#0033 - Sara Bana

A single “yes” can change a life, and sometimes it changes your entire definition of leadership. We’re joined by Sara Bana, a civil and human rights advocate and Midwest City Ward 5 council member, to talk about what civic engagement looks like when it’s personal, practical, and rooted in community service rather than politics-as-sport. Sara shares how growing up Iranian-American in the aftermath of revolution and during war, then immigrating to the United States, made her acutely aware of how public systems shape everyday survival and opportunity.

From there we get concrete. Sara walks us through the kind of volunteer community advocacy most people never see: navigating bureaucracy, finding mental health care, securing transportation, stabilizing housing, and sticking with a family for the long haul. We also talk about the needs that are easy to ignore until they hit your block: hunger, domestic violence, gaps in job training, and a mental health crisis that leaves people stranded without support or know-how.

The big takeaway is leadership that holds two truths at once: we can listen with tolerance and still defend our principles. We dig into serving people who strongly disagree with you, recognizing bias, making space for real debate, and choosing human dignity over labels. We close with a challenge for Rotary clubs and civic organizations: mentor young people consistently, invite them into the work, and even help teen entrepreneurs learn the basics so they can build something real.

Transcript

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Ground Rules And Guest Welcome

Brian Triger 0:20

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the Rotary Spark Podcast. I'm your host, Brian Triger, coming from the Original Mile Rotary Club. Before we begin, a quick note for our listeners: both my guests and I currently serve as elected city council members. Today's conversation, however, is through the lens of Rotary, community service, and leadership. The views and opinions expressed during this episode are our own and do not represent our respective cities, city councils, Rotary International, or any Rotary Club or district. Rotary is nonpartisan and does not endorse political candidates or parties. Our goal today is not to campaign or debate politics, but to have a thoughtful conversation about public service leadership, civic engagement, and how each of us can help strengthen our communities. Now that the uh liability stuff is out of the way, uh welcome, Sarah Banna. How are you doing today?

Sara Bana 1:16

Great. Good afternoon, Brian. It's so good to be in the space with you and excited for this conversation.

Brian Triger 1:22

I want to introduce Sarah Bana. She's a civil and and human rights advocate and currently serving as a Ward 5 Council member for Midwest City. Again, thank you. Thank you for hanging out with us today, Sarah.

Sara Bana 1:34

Absolutely. I appreciate your leadership in making things like this possible, Brian.

Speaker 1:39

My pleasure. So let's let's jump in. I I'd like to, I've asked you this several times, and it's been asked of you uh before, both individually and throughout many organizations in the city and beyond. For this episode's sake, I I think we always get an interesting angle uh as an answer to this question. What first inspired you to step into community and public service?

Early Life That Shaped Service

Sara Bana 2:02

So, Brian, I was actually at the Midwest City Rotary um just about two weeks ago, and um they had asked me to provide a little bit of background about myself, similar to the question that you posed. Um, it's my my life story is a little bit more unique than I would argue many other individuals. I'm a um Iranian-American. I was born post the Iranian Revolution when the Shah was overthrown and the Tol as the Islamic Republic took over, uh, which really created a convoluted history for my family. We're in a situation where we had to escape for survival. Um, I was also born amidst the Iran-Iraq war. Um, so being a child and being raised, understanding the circumstances and the political environment and its effect on your life, I think makes you much more aware as a child about how politics can directly impact human lives. Um, not just one individual, but in my case, you know, millions of people's lives were affected by the um regime change as well as the war. Um, so I was much more aware of politics at a young age. And then I am an immigrant to the United States. So again, that compounded the understanding of politics on human life. Um, so with that awareness in mind and in my back pocket, um, I was just kind of a political and philosophical and history junkie growing up in my teens, you know, really uh consumed the news on a daily basis, trying to see what's evolving around the world. Um and um I when I graduated high school and in high school, as a matter of fact, I wasn't allowed to vote yet. I wasn't an American citizen as at that point. Um, but I was really ecstatic about the idea that many of my um, you know, fellow students were about to turn 18 and have the right to vote for the first time, something that I would be deprived of. But their apathy towards democracy in general really was concerning to me and something that I hungered for, right? The right to vote. Um, I actually um constructed a political forum for high school students and was able to rein in um a couple of high schools around the Mid-Dell area to attend a forum specifically directed towards educating uh soon-to-be 18-year-olds about uh our political system and the different political parties, the Democratic Party, Republican. And at that point, I had reached out to the independent um party. I that kind of sprung me off to the idea of um studying political science um at the university at UCOS. I started as a polysized student where I was consuming more information about the institutions, the bureaucracies, the system, and just the history of the democracy that we'd been privileged to have. Um but being in a classroom and being confined to learning and consuming the content and not being able to apply it every day really gave me the ambition to try to create, um, I guess if you will, um, an environment where I could start applying some of the things I was learning.

