You vs Me
Hello Universe 259
I’ve been missing my late mother a lot as I near a few milestones in my life. Next Tuesday, the 24th, I will finish five years of writing this newsletter to you, dear reader. And then next Friday, the 27th, I will finish writing the thesis for a degree I started last year. Both of these were milestones in my life that she was looking forward to intently. I hope she is watching over me as I achieve them. I miss you, Mom.
To honor her memory, I am writing today’s poem based on a deep belief that she instilled within me. She always taught me to see the world as a positive-sum game. She said that if you see the pie as fixed, you will never have enough and will be busy stealing parts of it from others. But if you see the pie as growing, and collaborate with others instead of competing with them, you will create joy for everyone.
Today’s poem is in memory of that lesson.
Alright, poem starts in 3… 2… 1!
You versus me when the dishes aren't done. You versus me when there's only one bun. You versus me with my arms tightly crossed. You versus me and we've both somehow lost. Because that's the thing about you versus me, nobody wins. Can you see what I see? We're so busy pointing and keeping the score, we forget what we even were fighting here for. But us versus the problem? Yes that is new. Us together, yes both of us working it through. Us with our sleeves up, yes us making a plan, us saying, "I'll help you however I can." Us versus the problem, the real one, out there. Not you in your corner or me in my chair. But us, looking at it, together, right here, and saying, "Ok. How do we make this clear?" I think of the families who got through hard days. by working together and finding new ways to stretch what they had, pass it down through the line, without saying "that's yours and this here is mine!" I think too of history, empires big and bold, some fought and they hoarded, their grain was their gold. Without fail they vanished. They crumbled all the same. 'Cause scarcity's a lonely game where everyone's to blame. But those who shared? The ones who said, "come sit, there's room for you"? They're still around. Their children's children somehow made it through. The pie was never fixed, you see. It never was that small. It's only small when people think there's not enough for all. Put two stubborn people on the same side of the table, and watch them bake a bigger pie than either thought they're able. The thing about the pie is that it grows when people do. It grows with every hand that says, "I want to grow with you." So next time you feel that familiar itch, to point at the other and dig a small ditch, Remember to say this line, simple and true "The best things get built when I'm building with you."
That’s it! Thanks for reading edition 259 of Hello Universe.
It’s coming next week dear reader. Edition 260. We complete half a decade of this thing. I can’t believe it.
I’m curious to know, have you always been a “you vs. me” person or an “us vs. the problem” person? Do you see the size of the pie as fixed or do you see the pie as something that can grow if people work together?
While I was raised with this mindset and it is now intrinsic to my worldview, I find it hard sometimes to survive in a world that doesn’t see things the same way. Today’s poem is thus a reminder for my (and your) future self to stay fully grounded into this mindset.
On the way out, I found this old video that I made 13 years (!) ago using After Effects. I once used to design motion graphics too. It’s from back in the time when making content on Facebook was cool, haha!
I was very happy how well-synchronized the music and the visuals turned out to be in this video. My past self had good taste in design, I’m proud of him.
That’s it for this week, see you next Tuesday!