2 Wolves Consulting

Mass shootings

The United States of America is facing one of the most serious threats in its history. It is an internal threat to our freedom as we know it. We, the people, are falling prey to the threat of extreme paralysis, angst and the erroneous belief that we cannot make a difference in one of the most serious crime of our time, the epidemic of mass shootings.

We are suffering from the malaise of our collective unconscious that is preventing us from awakening from a stress induced zombie state. Repetitive, horrific shootings have resulted in a predictable mass desensitization, where we are outraged and heartbroken for a day followed by the relief of numbness and the fear of another event. This cycle is holding us hostage and incapable of generating the actions required to stop mass shootings. We the people of the USA need to awaken from the slowly boiling frog syndrome and jump into conscious action now.

We are a people of various backgrounds and we are informed by our personal histories. Our success as a nation has been our ability to weave a tapestry of people together in a manner where various values, beliefs, ways of being and looking at the world have been able to co-exist with one another and boster our resiliency as a people. At various times in history we have been more or less successful at appreciating one another’s differences. We seem to be struggling to reach our potential of valuing and respecting our differences today. We need to appreciate that demonizing others, longing for another time and deepening our polarities is contributing greatly to our current climate of distrust. We need to seek ways to find common ground and values that will generate positive social impact.

Irrespective of our differences, we share a value system as to massacres. We all crave safety, it is one of our basic requirements for both physical and mental well being. We want our loved ones to be safe. We want the places we live, visit, work, learn, play, worship, shop, congregate and dine to be safe. We share this overarching value of safety. This is a huge first step toward collaboration and an enormous shared value. Mass shootings fly in the face of our shared value of safety.

We have diverse belief systems as to how we can generate a safe environment. Some would focus upon a complete gun ban. Some would focus upon an automatic weapons ban. Some would focus upon mental health improvements. Some would focus upon stricter gun laws and background checks. Some would focus upon enforcement of laws. Some would focus upon armed teachers. Some would focus upon a higher distribution of guns. While all of the above are key elements of the discussion, another focus is to be able to recognize, respond and adapt to negative changes in our current culture.

Our current culture embraces many wonderful aspects. There is however, a dark side, where individual wants, needs and desires can usurp the greater good. Stressors and choices can lead to individual isolation and estrangements leading to loneliness and alienation; the internet and social media, positive in many ways, hosts a dark portal and or provides a platform for hate policies; and the media, while a vital aspect of our democracy, can endlessly focus and at times foster a negative, divisive rhetoric that does not encourage positive discourse.

Personal freedoms are guaranteed in the Constitution, free speech is a gift, yet our founders doubtless did not envision violent hate groups with access to automatic weapons. Our Constitution guarantees us the right to bear arms, yet our founders’ weapons were muskets versus the unimaginable automatic weapon capable of such carnage.. Does an individual’s pleasure at a driving range with an automatic weapon usurp the fact that the same instrument of pleasure has been utilized endlessly as a weapon of superlative power against innocent people? Does our freedom of speech cover the hidden dark worlds of planning and encouraging hate crimes and destruction with the ease and broad reach of social media and dark sites? Our accelerated pace of change, societal changes and technological disruptions require us to adapt to the world we are living in today,recognize internal threats and respond to the dangers inherent within.

Our disparate belief systems can be addressed, collaborations can be built and ultimately we can solution this tragedy of mass killings by nurturing our shared value of safety. If we can promote what unites us to mitigate the belief systems that divides us we can listen to one another and generate comprehensive solutions to this complex problem that will enable us to escape from our current quagmire of debilitation.

It is past time for each one of us to stop enabling the understandable, yet ineffective behaviors of blaming both major political parties; gun manufacturers; gun distributors; lobbyists; the mentally ill; hate groups; the internet; social media; current laws; lack of enforcement, etc. and replacing that paralysist with strategic action on the part of the electorate. Denunciation without action is toothless and ineffective, discourages active change and possible solutions, and validates the theory of our national mindset of outrage and sadness followed by inertia. It’s time for each one of us to look at the aforementioned list of issues and determine how we can play a strategic role in seizing opportunities to manage the threats and tackle the toughest problems of this huge complex problem of mass shootings..

Again, we are a people of various backgrounds and we are informed by our personal histories. Our success as a nation has been our ability to weave a tapestry of people together in a manner where various values, beliefs, ways of being and looking at the world have been able to co-exist with one another and build resiliency as a people. We need to start listening to one another now. WE ALL WANT TO BE SAFE.

Complex problems require all stakeholders to be consciously involved and to accept responsibility that this current unexceptable solution is owned by all of us. If we want change, the time to step up is now.

2 Wolves Consulting invites you to discuss this with us, share your thoughts, action plans and ways to move forward.

Thank you.
a difference

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In “East of Eden,” John Steinbeck writes: “Humans are caught — in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too — in a net of good and evil. I think this is the only story we have and that it occurs on all levels of feeling and intelligence. Virtue and vice were warp and woof of our first consciousness, and they will be the fabric of our last. … A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard clean questions: was it good or was it evil? Have I done well — or ill.”

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Our approach includes a unique focus on Consciousness. Consciousness connects people, irrespective of their diverse backgrounds, religion, ethnicities, views of the world or profession, by enabling the emergence of shared values and beliefs necessary to create positive and lasting changes in organizations and the world.

“If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the solution, I would spend the first 55 minutes determining the proper question to ask...
for once I know the proper question, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”
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We at 2 Wolves Consulting honor Albert Einstein’s wisdom in recognizing that asking and listening are the keys to success in dealing with complex issues.