A Volunteer Project Becomes A Lifeline

Sara Bana 5:07

Um, I began a very small community organization, um, community um effort, if you will, nonprofit, no money asked, um, basically just um doing community advocacy and community event planning, whether it was in the format of political forums, educational forums, awareness forums about social issues that were going to affect a specific community. Um, and one of the events that I did was with a veteran who had just returned from the Afghanistan war, uh, where he was trying to assist individuals dealing with PTSD and anxiety and other mental health disorders caused as a result of their service in the wars. Um, I think the project was community uh combat paper project, where these soldiers returning were painting images of what was kind of captured in their mind and ingrained in their mind on their uniforms, which was, I believe, illegal at that time, destroying your uniform and painting on it. But it was a very therapeutic uh event for them. And we did that at the Independent Artists Um Museum here in Oklahoma City. I got a call from Lee a few weeks, months after the event, and he said, Sarah, I've seen a story about a 16-year-old young man who was fleeing his home. Um what he did was to escape the violence inside the home. He would go for bicycle rides around Lake Overholster, and he was struck by a vehicle and had been taken to the trauma center at OU, given less than a 10% chance of surviving. Um, and Lee wanted to know if I would basically collaborate with providing and getting services to him and his mom during this crisis. I jumped on board, and um, that case probably took us about a year and a half between, you know, the crisis response of the medical situation that was unfolding, uh the outpatient services, but also convincing the mom to leave the abusive home, which then resulted in this young man, the six uh 16 and a half, 17-year-old at that time, and his mom becoming homeless and needing access to housing, um, and a bunch of other services, disability services, you know, where was Math going to go to school at this point? He no longer had he had lost vision as a result of the um accident. He had paralysis on the left side, he also, of his body, he also had short-term memory. Um, so getting him accepted to the school of the blind, you know, helping him with the transportation that needs that he had day in and day out, the doctor's appointments that he had day in and day out, the mental health care that he needed to basically cope with life as a new blind um uh individual with limited mobility. Um, doing all of that really brought home to me the difference that one individual can make in the life of others. And in the in the case of Matt and his family, the effect was for Matthew, it was for his mother, his grandma, so the small family. And so as a result of that, I wanted to continue doing that work, creating what I called Civic Services Community Advocacy, which is again a community-based, absolutely volunteer-based service program where members in the community who have different skills or uh mindsets can bring those skills and provide services for free to other individuals within that same community who are facing different types of crises.

Brian Triger 8:29

Wow. Just imagining the family experience and also the experiences that you went through and how that may have uh transformed you over time.

Speaker 1 8:39

Yep. Learned a lot. And it's honestly, I always say, people are always really grateful to me, those who I've served, about, you know, thank you for helping me. You've, you know, made a difference in my life. You saved my life. And what I always say to them is, you have no idea how much I have learned from you allowing me to walk through your journey with you, um, as well as just the gratification one gets knowing the power that you have as an individual to impact human life in a positive way.

Speaker 9:11

Did you feel did you feel like you were a completely different person after going through that experience?

