Thread by @jsparkblog

A philosophical breakdown.
When I watch a sermon or seminar with titles like “Achieve Your Best” & “Healthy Habits” & “How to Succeed at Everything,” I suspect they only work for a certain group of people. Those who have. Those who can. Those with no obstacles in their path. 1/

This “believe to achieve / you attract your energy” mentality assumes an up-and-up trajectory with no variables and a perfectly contained environment where one unit of input equals ten units of output. It doesn’t consider systemic failures or baked-in environmental pitfalls. 2/

Hustle Culture is like those physics formulas where you shoot a cannon ball & you calculate vertex (height) & parabola (curve). It never considers the wind or weather or slight imperfections in the cannon. Those sort of inspirational advice-laced speeches only work in a vacuum.3/

I always try to imagine the homeless, hospitalized, and grieving watching these seminars. They are the people I weep with & serve. I know, the pushback is always “Obviously hat seminar isn’t for them.” But if it doesn’t work for the suffering, why should it work at all? 4/

When someone tells me “I would never say that to a hurting person,” why ever say it at all? Who isn’t or hasn’t been hurt? When someone says, “There’s a right time for that sort of advice, obviously not when they’re hurting,” if not now, why should it work for any other time? 5/

In these seminars, I always hope for how to handle the obstacles. Not to overcome them. But to live with them. Some compassion & a next step through the debris. Because we can’t always beat the odds. Chronic pain & racial trauma & systemic pressure will sometimes (often) win. 6/

I want to know how to handle burn-out, failure, fatigue, internalized hostility, a system that starts you a lap behind, moving a step forward & two back, the setbacks, the letdowns, working through the disappointment of those who do not see us. I do not want the hero story. 7/

If you succeeded because you had the resources to study and be equipped and learn from the best and not be interrupted by oppressive authorities or malicious structures, then, well, anybody in that circumstance could make it far. I mean, cool story. But not for me. 8/

You and I are not self-made. So if you must give me advice to “win like you,” tell me about the darkest hour. The hardest valley. The worst of the wilderness. Your sweat, blood, tears, and angry prayers. How you crawled. And be honest: tell us who helped along the way. 9/

I do not want the pristine cannonball in a sealed vacuum with no wind. Tell me about the dirty stone in a slingshot where you missed. How you limped all the way to the finish line.
I don’t need the hero story.
I need your guts pouring out. Mine are already on the table. 10/10