Atlas and Shared Responsibility
The way we tell stories about ourselves and to ourselves changes the way we think and changes what we believe is impossible and known to be possible. Recall the story of Atlas, a Greek Titan, and the original Global Positioning System who led sailors safely home by telling them which stars to follow, all while holding up the sky. Atlas is caught in between two versions of the same story. In the first, he is a traitor who leads a rebellion against Olympus and is then sentenced to hold the heavens on his shoulders. In the second, he is chosen to be the guardian of the pillars that hold up the Earth and Sky. I prefer the second story because it means that the burden of the world is not a punishment, but rather a responsibility.
When we share the work, carry each other’s burdens, we can lift the heavens and hold the world on our shoulders; all of our shoulders. The human race, when we work together, is capable of feats greater than what any of us could have dreamed of accomplishing as individuals. Adam Smith, the economist, famously wrote about division of labour in pin factories, where workers could specialize in what they were good at to divide work as part of a team. He described that one by one, a factory could produce a summation, however, when working as a team, there would be a quantifiable synergistic effect where the factory could produce exponentially more.
Nelson Mandela, alone in prison, could only accomplish so much. However, he took the burden on his shoulders and forgave his oppressors in the name of the larger goal of racial reconciliation. He held up the sky for his Nation. One small accomplishment he had was reinstating the Springboks National Rugby Team. In the sport of rugby there are no superstars. Because when you watch a rugby game, you don’t wear the jersey of your favourite player, you wear a uniform with a country’s flag because you care about what it represents. You don’t remember the names of the players who score the most or carry the ball the farthest, the sport beckons you to understand the concept of team.
In 1995, against all odds, the Springboks of the South African Rainbow Nation claimed victory over the favourites to win, the New Zealand All Blacks. Cleats planted in the earth, the Springboks, as an initiative lead by Nelson Mandela, held up the sky to bring a nation together by winning and bearing the rainbow flag and forging a new identity. The punishing burden of victory transformed into a shared goal and responsibility to be more than what they were. The idea of shared responsibility reverberated through the players and through the stands as the 1995 Rugby World Cup represented more than just a game. They became Atlas.
Guiding the way to the future while bearing the weight of the past, we can all become Atlas.