Speaker 1 9:18

Absolutely. I felt so empowered in a way where I knew that anything that came my way, even if I didn't have the know-how, if I dedicated myself to learning and maneuvering the bureaucracies and the systems, that I could provide the assistance to those individuals that were in dire need. And what I learned, Brian, was the mass majority of the problems that I was being confronted with, some of which were serious life and death. Some of them were criminal justice cases, where like a juvenile was looking at the possibility of life in prison. As overwhelming as some of those cases were, I realized that the reason most of these individuals don't get the assistance that they need is people looked at them and they thought, this is overwhelming and this is beyond the scope of the duties for which I get paid for, and therefore I'm not going to provide the help that they they need. But again, that's where I think where civic services was so successful. You weren't paying individuals. There were no scope of duties. It was holistic, you know, wraparound services to carry an individual from an immense moment of crisis to total stability, where by the time you walked away, you knew that they were housed, that they had at least dependable transportation. If they were looking for employment, they were employed, if they were looking for job training or education, that they had access to that and uh and were basically functioning in that. And so when you walked away, you knew that you really had given him them some equity uh in order to carry themselves through. And then you maintained these relationships. I mean, some of the individuals I helped throughout those years I considered to be family. I still stay in touch with them, keep up with their lives on and really kind of a rewarding, gratifying way to be able to serve and use your own life.

Wraparound Help And Lasting Relationships

Speaker 11:15

Do you see a lot of uh do you see a lot of opportunities out there and community needs that are currently being overlooked, both locally and you know, throughout the country?

Speaker 1 11:26

It's everywhere. It's on every street. The hunger that goes on. I mean, there are children that go hungry on some of the streets that we reside on in our in our city and across. Um there are there's an epidemic of mental illness that has stricken the state and people who need access to adequate mental health care who either don't have the support or know-how to get access to the care that they need. Um, the, you know, the the lack of proper work training or job skills, or those who inspired to further their education, but maybe they didn't have the parents who graduated from college who can help them maneuver that system and get the support that they need to be successful. So um the violence that happens in our streets, I mean, domestic violence rates in Oklahoma are outrageous. But so often I think we have normalized the culture that says, look the other way. What happens in your neighbor's house or down the street isn't necessarily your business or your problem. Um, and honestly, what's unfortunate is many times, even when we have people seeking and asking for help, we I don't know, our society and sometimes our government has just kind of normalized saying, well, that's not our role, that's not our job. Where I think if every American, and I don't know, maybe I am naive, I wasn't here in the 60s or 50s, but I want to believe that there used to be a day in America where we were our brothers and sisters keepers. And maybe that's the culture that no longer exists, where we are now all out for our own. But if we could return to that mentality that we must be our brothers and sisters keepers, and we can make a difference in in our immediate community, in our city, in our country, and really globally, um, that we can be the change that we want to see. Uh, but we need to continue to particularly remind younger people of the power that they have within their individual being, should they choose to be the good they want to see.

Speaker 13:30

Yeah. The integration of the concept of love your neighbor without just using it as a bumper sticker.

Speaker 1 13:38

Absolutely. Regardless of creed, you know, faith. And that was the one of the things. Again, I said I'm I'm an immigrant to this country. And throughout this journey, I mean, I I had cases where the individual I was helping was a white supremacist. I'm I'm not kidding. Um, people who may have hated immigrants or people who strongly disagreed with me with my political stances. But I will tell you, I came to love these individuals, and these individuals came to love and respect me because uh they they saw that I was working and fighting, you know, for their equity and their equality and for their life and their freedom. And I think we were able to like bridge gaps that you may have not been able to in other circumstances. And I will tell you that I am a Democrat. And in that that, I mean, I literally saw that when I ran uh for county commissioner approximately a year and a half ago. Some of the donors on my, you know, were one people who had never donated to politicians before. Like these are apolitical people. And to the number of people that I knew that were registered Republicans who contributed to a liberal Democrat's campaign was unbelievable. But that's what I'm saying is you can touch people's hearts and minds by, you know, showing them who you are and being there for them in their time of need, and you can bridge those gaps.

Speaker 15:08

It's inspiring to see bipartisan connections,

Needs We Ignore In Plain Sight

Speaker 15:12

especially in such a conservative area. Uh, you know, I say that as a as an independent, right? Uh, you know, serving in municipal politics that's supposed to be uh nonpartisan, I can, you know, I imagine the challenges of being a Democrat and in mostly a conservative area, and then also the challenges of kind of being uh pinned to maybe be expected to behave uh to support the status quo. And then, you know, uh the camaraderie that I may or may not have with people who are kind of either in between or committed to staying independent and the opportunities to kind of work together, which brings me to another question.

