Rudydale
Recently, a treasured mentor of mine made a wise play on words. He said, “We can spend our lives seeking to build an ecosystem of relationships, or we can forfeit that vision by creating an egosystem.” That’s clever. And true.
We’re all capable of putting our energies into an egosystem. It’s not always because we’re feeling especially prideful or grandiose, though it might be. But it seems especially true when we’re acting out of insecurity — when we let jealousy overtake us, when we are petty, or when we are so fearful that someone will supplant or diminish us that we decide to spend a great deal of time trying to make others small.
First and foremost, this is a tragedy for anyone who is harmed by those actions. But it’s also a tragedy for us. We’re missing out on a better ecosystem of care, trust, belonging, and communal knowledge.
We don’t have to look far to find people exercising power through the model of an egosystem. But we are also capable of making our own lives smaller by living in similar ways.
I hope this is a challenge and an encouragement. There’s always a better invitation.
—Renee Roederer
