Ten. / The Thanksgiving 2019 Edition
On Combatting Helplessness, Channeling Into Action, and Mister Rogers.
We can’t always escape our shells. More often than not, we allow others to ultimately control how we feel when certain situations happen in our lives. From “Suck It Up/Be a Man” to censoring or shunning conflict, we end up making our own decisions often on the harmful advice of others instead of listening to ourselves.
For example, I have and continue to have this affect me, assuming that many people within my work circle (from colleagues I barely know to current and former colleagues) are directly and indirectly scheming ways to make me fail. I often end up feeling like a failure, retreating to my own shell and not wanting to come out until it feels like the problem has gone away. I’ve written about this feeling before, and over time, I’ve learned that many friends of mine struggle with the same battles, some more openly than others. It bores down to an ultimate question we ask ourselves:
What do we do with the mad that we feel?
In case you caught on, a certain red cardigan-ed man, Mister Fred Rogers, asked that over 50 years ago, and over three decades, he taught children and adults (even to this day as he’s left us for the Heavens) how to handle some of the toughest questions, mental struggles, and violent situations we come into contact with. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was a staple of many of our childhoods (especially mine, where he was and still is one of my biggest heroes), and his teachings matter so much to this day, where we seem to be constantly in a tornado of hatred, violence, anger, and self-doubt.
Fred Rogers told the helpless that there is help on the way, that we are amazing people, just the way we are. So as we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, a holiday that ultimately to me now celebrates gratitude, I’m dedicating this edition to the teachings of this great man and how it both applies to today and how we can channel our cries of help into steps of strength.
What are you currently working on?
While our fund is closer and closer to publicly launching, I’ve been continuing to work on helping more founders grow. There unfortunately are a lot of investors in this ecosystem that provide empty promises, where they offer to help but rarely follow through. In all transparency, investors in the startup world have the easiest jobs, and being a founder can be the loneliest job in the world, where it feels so often that everyone is against you. I simply ask all people in this ecosystem to be more aware and ask if there are specific ways that they can help, whether it be indirect doors they can open, any calls they can make, or even just lend an ear and listen to the struggles people in need are going through.
We all can help a little bit more, and it’s easier than we think.
What are you currently excited about?
It’s out! The movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood released on November 22nd. I haven’t watched it yet, but I cannot wait to. It’s based off the epic Esquire story by Tom Junod “Can You Say…Hero?” on his time with Mister Rogers.
After you finish the film, you have to check out the documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” which goes deeper into Fred Rogers’s life and provides some surprising facts (one particular to note: he was a registered Republican!)
What’s a story or article that you're currently thinking about?
Earlier this month, iHeartMedia, Fatherly, and Transmitter Media launched a 10-episode podcast entitled Finding Fred. I’d rather let the Fatherly team describe it:
Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood was not a simple show. And Fred Rogers was not a simple man.He was radical. Spiritual. Revolutionary. Maybe even subversive. On Finding Fred, Carvell Wallace, the best selling author of The Sixth Man, dives into the work of an idiosyncratic and profound thinker, asking what a beloved children’s show host can teach us about surviving and thriving in today’s chaotic world.
It takes on some of the open questions from the show and draws two deep parallels from its teachings and how we can potentially apply them to this day, where the world can seem so, well, broken.
What’s a product you’re currently obsessed with?
Another great man who was also idolized Mister Rogers is Branden Harvey, creator of Good Good Good and its GoodNewsletter (and subsequent GoodNewspaper). In their words:
There's no shortage of good news in the world.
You just have to know where to look.
You’ll find some of the best inspiring news and stories from around the world here, and it will help you become even more hopeful for our future generations.
Wild Card: What’s an item you can’t shake your mind off of?
~ C O L O P H O N ~
Please send all feedback, both positive and negative, to sumeetshahwork@gmail.com as this project continues to evolve.
Interested in contributing an edition? Email me at sumeetshahwork@gmail.com!
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