Leadership With People Who Disagree

Speaker 15:55

Uh, what what have you learned about leadership from serving people who may strongly disagree with you?

Speaker 1 16:03

I think I'm still learning in that area, and I want to continue to learn um as much as I can. I think it's a you know being a public servant and it it really creates an opportunity for you to evolve, you know. Um a lot of times we may have very strong feelings and may even have the science and the evidence to firmly believe in what we we want to, but it's very important for us to have tolerance to hear the other. Um, and also to continue to remind ourselves, to put our biases aside, right? I mean, we we're all human beings, we all have biases, right? But also to attempt to do our human best to put those biases aside, but and also to give the other human being, who may be your opponent, enough respect and dignity to say he or she loves this country and this community as much as I do. And while their values and principles and their ways and means of doing resolving something may be different, that I trust them to have the best interest, right? Um, and this is one of the reasons why, as a Democrat, I love Charlie Kirk. I did not agree with a lot of the things that he had to say, but one thing that he promoted so much in this country was the idea of free debate, um, something that we fear to do so much and circles that we must really be promoting it in, um, is to have the tolerance to listen to your opponent, to reason with the logic, try to process the logic that they're presenting. And should you still disagree to respectfully disagree? But Brian, I will also say I've been known to be quite a radical when it comes to, you know, things that I believe are matters of principle for me, where if I think going along to get along with an issue is going to negatively cause harm to the lives and rights of other people, um I'm willing to put, you know, my my freedom on the line for it in the form of protest. You know, I and I really, you know, um want to inspire more young people to write about uh to learn about civil rights and peaceful disobedience,

Bridging Divides Through Human Dignity

Speaker 1 18:08

um, and something that really makes this country very unique. Um, and to utilize that when the time calls for it, but that's probably not 90% of the time. The other 90% of the time, we have to have the tolerance and be willing to listen, to negotiate and uh trust one another.

Speaker 18:31

I'm just processing all of that. And so I mean, you know, I I've told you this before, you inspired me in a lot of ways. I think that for a newcomer, for someone living in Oklahoma, or for, you know, someone who may not uh believe in everything that is being uh peddled on a regular basis uh within a specific region, and I mean that in the most respectful way, uming when you're allowed to speak up or knowing uh how to exercise your rights, and also not knowing whether or not any power brokers may or may not uh have an interest in utilizing their power to suppress um those rights or the freedom to carry out uh freedom of speech. Uh it can be intimidating. Even saying this right now uh may, you know, you out of context, it can be shot down as you know, being political on a rotary um podcast, and some and that may come from you just don't know. That could come from a good-hearted mentor that's trying to keep you in line. And then on the other side, it could be someone who sees you as a problem and is is watching you know your everyday moments and is interested in silencing your voice. And, you know, that might sound a little bit tinfoil hatty, but uh I know of people uh I have the luxury of having people in in both of those camps and then people in between, you know, just being even on a small, you know, local level or just being an average uh citizen and stuff like that, there are some agendas at play that need to be navigated appropriately. And I think that we have a duty um just as just as citizens or as human beings to help each other navigate uh the world in the most peaceful way possible. Just allowing people to understand that they have a lot more power and they have rights that they're able to exercise in this world and they have the freedom to create and to grow and to love each other, and that there are legitimately people out there that uh want to that want to take up that room in order to stop that from happening. And I'm not saying that it's always malicious, I think sometimes it comes from ignorance. I'm not perfect, I've probably done it in in my past life as well. So I have a little bit of compassion for the mistakes that are made to get in the way of other individual freedom. But I think that, you know, uh healthy discussions like this give us all the opportunity to learn and grow together and just remind the young, the old, uh, the the timeless to just basically um to to go out there and talk to each other, to basically be willing to make the mistakes, right? Not to always think inside or outside of scope or what you know what is or isn't a liability. Like just remember the human element and be willing to to take the risk to hug each other. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 21:48

