On making a ruckus

Summary

The text encourages individuals to challenge the status quo by making a 'ruckus'—actively working to create positive change through insight, innovation, and leadership.

Abstract

The article "On making a ruckus" discusses the importance of challenging and improving upon the status quo, which often becomes entrenched and resistant to change. It acknowledges the value of stability and predictability that the status quo provides but also points out its potential to perpetuate injustice and inefficiency. The author argues for the necessity of making a 'ruckus'—a constructive form of disruption that involves creating better solutions, showing up with insight and kindness, and leading the way for others. This approach to change is contrasted with the compliance-focused education system, which prioritizes correct answers over innovation. The text emphasizes that making a ruckus is generous work that requires patience, persistence, and trust in one's ability to effect change and gain support.

Opinions

The status quo is acknowledged as resilient and often beneficial for providing stability and a sense of continuity.
There is a critical view of the education system, which is seen as promoting compliance and conformity rather than innovation and the pursuit of 'better' solutions.
The author believes that making a ruckus is not about causing a disturbance but about constructively improving situations and serving others.
Change is seen as necessary and valuable, even though it is often difficult and met with resistance from those who prefer the status quo.
The text suggests that patience and persistence are key qualities for those who seek to make meaningful changes.
Trust in one's mission, supporters, and understanding of how things work is considered essential for moving the status quo to a more desirable state.
The call to action, "Go make a ruckus," is presented as a personal responsibility for anyone who wants to see improvement in the world.

On making a ruckus

Tom Thompson was part of the Group of 7, an influential circle of painters working in Canada about a hundred years ago. Their art didn’t fit in, but it did change things.

Not a disturbance, a racket or a commotion, but a ruckus.

The status quo is resilient and long-lasting. That’s why it’s the status quo. It sticks around precisely because it’s good at sticking around.

And sometimes that’s a very good thing. We need a firm foundation and the stability it brings in order to make plans, build for the long haul and live with some measure of confidence that tomorrow will be at least a bit like today.

But too often, the status quo gets stuck. It reinforces injustice, persists in unfair or inefficient approaches and most likely, fails to create as much value as it could.

It’s in those moments that we need your ruckus.

The act of making things better by making better things.

The hard work of showing up with insight, assertions and kindness.

The opportunity to shine a light, open a door and lead.

We’re not often encouraged to do this. The educational-industrial complex is ten or twenty years of schooling built around compliance, adhesion and test-taking. It rarely asks us to come up with “better” and instead demands the right answer. Even if the right answer is no longer useful, at least it’s correct.

Extra points for getting the answer that’s in the answer key, apparently.

When we show up to make a ruckus, we’re doing generous work, work on behalf of those we seek to serve. It requires us to use stories and language that resonate with people who prefer the status quo, because our goal is to make change, not to have an argument.

Seeing this sort of possibility demands a weird sort of patient impatience. The persistence of making change combined with the knowledge that if the change were easy, it would have happened already.

And so we need to trust. Trust that we care enough to see it through, trust that we’ve earned attention with a small but viable circle of supporters, and trust that we’re aware of how things work so that we can manage to move the status quo from where it is to where it needs to be.

Go make a ruckus belongs to each of us, because if we’re not going to make things better, who will?