Getting out of the silos to change the world

SOCIAL STUDIES - Published Monday June 1st, 2009

We live in a world of silos.

Of course, when I say that word two things probably come to mind: first, grain silos on farms; and second, missile silos.

I am talking about neither of those even if they do evoke the imagery I mean to get across. We live in a world where we inhabit long dark concrete tubes.

Metaphorically, that is.

I am sure all of us want to believe that we are horizontal, that our relationships are equal, open and honest. In truth we have barriers that keep us locked in, or keep others locked in to their own group. Any time you can assign a label you are creating a silo. I am white, I am male, I am hyper-educated, I am a New Brunswicker, I live in Moncton, I am middle class, I am 40, I am generation X, I am a writer, I am a Christian, and the list could go on and on.

There is no problem with self identifying. In fact, we need to know something about who we are to be self aware. The problem comes because we tend to not bother to try and understand others once we categorize them.

Because I am a male I think like a guy, I feel like a guy, and only people who do that are right. Everyone should think like that, shouldn't they?

Would not the world be a better place if everyone just acted like those of us who live in Moncton?

You could even use the dreaded word: those. Those people don't understand. Women don't understand. Conservatives don't understand. Poor people don't understand. Uneducated people don't understand. You get the point.

I think we can all get this point. It is always there in the background of our lives. What we do not do is make the next leap. The only way to possibly do anything is to engage people outside of our own silo.

Let me use a concrete example.

If I believe that poverty is an issue that needs to be addressed, I will tend to discuss this most with people who are already in my silo. In other words, people who are already on board, and who I know about. So I begin by talking about poverty strategies with white middle class United Church socially conscious people.

We might even make plans, start initiatives, and carry the message forth. But for the most part, it will not go anywhere because we are aiming to engage people just like us.

If I am to be successful I need right off the bat to engage on the level of five silos: the people like me, the people affected, the stakeholders who have the most to lose, the bureaucracy involved, the media.

So to take my example and push it to an even more concrete level; the Karing Kitchen averages 8,000 meals served a month in Moncton. Since they serve only one meal a day and only six days a week, I imagine that this means there are a little more than 300 people who cannot feed themselves for whatever reason. This does not even begin to count those who rely on food banks and Mobile One and church aid programs.

If I wanted to do something about this I first need to get a support group of peers together, then I need to somehow engage those who use the program itself and say, what do you think is wrong, what do you need? Then we have to go to businesses and agencies in downtown Moncton and say, how is poverty affecting you? Then we need to go to the city with ideas and proposals to get them on side. And somehow we have to make sure the media is on side and supports us.

Only then can anything really be done.

You see, real change depends on building relationships of trust and respect. As long as someone can dismiss you because of the silo they imagine you belong in, you are relatively powerless.

Here is another example for you. Barack Obama; or as he is inexplicably addressed now, Mr. President.

If you asked anyone, perhaps even three years ago if he would be president they would all have said no. First off he is an African American. Secondly he has lived most of his life outside of the continental United States, including Kenya. Third he is not from one of those wealthy families that control the world. In fact, he has been poor. Fourth he has family background in another religion, and it is Islam to boot.

So how did he accomplish this? Basically by not staying inside the silos; he intentionally went outside to every different group and convinced them that he not only intimately understood them, but that he could bring all of their issues together under one umbrella and create a new reality that would bring hope to their own issues.

If there is one thing this should tell us, it is that nothing is impossible.

In fact, when we do take the time to engage those who are most unlike us we might possibly find that the issues that concern us are the issues that concern us all.

Or perhaps we will find that other people bring their own issues and when we attempt to work together we solve more and more of the world's problems at the same time.