And that that that love is so missing in in our world and our culture, which is crazy because we always um, you know, are willing to use violence, but The concept of love as an agency that can make a difference and as a conflict resolution tool is not tapped into uh when, as human beings, the biggest gift that God has given us is the capacity to love and um to to be loved. Um, you're absolutely right. Suppression is a very dangerous thing. And I see it more and more, not just in the political sphere. I mean, brother, it rolls down all the way to the social media sphere these days. And um, you and I chatted long uh not long ago. We were talking about, you know, politics. And, you know, we live in in a free political system, but yet, you know, we're told don't talk about politics at the bar, don't talk about it at the dinner table, don't talk about it at work. And I I think these content, these theories are wrong. I think they're self-destructive. I think it goes back to what you said, is seeing one another as human beings. And even if we don't agree, Brian, um, it is good to get to know you as a human being and to have a deeper understanding of why you may so strongly and passionately believe in something differently than I do. That gives me an insight of who you are, how you tick, versus just branding you as this and that. You know what I mean? That's the that's the cowardice and almost, you know, more more arrogant thing to do is to brand people a thing because of their beliefs versus um making the effort to understand who they are and why they have the belief systems that they have.

Speaker 23:24

Of course. I could, you know, you're we're wearing a gray shirt right now. So I could say, well, you've you're really comfortable with the color gray and whatever that fabric is tied to that shirt that you purchased and the vendor, that's you. There's there's just no other layer. There, you know, I could catch wind of maybe a show that you show your uh child, or basically a meal that you eat with your spouse. That's you, right? I could, you know, out of the milli the millions, if not billions, or even trillions of variables that incorporate your existence, I can say, okay, that you know, this person said this on a random Wednesday or Tuesday, or this happened during a 30-second time period out of the last 40 to 50 years. That is you. I'm gonna pin that. I'm gonna discuss, instead of actually creating something, I'm going to discuss that variable of your existence so that I make sure to control the narrative of this one out of eight billion people because this agenda really, this hatred agenda really matters. And I get it, you know, life can get scary, and when you perceive someone as a threat, for whatever reason, you get you get scared because you haven't done therapy and you really want to, you know, put this person under your thumb. Like I wish I didn't understand the mentality of that, but I think we have a duty to not only spotlight that, but show compassion in any way possible to the individual, to the group, to basically um in a holistic way to uh assist with uh gently pushing away uh you know that hatred, right? Or basically giving it an environment where it's gonna naturally dissolve.

Speaker 1 25:07

Yeah. And goes back to the biases that we can have. And that's one of the biggest downfalls of our brain, right? Our experiences form these biases that limit our brain to see other than what those biases are feeding our brain. And we really have to overcome that. Um, that's you know, an area that I worked was, you know, um, police anti-bias training and everything. And I learned so much in that field. Um, in in the the recognition that we all as human beings are flawed and culpable to having biases. And the first thing that we must do is recognize that we have biases and to, you know, work our brain to overcome what our biases are feeding us.

Suppression Fears And Choosing Dialogue

Speaker 25:52

I like that a lot. Uh, do you think actually I like this one. How how can we encourage younger uh professionals to become more involved in in civic and community leadership?

