Why do we love the word impact?
To impact is to press closely into something. To push into, to drive. To strike against. To strike forcefully against something. To make a forceful impression.
Do we want to make a forceful impression? Do we seek to drive, to push to enable change?
Sometimes this might be an appropriate response. Yet we live in a world where domination, push, drive and force is the world we are seeking to shift from. Are we unconsciously using a word that is resonant with and reinforces the world we seek to change?
Perhaps you might say I am being pedantic. That this overly used word towards change is irrelevant to the larger context of change for a world with a future.
Integrity, to be whole, to hold shape, says not so. To go to the source of the source the root of the root, matters.
It is time we started thinking more deeply about the consequences of our choices and actions. Beginning with the minutia of word choices. To not simply rush into applying a culturally accepted word as the way forward.
To understand its patterns, its origins and the signal it carries within its origins.
Perhaps we might seek Syntropic Investing rather than impact investing. We might seek to influence, or to support, to enable or inspire others rather than make an impact.
Words are powerful. They carry an energetic. They signal intention. Choose with care.
Photo taken March 5th 2021
