By empowering the freedom to speak up and to get action from your voice is a powerful thing.

I spend a good amount of time hanging around online communities. Whether its my own blog, or changeeverything, or various facebook forums, business and technology communities - I put up a fair bit of content on a weekly basis.

I have opinions on many different subjects, and something I enjoy doing is debating, and bringing unusual perspectives to bear on problems; however, I know that I can be somewhat cutting, and occasionally condescending in trying to make my point. I'm sure many of us can think of examples where we wished we'd been a little more tactful, or polite, when writing our thoughts down for others to see in electronic format. I certainly can attest to that - being somewhat of a contrarian, and enjoying the art of conversation.

To this respect - I'd like to become more nuanced, inclusive, and respectful to othes when engaging in online dialogue - especially when in disagreement with other's perspectives.

I was born into a society where we are conditioned to want more and constantly strive to "upgrade"  to the next step, financial or otherwise. I don't really need half the things I use, whether it be the clothes I wear or the food I eat. I would like to spend more time connecting with the people around me and experiencing the world and less time consuming material things.