I Am A Grassroots Member - Participating in TEDx

As I watch life and age sneak up on me I find myself having an even greater appreciation for opportunities that feel new and inject an energy and enthusiasm into my life.  Since retirement, Jay and I have promised to help each other push boundaries and walk through doors that might present a new experience or a new perspective or a new group of people.  We walk through, look around, and then decide to stay or to walk out.

Last night we walked through a door when we attended a gathering of the TEDx Manhattan Beach.

We have long been enthusiasts of TED talks.  TED stands for Technology, Entertainment & Design and the talks are short - maybe 20 minutes long - FREE videos on a variety of topics...all "Ideas worth spreading"...all stimulating and informative, all generating interesting discussions.  We have watched and discussed numerous TED talks in the comfort of our living room or in Omnilore Study/Discussion Groups.  Here is a quote from the TED mission statement:

We believe passionately in the power of ideas 

to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.

So we're building here a clearinghouse that offers

 free knowledge and inspiration from the world's most inspired thinkers, 

and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.

While TED spreads ideas on a very global stage, its offshoot, TEDx focuses on a local community that concentrates on local voices, bringing people together to engage on a specific topic by viewing a few TED videos or listening to a TEDx speaker and then discussing the content.  TEDx was started in 2009 and now includes 1200 cities and 33 countries. Here is an interesting article with statistics in a recent Forbes Magazine.

Last night's gathering, sponsored by the local Manhattan Beach group, was focused on the topic of "Globalization."  Since it was a topic of interest to us, was held just a few miles from our home, and the price was minimal ($10 each), we decided to walk through the door and take a look around.

The first hour was for "networking," enjoying a glass of wine or beer and a variety of appetizers.  What we first noticed was that this was a new mix of people for us and happily, our age cohort was not the dominant group....there were "young people!" with youthful perspectives, youthful ideas, youthful energy!  That is the one difficulty we have in our retirement life, finding avenues to interact with younger people like we did in the work world.

After a very pleasant mingle which included talking to the organizer of the Manhattan Beach TEDx, John Marston, we all adjourned to the presentation room to watch three TED videos on the topic of Globalization: first, Paddy Ashdown, giving a TEDx talk filmed recently in Brussells on the Global Power Shift; second was our personal favorite presenter, Hans Rosling, using his fantastic graphics to show data on Religion and Babies; and lastly Gordon Brown talking on Wiring a Web for Global Good.  In between each video, John Marston facilitated a spirited discussion among the attendees.  Bottom line, the world is not what it used to be, interconnectivity and interdependency brings us into a global society that is continuing to evolve and bringing with it new sets of needs and challenges.

On the way home, Jay and I talked about how much we had enjoyed the evening.  While not political in nature, TEDx  fosters healthy discussion with new insights.  We came away with the thought that maybe it is going to be activities like TEDx that are going to bring about change of our current global and political structure. Currently this structure is broken and the powers-that-be are so vested in the status quo and so polarized that we do not seem to see to any positive change...maybe it is going to have to come from the grass roots, from gatherings like "Occupy" and "bloggers on the internet" and events like TEDx and Zocalo that provide a place for discussion of new ideas that will bring new blood and new life to our world scene.  Thankfully, we can be part of that discussion and part of the solution, adding our ideas, meeting some new friends, and even having a glass of wine!