For What It’s Worth

As the saying goes, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. And facts, it seems these days, have lost their ability to determine the truth. Today, the individual reigns supreme. The government, our towns, families, baseball teams, churches, social groups, schools, and businesses struggle so hard to avoid violating the individual’s rights, that we dare not even offend the individual, lest we get a negative Yelp review, or a complaint lodged with the CFPB.

Credit unions are different though. Our unique business model allows us to focus on the health and welfare of our communities, but do we take full advantage of that power? After all, the health of the cooperative collective so closely relates to the measure of our ability to serve the individual, that one would think we would be doing all we can to build unified communities and healthier individuals.

Today, our hearts break and our souls ache for the nearly 20 children and 2 adults who died in a mass shooting in Texas. Let us focus today on the beautiful lives of the victims rather than the shooter.

December 14, 2012 — I went to work in the Governor’s office as any other day. Everything changed in a sickening instant, when a lone gunman executed 26 people at Sandy Hook Elementary School, including 20 first graders. Innocent 6 and 7 year olds were slaughtered by an individual who viewed his rights and desires as superior to those of his community. Today, in Texas, it happened again as it has so many times in the almost 10 years between these two selfish massacres, that we have numbed ourselves to a new reality that includes regular mass shootings at elementary schools.

But this is not about guns or gun control. That is a fraught, simmering political debate best left to the representatives we elect.

All the while, the rights of the individual have only increased. One need not only look at the spike in gun violence to see this in action — this is not a one note symphony. See, for example, the rise of the “Karen” who demands to speak to the manager at the slightest inconvenience or the Great Mask Debates of 2020.

Today is a day to consider how we as credit unions can leverage our power to create stronger, healthier communities. How can we bring the individual back into balance with the community? We cannot wait.