Gordon Hogg has been a Mayor and then member of the Legislative Assembly in British Columbia for more than three decades. During that period he has held a number of Cabinet posts leading reforms in the area of disability and public health. He is a passionate advocate for community problem solving and social enterprise. Just recently he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Social Entrepreneurship to the Minister of Finance – the first such position in Canada. Here is his reflection on: What would you like to become more visible in 2011? You can also Download Becoming Visible - the complete collection of 58 essays.
Our Common Fund of Stories
Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor refers to the constructive role that imagination plays in shaping our sense of how things are – our common fund of stories as well as our learned discourses.
Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman refers to our remembering selves as storytellers. What we keep from our experience is a story – our story.
The two might be helping us to find the common ground of belief that binds us all together; the bond that legitimates action and makes action possible. The kind of action that is founded in care, nurtured with passion and then liberated with the exhilaration of our daily lives. Daily lives – where we have our experiences, shape our memories and develop our stories.
May we have the courage to shape our stories as a reflection of that goodness that lives in each of us. May we respect and honour that goodness in ourselves and in others. May "2011" be another step in our understanding of the beauty, purity and perfection that is our daily struggle and joy of living together in a place that we call community, a place that is home.
NOTES:
For more details on the BC Government's support of social enterprise, social innovation and social finance see my post: BC Government Establishes Advisory Council on Social Entrepreneurship.
You can download the complete collection of Becoming Visible responses here: Download Becoming Visible. Or by clicking the Becoming Visible Category on the right hand side of your screen.
Please share and distribute to your friends and through your various networks, websites etc. I think you will agree – these are too good to keep to ourselves.
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