Born on Third Base: Chapter 3 - Cracking Hearts Open

Chapter 3 – Cracking Hearts Open

This chapter starts off with the author giving a speech about wealth inequality. He talks about how Boeing has been using corporate loopholes to doge paying federal taxes. After his speech, he is approached by Hank, a retired high-level executive at Boeing, who has a question for him. Hank told the author how he is embarrassed by how his company takes so much from tax payers and doesn’t help support the nation’s infrastructure and education systems. He then told the author a story about when he was an engineer building water systems in Kenya. Every day while he was working, kids from the area would come and watch him. One day Hank asked where the kids lived, and they took him back to their orphanage (which was not in a good condition). Hank vividly remembers being overwhelmed with emotions and crying on the drive back to his first world hotel (an hour away from the kids’ orphanage). The next day he went back and asked if he could help build a new facility for the kids.

Hank came back to America, but he was never the same. His heart was cracked open, his life was transformed by these kids. For hank it wasn’t about charity, he was walking dead before, and helping the kids helped him feel alive. After coming home his wife and kids thought that he was a much better person. His wife said, “you remind of the sweet guy I married 48 years ago.” His children said he was more present, generous, and connected with them.  After his story, Hank finally asked his question – “is it too late for me… Is it too late to make changes?"  The author replies no it’s not too late, you are so alive! Hank explains how he has had a different way of living before that was all based on corporate motivation for money. But that now he feels like the curtains have been lifted and he is making connections with everything around him –  nature, people, kids, poverty, inequality, it’s all coming together in his mind.

The first step in the journey to reach more people when it comes to extreme inequality really stood out to me. It is to crack open their hearts by taking people to Kenya (or any third world country). Because when people see children far away, they can’t just pretend that the children deserve to be poor or justify their situation by blaming their parents.  Another huge part of the journey is to reflect and see that we live our lives by powerful myths and norms that govern our decision making but separate us from one another and nature. The last part is to understand that deep systems are driving us toward climate catastrophe and economic polarization. The author then explains that path towards changing the 1 percent starts with connection, empathy, respect, and love. Only then can we start to change through inspiration, accountability, and challenge.

Finally, the author talks about the story of deservedness –  inequality exists because of differences in effort, skill, intelligence, creativity, etc. This is true, there are differences in the attributes listed, and it makes sense if those with the highest level got paid 10 times more for their extra effort. But the author finds it ridiculous for them to be paid 1,000 times or even 10,000 times more, because everyone forgets the main thing – the difference in opportunity which propels some and restricts others. This misunderstanding of how big of a role opportunity plays causes the privileged to accelerate while the unprivileged dig themselves into a deeper hole.