01/29/2026
I’m thinking about scarcity versus abundance and how that shapes outcomes and choice.
I think when you operate in these two spaces, you navigate the world differently.
Abundance definitely allows for choice. It allows our most privileged and advantaged selves to have what we each want. We can be particular. We can protect what serves us individually. We can say "this is mine" and fight to keep it exactly as it is.
But when there's scarcity, choices have to be made. Concessions are not only a given, they become a requirement.
It's just something I'm thinking about.
Would you rather have everything you want or something that meets your needs?
Where do we make concessions and if we do, are we actually losing anything or are we simply adjusting?
"I want" turns into "I'd rather have something than nothing at all."
This is the language shift I think we need. Because it's not really about scarcity or abundance but about thinking of community, our systems, our neighborhoods as a collective whole, not simply a part of a whole.
When we only think about our part, our school, our street, our immediate circle we miss how deeply connected we are. We operate as though we're independent units making independent choices. But we're not.
Because in our interdependent school system, what happens in one location affects another location.
What we allow to happen in one location sets the blueprint for future decisions. It sets the limitations of what is allowable.
This is important.
Once we allow something, once we say "okay, this is acceptable" we've established a precedent. We've drawn a new line for what's tolerable.
When we fight only for ourselves, someone has to lose. And in our systems, we know who tends to lose. But it's bigger than that one loss.
To which at some point abundance becomes absence and scarcity is what remains and choice goes away, and we aren't able to shape outcomes.
It is what happens to us, not with us.
There's a difference between those two things. When we operate independently when each of us advocates only for what serves us directly we cede our collective power. Decisions get made, winners and losers get declared, and we react. Things happen TO us.
But when we think collectively, when we ask not "how do I protect mine?" but "how do we ensure everyone has access?" we maintain agency. We shape what's possible.
Things happen WITH us.
That's what I'm thinking about.
