Last week, a new site called MyEscapeVelocity.com launched. Based on the people involved, I was fairly certain that it was not going to stink like old broccoli. However, when I went over to check out the hubub, well, I knew that something really special was already going on over there.
Do you remember the movie Goonies? I think it was required watching for people my age growing up in the 80s. Anyway, there’s a scene where the kids have to play chords just right in order to get a door open (if they play it wrong they die, but that’s not especially relevant here). Well, sometimes there are experiences in life that are like that door opening experience. You see something, it hits just the right chord, and then you just want to eat everything up.
A few days before the site launched, I blogged here about “the new normal” idea. I noted that CBS Sunday Morning had done a story about how all of this stuff going on right now – all of the economic uncertainty, the number of unemployed, the number of people sticking with jobs because a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush – all of this is now normal. We’re not going to just “come out of it.” And I noted that, well, that kind of bummed me out. I was hoping for a nice long siesta as soon as the recession was declared over!
Well, the difference between, say, me, and say, folks like Chris Brogan, Chris Garrett, Liz Strauss, and Chris Guillebeau is that they were already working on a way to talk to folks who are feeling pressured or stuck.
My own particular life situation is still *knock on wood* really good. While these times have certainly been hard and no stress-free picnic, I am still okay. Even from that standpoint, the posts that are up right now are invigorating, refreshing, full of positivity and optimism – things that are kind of hard to come by these days, y’know? If I was a person who was really stuck, who really needed someone to shine the light towards the area where the light at the end of the tunnel might be, this new site would seem downright miraculous, I’m fairly certain.
So go on over and check out MyEscapeVelocity.com, and while you’re over there, give all of the writers, all of the people involved, massive kudos. They’re doing something that nobody is doing in our government, regardless of whose “side” you’re on. They’re doing something only a few celebrities are doing. They’re doing something only a few of US are doing. They’re not just lamenting. They’re showing people a way to better times. Now what could be better than that?
Image by sanja gjenero. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/lusi