to ever change. However, one phrase has given me hope recently: incremental change. Every day may not fundamentally shift people’s mindsets towards poverty and poverty alleviation; but day by day, post by post, and discussion by discussion I am committing to chipping away at people’s preconceived notions about poverty.
Poverty is about more than money, and alleviating poverty will require us all to spend more time uplifting and empowering others. I hope as you read Uplift and Empower, explore the website, and follow this journey on social media that important idea becomes clearer.
For now, I’m going to keep reading, keep writing, and keep holding onto the hope that a world without extreme poverty is on the horizon.
