What Will Your Bronze Doors Be?

by Max Borders

Doing events is hard — especially for thinker types (Mavens). It requires patience. Each year represents a new cycle. Each year it’s like rolling the proverbial rock up the hill again. We have to put together resources. Find support. Think, plan. Think, plan. Rethink, rethink, plan. Bootstrap. Stress. Monitor cash flow. Stress. Implement. Execute. And once the Exiters fly away to their respective homes — hopefully inspired to change the world — we start all over again. It takes its toll on us, even as it yields spiritual rewards.

One of our speaker alumni and mentors, Michael Strong, wrote this passage when he set about naming a school he helped to found:

The Tibetan Buddhists, who have seen as much deliberate destruction of their lives and their culture than almost any people on the planet, are committed to a 500-year plan to create a better world. While most of us believe that it won’t take 500 years, sometimes it is worth thinking about what you as an individual can achieve over the course of a lifetime. The Renaissance artist Lorenzo Ghiberti is famous for completing two sets of bronze doors in his life. The first set took him 21 years to complete. The second set took him 27 years to complete. Each door is covered with amazingly beautiful and detailed sculpture, doors that will be famous for as long as they exist. In our world in which life moves so quickly it is worth reflecting on the kind of commitment to excellence that could motivate someone to spend the first half his life perfecting a set of bronze doors (he started on them when he was 21), and then, when finished, to spend the second half of his life on a second set.

What if you committed yourself to making a powerful difference in the world over the course of your lifetime? Realize that making a difference is not about a feeling that you have now, but a focus on doing good and a commitment to personal excellence that you make for the long haul. You may not know exactly what your contribution is and you may have a number of different ones. As long as you develop your abilities and apply them on behalf of doing serious work for good, you will create your own bronze doors. The historical record shows that the world has become more peaceful, more prosperous, more environmentally healthy, and more comfortable than it was in the past. What can you do to create a better world over the course of your lifetime? What will your ‘bronze doors’ be?

I guess Voice & Exit is our bronze doors. Each year it gets more and more momentum. Each year it becomes more resplendent. Each year the community grows. And without that community’s support, there would be no venture. No Voice & Exit. So we want to thank all of those who are helping us fashion our bronze doors.

Whenever we get frustrated, stressed out, and impatient, we’ll remember this post.

What will your bronze doors be?

(HT: Leif Smith)