I Need Help!
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I need help. I inadvertently cause people to feel guilty when I don’t mean to. When I’m asked what I do for a living and I tell folks that I work for an international hunger relief organization. Here are the typical responses I get as people drop their head in shame:
- I just change the channel when I see the images of those desperate people
- It’s a shame how much I have and how little they have. I feel terrible.
- I take too much for granted and should be more grateful.
- Why do they keep having babies?
That last question, I’ll leave alone. For now.
The other answers come from a place of guilt and shame and having grown up with a pretty heavy dose of religious guilt, I have learned that guilt only motivates me for a little while. As Rev. Tim Keller says about guilt, “I’ll get over it pretty quickly.”
I attended a class on diversity yesterday hosted by Butler Community College. They brought in Juan Johnson, an authority on diversity who is reframing the conversation about diversity. Quite often diversity, like hunger, has been framed in the context of obligation. We are mandated, legislated, and motivated by obligation to be integrated. However, being forced to do something that does not come from our heart only leads to surface solutions, not long-term change.
So he’s moving the conversation from Obligation to Opportunity. By focusing on the positive aspects of Opportunity, one begins to see the benefits of diversity.
At Numana, we have been asking ourselves this same question: How do we move the conversation and motivation about hunger from guilt and obligation to one of positive purpose. This challenge came to me while standing in the Dedaab Refugee Camp last summer with Ambassador Tony Hall when he said, “What has worked is no longer working. We have to change the conversation about hunger.”
What would you suggest to us in reframing this conversation? What phrases or words trigger guilt? What phrases or words stimulate passion that can be sustainable?
