Duality: The Power of Choice

Good vs. Evil
  Love vs. Hate

     Yin vs. Yang

       Glass Half Full vs. Glass Half Empty

 Work Balance vs. Life Balance

When we look at duality, we often look at it from abstract concepts that draw upon our ability to visualize an image that aligns with our values, thus creating a story that we wanted the image to fit. If you do not believe me go back and look at a few of the examples. What image entered your mind? Why did that image appear? Why did one image appear over the other? You guessed it, your values were connected to the imagery that entered your mind for these abstract concepts. Duality was defined as an instance of opposition or contrast between two concepts or two aspects of something (Yes, another Google search. I am intentional at this time about using the internet to define words for this series of blogs). Duality has always existed and always will. It is ever-present in our day-to-day lives. Duality surfaces the most when we have a clash of values. In the book Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It, Why People Demand It, James Kouzes and Barry Posner state that "it is unlikely that people can behave consistently with each one of their values all of the time (pg. 61)." The conflict and clash of internal values and the idea of overcoming this internal struggle lay at the heart of duality. Why may you ask? Duality speaks to our ability to have a choice.

Yes, choice is a determining factor in our ability to live our values. Sir Issac Newton, in his third law, stated, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The problem is that we have applied the third law of motion to our decision-making processes and operate in a conventional and reductionist way when faced with making a choice. We tend to think linear and in isolated parts of our system. It is vital to remember this because as we make a choice based on our values, we will see that each of our decisions has ripple effects that transcend to those around us. Peter Senge, the author of the 5th Discipline, speaks to how our solutions of today will create our problems tomorrow.

The problems of tomorrow created by duality are often the result of unintended consequences. For example, Brown v. The Board of Education (1964) might be heralded as one of the most monumental cases known in American History. In policy, the decision integrated schools and ended the Separate but Equal Doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). It is important to address that a shift in policy occurred versus a shift in values. The deeply embedded values that people held created the fiery resistance against integration. I have benefited from the sacrifices of various icons such as Thurgood Marshall, George Hayes, James Nabrit, and Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren that have allowed me to be educated in a diverse setting. Not only have I benefited, I believe those that shared my learning environments have also benefited from a diverse environment. The adverse effect of the Brown decision was that many African-American principals lost their jobs and the ability to influence the educational trajectory of their communities, thus impacting the teaching pipeline of today. It is difficult to become what you can not see. Currently, African-Americans make up 6.7% of the teaching workforce in America with 2% comprised of African-American men (National Center for Education Statistics).

One of the lessons that I had to learn was that no matter what the situation, every decision I make has a high level of duality that will positively or adversely impact someone else. I was a victim of thinking that my choices that were made would only produce positive results. I honestly did not understand that there would be intended and unintended consequences from my decisions. I did not truly understand that my choices could adversely cause someone to experience a sense of loss. During these times, we see people show their passion. At times, we interpret this passion as negativity (and sometimes it is), but there are times that it is in the form of duality and a clash of values in the way of man vs. self, man vs. man, and man vs. the world. The open clash of values creates a feeling of conflict that is often embedded with fear and causes many of us to choose inaction. Inaction provides a choice to turn a blind eye and not allow our values to speak for us. Inaction is often disguised as neutrality in order to protect our perceived values and shift the responsibility of action onto others. Remember, inaction is a choice that duality provides.

Duality haunts us because hindsight is 20/20. When we have experienced a particular outcome of our decisions we often ask ourselves, "what would have happened if we would have made another choice?" The question is how do we refrain from having a bias towards action (DuFour, Fullan 2013)? At work, as a team, we make it a point to examine what the potential ramifications of our choices could potentially be in the future. We make decisions based on the information that we currently have. We must understand that going into the process that we will never have a perfect outcome. Duality will never allow for perfection due to our ability to engage in critical thinking around our values and the current events and outcomes that our systems produce. This concept of duality applies to our personal and family lives, as well. Duality gives us the power of choice, and the choice is ours.

Thank you for reading the second edition of my #threewords. I apologize for the delay as I was confronted with duality yesterday. The third and final word for 2020 will be Leadership. Leadership is the bridge between our values and the conflict of duality in our lives.

Here is the link to Word One: Values, Morals, and Ethics: Where do we begin in 2020?

References

DuFour, R., & Fullan, M. (2013). Cultures built to last: systemic PLCs at work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press. 

National Center for Education Statistics

Kouzes, J. M., & Posner, B. Z. (1993). Credibility: How leaders gain and lose it, why people demand it. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Senge, P. (1990). The fifth discipline: the art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Doubleday/Currency.