There is tons of good advice for being resilient, strong, independent, hard-working and ethical. Good advice can come from the political left or right. If there is wisdom in it, take it.
Be responsible. Clean your room. Stand up straight. Be precise.
Most of us were told these things by our mothers, but if you have to read a book to garner their utility, that also works.
Pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps, however intended, is impossible. The saying originated as a way to make fun of how we ask people to do the impossible. But it has emerged as something we often hear as a way to suggest that others are overly dependent upon us. They are not pulling their own weight.
Point this out if you ever hear someone suggest that another person (or group) is being insufficiently dependent upon others.
As a species wholly dependent upon one another for everything from shampoo to our shoelaces, we ought not to be critical of our need for one another.
The need for a sustainable world also proves something about the limits of a planet that can carry us and our human weight. We need to have climate justice if for no other reason than to have clean air, water, soil, and food that we give everyone an opportunity to have.
We should learn to support each other. We need to learn to be more vulnerable and to sometimes ask for help.
When it comes to demolishing powerful forces that oppress like sexism and racism, it is up to all of us to not only pull our own weight, but to willingly ask others, especially leaders, to help us move the levers of power into the hands of a wider diversity of people.
When you try to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, you will find not only is that effort futile, but you cannot have your hands free to extend a helping hand to someone else.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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From The Good Men Project on Medium
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Photo credit: Ben Wicks on Unsplash