Speaker 1 26:07

I I don't even know if we're like promoting that anymore. You know, we're we're telling our kids, you know, go get a good education, go look for a job. I mean, I don't know how much we are grooming our kids for civic engagement anymore. I mean, I know when I was coming up in junior high and elementary, volunteerism was a huge thing, right? Like I remember volunteering through the school programs and, you know, far beyond into high school and just other outside organizations that were always trying to recruit, mentor, um, and empower kids. But I I don't know. I think, and maybe this is again my bias and my limited, you know, environment that I've been in. And again, I had a two-year-old now, so I've been out of the uh civic life a little bit myself, outside of the service that I do and the limited uh organizations that I'm involved in. Uh, but I I just don't see an effort to pull in young people, to educate them about the civic life in general, and to then um really empower them and inspire them to get engaged on a civic level. Um the way that I think I experienced it maybe coming up. I mean, that was something that you were proud of. That was almost like a resume you built on the side of your grades and, you know, the work that you did. Uh, but I think like the, I mean, and I've got to admit this, life is getting rough, whether it's the cost of things, the competition amongst things, the uncertainty in the world. And I think, um, and maybe social media and the phones feed into it, but we have become so much of a survivor mentality of we've got to survive and focus on the self. And you know, you got to get ahead of people that we don't think of that community that we are a part of, and we don't recognize that the demise of the community that we are a part of also equals the demise of you as an individual or your family. And so we've got to get back to that. And and the youth and the children are really like the next great generation of Americans. And those are that is where we must invest our efforts and our energy um in making sure that they understand what they're being handed literally as a country, as a constitution, as a political system, how to utilize it and how to um also invest in it.

Speaker 28:28

Yeah. No, this uh this issue specifically for me is something I'm really passionate about. I mean, I have some maybe fragments of theories that are that may or may not work. I think it has to do with just thinking about, you know, passing on the baton. I think that we really have a duty to prop up our leaders that are really good at bringing people together, especially people that are younger than them. And I think that we really need to assist as a community to help foster those relationships and make sure that not only does it trickle down to the younger generation, but that we uh as we continue to support those relationships with the more experienced and less experienced, we make sure that the less experienced individuals grow enough where they can then do the same. And then also giving them the space to maybe figure out, okay, maybe that's not their duty. Maybe they're supposed to be somewhat adjacent to that cause so that those individuals who really can pass on that baton to the younger individuals can kind of facilitate any and all of those requests. Because at the end of the day, not everyone has the skill set to pass on that knowledge specifically. Maybe they they've reached a uh development um blip where they're not quite ready yet and they still need a little bit of training themselves. And I I see this in uh civic organizations and I see I see myself getting in the way, I see individuals that are both younger and older getting in the way, and at the end of the day, we we really need to get back to that community identity and recognizing that passing on that knowledge to the next generation is is more important than anything else. I mean, there there are opportunities for individuals that are probably in leadership right now to step out of the way, to give new people an opportunity to learn and grow. And then I think it says a lot about one thing that inspires me at my current stage in development when I look to leadership is I ask myself how many how many younger people are being inspired by that individual? Actually, how many younger and older, not even being completely age, just how many people are in being inspired inspired by that style of leadership? And how is that person bringing people together?

Teaching Youth Civic Engagement Again

Speaker 31:05

If the there is an uncertainty, I'm not saying that person's necessarily bad all all the way around, but I think if I or another leader is not currently doing that on a regular basis, uh it it uh entertains the idea that maybe a little bit more self-reflection and growth needs to take place so that momentum continues. Because it just needs to that pathway for that energy really needs to it needs to flow. I mean, I'm still learning how to talk to people that are younger generations. I don't have any kids. So when I reach out to someone who's in their early 20s or early 30s as someone who's 40 years old, I do my best to be as patient as possible, not you know be conditional with my persistence and just making myself available. And I'm and I'm still learning how to just remain available and and remain patient to those individuals. And I know that at the end of the day, their uh their journeys are so much more important than mine.

Speaker 1 32:08

Well, and I do want to go back to something you said in regards to like and I I think when we talk about civic like life, I think people just kind of limit it to like politics or maybe faith. Um, but but I think we really have to open and broaden our mind, kind of going back to civic services, community advocacy, right? Not everyone is going to be interested in political life, right? Not everyone is going to be interested in the Rotary Club, right? But I do believe that there is enough work and enough room for every type of individual to have capacity to serve at some level, to serve our community, right? Is that we had a young man, um, I think it was right uh a little while before you got sworn in. I can't, I think he was 10 or 12 years old. Um, and he was going around the Middell community mowing the lawns of people with disabilities and veterans. And I think he was doing this for free, right? Your typical person may not think of that as civic service, right? But in my mind, that is very much civic service, right? Um, is it providing transportation to someone who maybe doesn't have a vehicle or for whatever reason doesn't have that transportation needs, right? You've stepped up and helped some of the people I've needed help with. Um the other way is um just like mentorship, like teaching a person who is older or maybe doesn't have a GED how to use a computer, which then helps them maybe apply for jobs where most of the applications are now electronic, right? There's so many different things. And instead of trying and forcing people who don't have an interest in a particular topic or work, labor, right, in the form of service, it's finding out what is it that you like? What is it that you are good at? And where is there a need

