Miracle Projects
Our Action Planning groups begin by defining their Vision, identifying Obstacles and creating Strategies to overcome these Obstacles. As Tactics, they then propose and implement Projects. While we want all these projects to succeed, some will fail. But succeed or fail, the bottom line for these projects is that the participants deepen their commitment to enhancing our neighborhood, city, state of nation through having worked together to learn leadership, cooperation, planning, obtaining expertise, recruiting of participants, raising needed funds, and other necessary means for implementing the projects. Beginning perhaps with skepticism toward neighborhood action, they become convinced that we can and should work together to enhance freedoms and opportunities within our neighborhood.
A baby must crawl before it can walk. And walk before he or she can run. Similarly, we start with small projects. As we acquire necessary skills and confidence, we initiate larger and larger projects. If we undertake large projects before we have obtained skills and confidence doing small ones, we increase the chance of failure. Failure is not all bad. We learn from failed projects as we do from successful ones. But too much failure can cause loss of confidence and quitting the task of enhancing our neighborhood.
Besides choosing projects appropriate for our acquiring skills and confidence, we also choose them for their Miracle Value. A miracle is simply a pleasant surprise when the apparently impossible occurs. When we do something that people thought could not be done, observers are surprised. They become curious, wanting to know how it occurred and who made it occur. They are attracted and may become participants in similar projects.
So we work quietly to produce successful surprising projects. We do not seek to publicize them. Our experimental projects risk failure. If their anticipated success is publicized, failure lowers our credibility. Publicity also ruins the surprise of success. The success is not a miracle. People are less curious and less attracted to joining us.
Our conclusion is to avoid publicity until it is earned by success.
Once a project is successful, do not try to explain it in so much detail that others lose their curiosity. Instead, provide short incomplete explanations and suggest that participation is the only way to really understand how such projects are successfully implemented. Entice new participants instead of convincing them. Just as too revealing a preview would not entice viewers to watch a movie, so too revealing an explanation will not entice people to participate.