Episode 5: Hamilton, The American Revolution, & Right Now

Today I wanted to zoom out and offer some thoughts on what’s possibly happening right now at a high level.

Many of you might be familiar with a broadway musical called Hamilton. It’s about a time roughly 250 years ago that those of us here in the U.S. call the American Revolution.

Maybe you’ve seen the show or listened to the music — and if you haven’t you should!

Over the past few years since I saw the show, I’ve often wondered what it would’ve felt like to live during that time.

Well, as I ponder everything that’s happening right now, I don’t wonder so much.

I think we’re IN one of those times, my friends.

I think people will be writing about and discussing the things we choose to do right now, just like we write and talk about the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

This is an inflection point, a watershed that changes the direction of the current.

And to the extent that we can recognize this significance of this moment WHILE WE’RE IN IT, we will be able to make better choices.

It’s very likely that this is a moment that will define the direction our species goes.

Will we bend our arc towards more inclusive,  more energizing, more participatory systems that help all of us thrive? 

Or will we follow the tragic pattern of past human empires which ALL end in collapse?

To quote that musical I mentioned, history has its eyes on us. 

In our work at Helios we talk a lot about a “pattern interrupt” — adults, especially, seem to need this type of intervention to stop the inertia and momentum of the status quo, to actually see the water we’re swimming in.

Right now, we’ve collectively been offered a pattern interrupt like nothing we’ve seen before. 

In the long stretch of time this is just a moment, of course, but for this moment, much of the world is paused.

My question is

Can we turn this Pause into a Reset?

I think we can — if enough of us want it badly enough.

WE are the new revolution.

See you next time.

https://youtu.be/7Ngw4_-u5Gs