Expanding What Counts As Service

Speaker 1 34:00

to provide that service? Does that make sense? There are people who like to walk, right? Um, I mean, I see a lot of young people who are walking around. Well, can we, you know, rein them in and teach them about canvassing, right? And it doesn't even have to be canvassing for a particular candidate, but maybe they're taking around a survey that is independently, you know, originated to find out how your local government is doing. And those results are then taken to hold the local government accountable, right? Like there's so many different ways that we can contribute to our society. But again, goes back to what you said. We cannot suppress uh because we need the confidence to allow people to think freely. So therefore they can be creative on resolving the problems that we have and then utilizing their very physical being and their mind towards resolving those.

Speaker 34:46

I I don't know if that's yeah, no, that that makes a lot of sense. It's meeting people where they're at. I mean, I thought about my neighbor when you were talking about that. I I know he he likes two, I mean, he likes a many things, but the two things we can connect on, uh, one I'm interested in, the other one just more supportive with is he likes movies a lot. You know, my family growing up didn't have a lot of money, and my dad uh would, you know, enjoy kind of uh a day out and watching as many movies as possible. So movies became kind of a staple for me uh for different reasons. One of my neighbors watches movies all the time, and uh, you know, we can we don't always like the same movies, but we can always sit down, and even though it's shared screen time and we're not looking eye to eye, we have the ability to have some conversations. He's also learning about technology, so and uh kind of one of his side hustles is our garage sales, so it gives me an opportunity to you know use some of my tech experience and help him out. So it's meeting him where he's at. And uh, you know, uh young or old, it's finding something that someone else likes, whether I like it or not, learning how to appreciate it uh from a distance or getting closer, and realizing that that interest is a gateway to the development structure of that individual. And uh, you know, people may or may not see this as hokey. In my mind, that's the label that I've placed. But uh a hallmark label to this would be a pathway to someone's heart, right? You know, so uh and building relationships, right?

Speaker 1 36:25

So your neighbor, you get you've gotten to know him now, you know a little bit about his personality, and there's probably a love in between you all, right? Neighborly love and respect. And that goes a long way.

Speaker 36:38

I mean, we live a you know, we live nearby, and also it's just it it's a reminder. I mean, going back to the younger generation, whether people like it or not, they're spending more time on the internet. So if you're separate

Meeting People Where They Are

Speaker 36:50

from technology and video games and future uh elements, then you're legitimately not meeting younger people where they're at. You can try to force a narrative, you can try to bring back old things. Uh, I think to justify bringing back different time periods, you need to be in the here and now, and you need to meet people where they're at in order to have an excuse to inject yourself into the narrative. You have to give in order to uh receive in that way because it's a gift to be able to inject your narrative into someone else's life, and I don't think there should ever be the expectation of um being able to do that. Sometimes, you know, um sorry, I just saw a blip on the screen. That's okay. Um but anyway, um yeah, no, it's it's good. Human connection is a good thing. I don't uh um it just reminds me, you've reminded me quite a few times about the value of community. If you could challenge every rotary club and civic organization or in our communities to do just one thing this year, what would it be?

Speaker 1 38:14

Well, I'll I'll go for the first one, and if it's okay, I'll suggest a second as well.

unknown 38:20

Okay.

