How often have you sat staring at the long slender trunks of a wind collecting tree wondering how and why they got stuck feet first in a chunk of bright orange Georgia Clay or sloppy Montana mud?
Trees are like humans, we love to gather, huddle up, to keep the horizon full of surprises and continuously allow ourselves to be pawns in a game of chess with Mother Nature.
In a round about way, that’s how a poet opens the door when trying to explain Seth Godin’s book Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us.
Large groups of people instantly send my imagination back to the rolling hills of Wyoming where farm houses are heavily protected by up to two or three hundred trees. The Wild and Wonderful state is wide open until you leap off the highway toward the cattle and sheep ranches that feature endless amounts of fresh laid eggs and cats waiting to get warm milk shot between their purring lips by a playful ranch hand who’s first job in the morning is to make sure Sugar has her feed and there’s cream to be churned to make butter in the kitchen.
While riding horses I’d constantly stop and stare at the giant dots on the distant hills like a child who scans the sky every night for a universe they may one day touch.
Looking deeper into the soils that make up the paths we trample…it’s become our way of life to be a tree whose stuck feet first in a clump of energy called Mother Earth. It’s not such a bad place to be until you want to create motion. If the average dog year is seven human years…how long does a tree wait for a summer breeze to move its knees?
Seth Gobin calls large groups of people Tribes. Because of my spiritual beliefs, we’ll see them as Nations. It’s nothing new when we hear people get stuck, like a tree, somewhere between the right and left coast. When motion stops it tends to drown out other people connected to other people and more people then there’s a whole lot of nothingness.
Being in the Broadcast industry I’ve been invited to participate in multitudes of new beginnings; visions presented with extreme importance placed on making a profit for a non-profit organization. I’m such an easy sell but hurt like hell when the process put into motion barely lasted three months or a year. A great idea that lost its steam before the locomotive engine was designed to make more.
If only I could have been more than the music maker or the speaker who introduced those holding the gold plated shovel—
Seth writes, “A movement is thrilling. It’s the work of many people, all connected, all seeking something better. The introduction of the web makes it extremely easy to get involved with more peoples lives. All that’s missing is leadership.”
First and foremost…I am a tree farmer. My passion for these incredible creatures has inspired me to dig so deep, the roots of my everything are three inches from popping out on the opposite side of the planet. In my studies I’ve never met the tree that wants to be called King. One might be taller, thicker, features more leaves, drops it colorized rainbow by the end of August or features the prime landing spot for a passing completely out of air buzzard whose eyes refuse to stop looking for fallen squirrels and whatever else keeps their muscles pumped and moving forward. But not a single tree screams, "I am King!"
There’s more opportunity for human involvement today than during the days of manmade posters and signs that protested wars, voting and civil rights and later Presidents and lawmakers who couldn’t decide for themselves so they tossed it to a higher court.
According to Seth, today’s Tribes (Nations) aren’t quite so squishy because Social Media gets the word out. The majority of today’s technologies are designed to connect Tribes…to amplify their purpose. Finally! We can stop being trees stuck feet first in a chunk of mud living outside a house in Wyoming!
Yeah right…
PC’s, IPads, Kendles, Nooks and your car engine don’t move without leadership. They need someone to tap a key, push the gas pedal or download books from a website that only appears on screens that lead to your reality.
Desire makes things happen. It’s people like Seth who get into the heart, mind, body and soul of a passerby and give them permission to be something more than a tree. Don’t get me wrong…I love trees! I hug them tighter than my favorite childhood stuffed animal named Mumbo Jumbo but a tree can’t build The Ronald McDonald House…it can only help protect it from extremely hot sunny days or blistering snowy moments with flakes by the millions floating to earth like oversized feathers from a pillow you just slammed into your brother or sisters face during a fun filled laughter saturated attack that’s been brewing for weeks but Mom and Dad never left quickly enough.
This isn’t a call to action designed to greet your street with too much energy for your feet…leadership is what we all have the power to do...don’t do it just to do…do what you do by leading.
Amazon.com is one such Nation…or Tribe. Authors around the world are receiving emails today asking how the website can help them reach a bigger set of eyes. If you write, have written, want to one day write…your “desire” has put you in the right place at the right time. You don't need an overpriced publisher with snooty noses and bookworm straight A students to put your thoughts in places that can be read.
There’s an audience or Tribe waiting for your imagination to blossom like wild roses sending out scent waves to a passing deer begging to munch down a piece of natural candy.
It’s time to give yourself permission to grow…find a Tribe or Nation and take the first step of your brand new beginning.
arroecollins@clearchannel.com
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