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New here? Employee Evolution is a blog written by Ryan Healy. Ryan is a Co-Founder of Brazen Careerist, the webs #1 social network for young professionals. Ryan speaks with organizations on best practices for recruiting and retaining Generation Y and how to effectively use social media to reach your target market. To contact Ryan, please visit our contact page.
We are going to stray from the norm on today’s post because something much more important than workplace issues has occurred.
Since hearing about the unbelievable massacre at Virginia Tech yesterday afternoon I have literally felt sick to my stomach. I don’t think I realized it until right now, but all the talk of this horrific act of violence has dramatically altered my mood. To think that someone could open fire on innocent classmates boggles my mind. It just doesn’t make sense. I guess there is no reason to even try and make sense of the situation, because a rational human being could never understand what was going on inside the head of someone sick and twisted enough to gun down 30 people.
Tragedies like this tend to put things in perspective. Life is a precious thing and should never be taken for granted. One day you are about to graduate from college and dive head first into the real world, the next day you are laying in a casket while not only your friends and family, but the nation, mourns your death. April 16, 2007 was a terrible day that will never be forgotten.
The aftermath of tragedies often bring out the best in people. I already see this happening. The students of Virginia Tech will rally behind each other to create a wonderful caring community that will never forget, but will overcome this tragedy, together. I am absolutely amazed at the outpour of support and the communal bonds that this tragedy is creating. The multitude of Facebook pages created to honor the lives of the fallen and to help the families is mind blowing.
I now understand why our generation truly is different and how we will change things. It is not because we are special and it is not because we think that much differently then our parents or our grandparents. It is because of technology and the new definition of community that this technology has created. We have the power to share our thoughts, feelings and goals with everyone, unrestricted by geographical limitations. When Columbine occurred we did not have this community. Young people mourned throughout the country, but we were still somewhat isolated and disconnected. Today, social networking sites, blogs and cell phones provide us with the opportunity to share our feelings, mourn, and eventually overcome, as a community.
As terrible as this incident is, I can’t help but to think, this will be a turning point that will eventually define the legacy our generation leaves. Think about what can be achieved if everyone bands together and sets up social networking pages dedicated to ending the global warming epidemic or funding cancer research. With enough support from the community, these simple pages can turn into all out non-profit research centers, or hospitals or whatever other crazy ideas come from the MILLIONS of people involved. Nearly everyone in our generation is a part of this online global community, if we use this wonderful resource for the greater good, like I see us doing in the wake of this tragedy, there is no limit to what we can achieve.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victim’s families, and the Virginia Tech students, faculty, and alumni.
Leave your thoughts here. (8 responses)
- 1 Pingback on Jul 1st, 2007 at 11:54 am
- 2 Pingback on Dec 27th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
Your intentions are good and this a meaningful heart-felt post. Technology, however, will not save the world. That’s a long propogated myth and every time new technology emerges we believe it will solve all of our problems. Technology doesn’t create our problems and so it can’t fix them.
Agreed, technology will not save the world. However, if we collectively use this technology in productive and useful ways, maybe we can save the world. And this is all assuming the world needs to be saved. I personally think it just needs a few minor changes.
I recommend you watch the web 2.0 video on our MySpace page
myspace.com/employeeevolution
Regards,
-Ryan
I think the emphasis lies on the “community” technology allows us to create. Technology won’t save the world, but I feel like the point Ryan tries to make is that people, the cause of the worlds problems, can use innovative means brought on by technology to fix the flaws of humankind.
Technology is just the vessel, not the captain of the ship.
Tyson,
That pretty much sums up the point I was trying to get across. Below is a poem written by a friend of mine who wishes to stay anonymous:
On April sixteenth a nation was torn
A school came together and as a nation we mourned.
No one can understand an unspeakable act
Yet Tech stuck together, remaining in tact.
They joined each other and stood together as one
As a school and a nation we won’t come undone.
United We Stand, Divided We Fall,
One Coward Empowered Won’t Concur Us All.
-Anonymous
I’ve seen the web 2.0 video before– it is a good one.
And I am a web 2.0 junkie. I love the web. I love technology. You both are right in that technology is just a tool to use in our efforts to create positive change. I worry when people rely on it so heavily however, myself being no exception. I wonder, in the grand scheme of things, how it is so different than past technological innovations. The printing press, the telephone, the television- they were all supposed to revolutionize how we interact (and did), they were all “innovative means brought on by technology to fix the flaws of humankind”. Yet, problems exist, as they always will. None of these technological innovations has made a significant dent in finding solutions. And some technological innovations aggravate our problems.
The web is allowing us to create community, yes, but a different kind of community. Technology has created many definitions of community and we now belong to many of those simultaneously. We’ve had many tools in the past that make it easier to affect change, and we have many more now. But it is ultimately not even how we choose to use those tools, but making the commitment and decision to do something, to take action. The amount of effort we put into our causes is what will create change, not the amount of effort we put into building the printing press, the telephone, the television, or the better, more collaborative, more inclusive web.
It is our actions, not the means, technological or not, that is the vessel of the ship; it is our effort that will make a difference.
Rebecca:
Well put…and I think what is so great about the Internet, when compared to the printing press, telephone, and television, is that it allows for a non-exclusive community of dialogue to discuss these issues. Not to mention, it’s the first form of mass communication owned and operated by the people.
Sure they’ll always be those people out there who “aggravate” our problems by abusing technology, but I think we’re getting a lot better at controlling these antagonists. Maybe I’m wrong.
There’s a part of me too that’s always skeptical at people’s ability to take action, but I’ve already seen some great groups get together and make things happen at a magnitude that would have not been possible without the web.
For now at least, I’m keeping myself optimistic.