I was cleaning out photos on my phone and saw an old screenshot of a Twitter post.
I wanted to write about this for a while now, but it got buried and I eventually forgot about it. But not anymore.
Anyways, the tweet said,
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I heard a thing on a podcast this weekend, how Americans are really good at acute compassion, but really bad at chronic empathy.
We, without question, haul strangers out of a raging flood, give blood, give food, give shelter. But we are lousy at legislating safe, sustainable communities, at eldercare, at accessible streets and buildings.
It is the long-term work that makes the disasters less damaging. But we don’t want to give to the needy, we want to save the endangered.
We don’t like being care workers, we want to be heroes.
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I think there’s a lot more to it than just what was said, so let’s zoom in on this for a bit.
First off, I think one of the reasons why this is the case is that us humans naturally procrastinate. We tend to not take action on something unless it’s seriously urgent. Hence, why we want to save the endangered rather than helping the needy.
The first example I can think of is animals. People don’t establish protection programs for animals until they’re officially classified as an endangered species.
But we see this when it comes to school, doing assignments the day before they’re due.
Our health, not getting medical attention unless the symptoms become absolutely unbearable.
Or when it comes to purchasing decisions, and not buying someone with a promotional deal until the expiration date is near.
And I think the other thing is the idea of short term recognition vs long term fulfillment.
I remember one thing the Executive Director of the startup non-profit I interned at said that he didn’t like the idea of volunteering at soup kitchens and things like that because a lot of people ultimately do it to make themselves feel better. They do it for a weekend or two, but if you ask those same people to dedicate more time to helping out the lower income neighborhoods, not all of them are going to say yes.
And before you think, “He can’t say something like that, who does he think he is?”
My answer:
He is a man who’s dedicating the rest of his life to building an organization with the mission to make the world a better place. I know, it sounds cheesy and broad, but he’s definitely putting money where his mouth is.
Another example, let’s talk about the whole racial justice situation.
I remember when Blackout Tuesday happened, everyone on social media posted a picture of a black square. My friend’s friend posted a black square on Instagram then messaged my friend, “Hey, aren’t you going to post it too?”
When I heard that, I couldn’t help but question…
Out of everyone who participated in these social media racial justice movements, how many of them genuinely care about the issue, and how many of them participated just because it’s the trendy, cool thing to do and they want the attention and digital likes from their peers?
And when they’re in a situation where they have to stand up for the cause they’re supporting, will they actually do it, or will they just turn their backs?
I’ll leave that to you.
But going back to the Twitter post, it’s true it’s the long term effort that produces the greatest results, and that’s true in any case.
Especially when it comes to email marketing. It’s not something where you’ll see overnight sales. It takes time to build your email list with quality people, it takes time to master email copywriting, and it takes time to build products and services to sell, and it takes time to build a relationship with your subscribers so they trust you and the things you sell.
If you want to learn more on the email copywriting side, check out How to Become an Email Titan.