Uniting Under One Banner | Knowing The End From The Beginning

Memorial Day

Today was Memorial Day, a day set aside in the United States to remember those who have given their lives in various battles and wars so those who live on might enjoy enduring freedom.

In days past, I've pondered on this in a very American-centric way: in terms of how US soldiers have died in order to preserve liberty. Over the last several years, I would say that my thoughts have changed somewhat, and that within the last year or so, even more so.

While I would rather we spent more time uniting than fighting, I acknowledge that there are times, as few as they truly are, where war could be justified, and only after every other lawful and ethical means have been exhausted.

That said, I still respect those who are willing to fight for a cause they believe in. I'm not going to judge them. I will hold accountable, however, those leaders who feel it to be the only recourse. They are, after all, the ones responsible for sending young and women into harms way.

Different Thoughts

While my family and I grilled burgers and hot dogs, gathered and spent a brief time together, pretty much as we always do, I didn't dwell so much on the people who paid the ultimate price for freedom, as I stewed about those who would take it away in the names of safety and security.

These COVID-19 lockdowns are not the first time a government on some level has gone to what I would call extreme measures, but it's the first time I'm aware of where it happened on a global scale, and where the citizenry, for the most part, went along with it willingly.

Sure, there have been those who have stood against it from the beginning, and even more who have grown weary of it, but the vast majority of us have followed to varying degrees the directions we've been given all in the name of the greater good. We'd rather go along to get along. Regardless, there isn't a reason to turn neighbor against neighbor, not when the true enemy lies elsewhere.

Heavy thoughts, I know.

Recognition Of Wrong Is Not Enough

I had a conversation yesterday with my eldest son about the latest news regarding the coronavirus and its lockdowns. He's quick to bring up what someone is saying or doing and wondering why and whether it's a good thing or not, even though he already believes one way or the other and pretty much knows how I'm going to react. He just likes to see me do it.

For the first time, to my memory, I finally said that knowing what is happening is wrong doesn't matter if there's nothing we can or will do about it. It's just going to continue until enough of us are willing to stand against it. Guaranteed, though, those in local, county, state and federal officials responsible for all of these crackdowns, along with their counterparts around the world, will not suffer very much during their election cycles.

Some are already being heralded as heroes, for doing the right thing. I live in a state where the Democrats hold Congress, the Executive Branch and by extension, the courts. Governor Kate Brown has never been so popular among Democrats, and she only has a slightly lower opinion now among Republicans and others who don't like her policies, but they are fewer in number.

Like many states, the main metropolitan areas in Oregon—Portland, Salem and Eugene—outvote everywhere else, which tend to be more conservative and rural in nature. So, it's very doubtful, even though our state will go through some economic hard times, that she will be held accountable for what she's done, or anyone who's advised her for that matter.

What It's Going To Take?

Naturally, because of all of this, I've been thinking about HIVE and where it fits in. Not so much from an earnings standpoint in this context, but from the perspective of governance.

HIVE isn't just about the investment, or the rewards, or even becoming a global digital economy. It's potentially about freeing ourselves from centralization on all fronts—banks, regulations, governments, authorities, etc.—anything that tends to take away the sovereignty of the individual in favor of the collective.

HIVE, or the idea of decentralization, and governance through a trustless, virtually non-proxy system, can truly transform the world as we know it. But we've got to believe that it can, and then take the steps necessary to get us there.

We've seen how Delegated Proof Of Stake has played out when it comes to witnesses on the STEEM blockchain, and how easy they can be bought, sold or replaced. Apparently, there have been some discussions held about what to do here, since we have the exact same DPOS blueprint, but it also seems that doing anything substantive about it is falling out of favor or fashion.

That's too bad. If there are those who are in a position to do something about it that somehow feel that HIVE is insulated enough now that something similar would not happen here, I don't know what I could say to persuade them otherwise. If there are safeguards in place, beyond a thirty day wait for new stake to vote, I would like to know what those are, along with many others, I'm sure.

Rather than go the cynical route and make statements such as, Once you obtain power, it is difficult to lay that power down, I'd rather discuss what it would take for it to be worth it so that HIVE, or some crypto blockchain like it, becomes the cause that unites us all.

And what would that even look like?

It Is About Decentralization, Right?

We talk about distribution of rewards a lot, along with redistribution of stake. We don't talk nearly enough about the distribution of power, or about how governance really should be.

We also don't look at it too much beyond things like posts or proposals. True, that's about all we have going right now, but for HIVE to go much further, the view has to get to at least the 30,000 foot level, where we can see beyond just our own little corners of HIVE and maybe that of the neighbor's.

HIVE is supposed to be borderless, too. It's supposed to encompass many people, from many walks of life, from all over the world. There's certainly some of that happening already, and for HIVE, it's still early days. But I think we need to be thinking just as much in terms of decentralization and governance as we think about how to redistribute the reward pool.

After all, the main reason why HIVE even exists is because it was determined that someone was going to mess with decentralization on STEEM. I would think that it would be more top of mind for that purpose alone.

Knowing The End From The Beginning

Authors, particularly novelists, are encouraged to write with the ending in mind. Whether they always know what that ending looks like exactly, or even if it changes, knowing where the novel is meant to go is helpful, even if changes of direction happen because they're necessary.

That means working backwards, and plotting milestones along the roadmap. Then, the task of working on things that will actually propel the project toward the fulfillment of those milestones should take precedent over most everything else.

Is that what's happening here? Does HIVE have a roadmap of her own? Is there an end in mind? Are their milestones set in place to reach the end?

Again, it's early days, but as I read about this tweak or that change or first things first, I think, okay, fine, but there's only so much treading water that should be done, as important as it might be to keep the blockchain up and running, before it starts to feel like stagnation, especially when it makes others, as well-intended as we all may be, start suggesting things that could and should be done.

Well, should they be? If HIVE's desired course is (pick a direction), but everything discussed sends us in the opposite direction, or simply in circles, should they be done? How would we know if we don't know what direction we actually want to go in, and what kinds of things it will take to get us there?

I Don't Have All The Answers

And frankly, I'm not meant to. If I did, there would be no need for the wisdom of the crowd. I'd just have to come up with a way to convince you all to follow me.

However, the answers do lie all around us, in the community. And not only do they need to be put forth, but then they need to become actionable. A lot of it could be code, but not all. Some of it's going to take leadership. Some of it's going to take being willing to try different points of view. Some of it will require some level of compromise.

Are we even willing to do that?

I don't know. There are some things that folks don't seem so willing to even bend on, let alone break. Although, I guess it depends on how close to the fire one is. Convictions might grow and change over time, but if they're ever to be true, they can't remain fluid and malleable solely because one stands to lose, or the going gets tougher.

It would be nice to get to a point where everyone has everyone else's back, so that we're all free to do what must be done, knowing that we're hoping to achieve win-win scenarios for everyone, not picking winners and losers. I don't know what that ultimately looks like. I'm not in a position to point fingers or tell people what they must do.

But I can climb to the top of the mountain and peer out over the horizon and see what lies ahead. I can look in all directions, too, trying to find the course that gets us where we want to go. I'm not the only one who can, either. There needs to be many wayfinders to keep our heading.

To keep a heading, though, we must first have one. Then, maybe all the rest we do either matters, or it really doesn't.

_{White Flag image source—Pixabay}