Over the years, I’ve collected and stored wise and inspiring maxims that literally guide me through life. Many have come from early Sunday School lessons, like the Golden Rule: “Do onto others as you would have them do unto you” or “Judge not less you be judged” and “You’ll know a tree by the fruit it bears”. Others came from my mother, although she probably wasn’t the author. Many of her wise words continue to influence my behavior like, “Haste makes waste” and “You eat an elephant one bite at a time”, “Consider the source” and “A hard head makes for a soft behind”. And then there are aphorisms I gathered from speeches, songs, books, educators and activist making a point. For as long as I can remember, certainly as far back as the eighth grade, I was moved to action by the dictum, “If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem.”
It turns out that these powerful words originated with Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998), an early leader of the Black Panther Movement, former Muslim, ex-con, and civil rights author. I don’t recall where I was nor who first shared his words with me, but they became a part of my cache of wise and inspiring maxims to live by. In the eight grade, his dictum motivated me to start a school club to deal with the numerous problems I observed on campus. I called it the “Get it Together Club”. The mission of the club was to bring the student body together to improve our school from the bottom up. The effort was ambitious and notable enough to gain the attention of then Major of Los Angeles, Tom Bradley, who attended my 9th grade graduation in order to present me with his “Community Service Award”. Honestly, I wasn’t impressed by the beautiful plague and I can’t even recall the praise he heaped upon me in front of the audience, but I retain the satisfaction of working for the common good. When a reporter asked me what inspired me, I unknowingly quoted Eldridge Cleaver, “If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.”
Throughout my personal and professional career, I have continued to be motivated by Cleaver’s words. And now, in retirement, as I find myself daily lamenting the sorry state of human interactions in our country, his dictum rings in my ears. And true to my lifelong belief system, I feel a responsibility to do something about it. I had thought that I would write children’s books to address the moral character of the next generation. And I still might. But then one morning, it occurred to me that I really wanted to get the message out to people actively involved in our society today that we should be better, could be better, and must do better if we are to survive as a human race on this planet.
I began to work on a public service message to encourage people to be better humans. For several days I thought about what it really means to be human and then what it means to be a better human. Out of this deep thinking, I created “The Better Human Project” and I asked my daughter who runs a non-profit, The Inclusion Media Group, if my project would fit within the mission of the non-profit and if they would take it on. She welcomed the project and I have been working on the details as the project manager ever since.
In the coming weeks, I’ll share the details of the The Better Human Project and will point to ways my readers can help spread the message. In researching for this week’s post, I found another quote from Eldridge Cleaver that surprisingly sums up The Better Human Project. Of course, I’ve already added it to my wise and inspiring cache of maxims.
“You don’t have to teach people how to be human. You have to teach them how to stop being inhuman.” (Eldridge Cleaver)