I'm having some thoughts on "greatness."

Can we please abolish the idea of "greatness" as something that can he achieved or embodied individually? No one is great by themselves. It's literally impossible. 1/

At no point in all of recorded human history has turning inward, focusing on the self and the individual family at the expense of others, succeeded or been sustainable. When we turn away from each other we are just as off-track as when we lack individuality. 2/

There's a high that happens when you connect with people. I've felt it as a musician and a teacher--even with group work. What we achieve together makes us great and what is created individually can never be as good. Multiple perspectives will always see more than one. 3/

This is why fandom is able to write better stories than cannon. That doesn't make a creator's work less impressive, but when we construct our society and our interactions around separation and competition (competition to CONQUER) we set ourselves up for failure over and over. 4/

And that's one reason the "protests" over wearing masks, the anti-vax movement, the M*GA business, and all the rest frustrates me so much. Protecting you and yours, not only at the expense of others but by actively oppressing and hurting others, IS ALWAYS THE WRONG MOVE. 5/

When is the last time anyone felt *good* after being shitty? We've done the research. Humans achieve better stuff, GREATER STUFF, when we find a way to coexist and compromise. We literally burn down our civilizations every time we try anything else. Literally. 5/

It's just the older I get the more I realize how much we hurt ourselves by imagining anyone ever accomplishes anything worth doing on their own. It was never about dying courageously in battle and having your immortality written in the stars. 7/ (whoops miscounted above)

It was always about going home and living a good, peaceful life. Odysseus consistently hurts everyone around him. Achilles dies tragically. The Gods are kind of the worst. We've been schnookered by those who think they're leaders into fighting rather than trying to work together8

This is also why I hate the focus on "teaching leadership." Fuck leadership, teach people how to be good to each other. Teach people how to self-evaluate really honestly. Teach them how to be patient even when at their worst. 9/

Teach them to watch out for frustration, anger, hopelessness, jealousy, shame, and to counteract the tendency we all have to clamp down tighter when we feel ourselves losing control. That's the wrong instinct and we should be thinking and learning about that. 10/

Instead I see leadership seminar after seminar talk about "leveraging employees strengths" as if people are tools. Things. Objects to be "wielded." And then we wonder why morale is low. 11/

And all of it ties back, in part, to this idea of individual greatness. But the only way to truly achieve something great is to let your individuality connect to the whole and to trust your own strength enough not to lose yourself when you make that connection. 12/

In the words of many, many, *many* of my students: teamwork makes the dream work.

(this twitter essay brought to you by watching all the Star Wars) 13/13