Speaker 1 38:21

Mentorship and empowerment of our youth. Um whether it's creating programs or just inviting and including younger people at their club meetings um or events that they're doing, or maybe even helping host a youth rotary or alliance club, right? That is consistent, that has regular membership, that is basically grooming these

Screens Versus Real Human Connection

Speaker 1 38:46

kids with the principles and the goals of whatever the organization's principles and goals are. Um, and then having some measurement to see, well, how effective is their organization, the youth organization, right? Um, I think that that helps one engage the kids, it also helps teach them. And, you know, we talk about the young and the old, and you know, we we can't undermine the wisdom that comes with age, right? Uh, you and I are still halfway about you're younger than me, a little bit halfway through life. And it's crazy. Like in my 40s, I look at my 20s and I'm like, oh my God, I know so much more than honestly, I wish to know. Like as you age, like your viewpoint of the world becomes a little bit more anxiety-driven. You become a little bit more, I would say, conservative, if you will. Um, but the older you get, you learn these lessons in life that kind of tweak your view and your worldview. And, you know, there is some wisdom in that. And we've, and again, we've got to heed to that. That's where that trust comes in. We've got to trust that other individual that their, you know, advisement, the guidance is coming from a good place. It doesn't always mean that they're right, right? But that ambition of the young, right? The hope and the dreams of that younger generation, right, can also be a very effective sentiment in moving us forward in areas in our society where we need to uh move forward. And so, how do we make that wisdom and that ambition and that drive and that creativity come back together towards solving uh the problems of the next decades and centuries is where we need to strive. But definitely I would say mentorship and empowerment. And again, this is where I want to give some kudos. You know, I uh yes, the awareness of politics was there for me. I was somebody who saw myself suffering or my family suffering through the political, you know, experiences of life. And therefore, I had a little bit more compassion for others who were suffering. But I will tell you, I would have not achieved much of anything in my life had it not been for the people who were willing to embrace me and mentor me and empower me at a very young age. Uh, many of them who were much older than myself, they were probably anywhere between their 40s to 60s at the time when I was in my teens, uh, who were teaching me about the political system, the political structure, who were tapping me and saying, let's volunteer for this campaign. Hey, there is an election this Tuesday, and I'm gonna take some high school students to the election board to help with the election results, right? So it was these experiences and the willingness uh for others to take me under their wings and mentor me that that kind of paved the pathway for me to envision that I could do more than you know the world tells me.

Speaker 41:35

I love that. I can definitely relate without, you know, without the adults in place that had more experience. I mean, I think about family members and also uh chosen family members uh, you know, later in life that really helped kind of guide my path, right? Whether it was my aunts and and uncle uh kind of inspiring me to create and think, or even my mom uh just kind of showing me uh strong work ethic. And uh Carrie, Mac, Jack, I can list a bunch of different people and and all of the roles tied to shaping me as an individual, but I wouldn't have been able to do it by myself. None of what I'm able to do today would have been possible without mentorship.

Speaker 1 42:24

And again, those human relationships, right? That that's all it's about. And again, our society is just stepping away. We're so into screens and we're giving away those critical human relationships, whether it's with our neighbors and sometimes with family members these days. It's become the new cultural thing. If you don't like a family member, just cut them out, you know. Then, you know, I I don't have the answer to that, but I just again, where I come from is I just need us all to understand we are all human beings. We are a collective. What happens to you one way or another affects me. Um, and to invest in those human relations and to have compassion and empathy for one another.

Speaker 43:07

Yeah, and I think uh, you know, I don't have the answers either, but when I I've ex I experience all of that stuff. The the family cutting out, the too much screen time, I think, you know, family silence gives me the opportunity to appreciate the family members when they're not there, right? So if they're not gonna be there, there's no way to force it or to change it, but there's an opportunity to appreciate. And then the screen time, the only way that I've learned to navigate around that is to learn how to share it, right? You know, if I'm gonna spend eight to twelve to sixteen a day in front of a screen, may not be for everyone else, but how can I leverage that experience or that knowledge to improve the quality of someone else's life? Maybe, you know, a little bit less of 10 to 15 minutes in your face, hey, this is the way that it's gonna be, deal with it, which I probably do a little bit. Too much of uh because I appreciate in a lot of ways the direction the world's going tied to tech, because it's what I know, but maybe leveraging the positivity of what people are uncomfortable with to show them that their quality of life can improve and that they really don't have to change, that they can touch grass more than I do or someone else, and that there's a way to kind of bridge the gap because the reality of it, and you know, people may agree or disagree, a lot of it's based on speculation. We're gonna continue to spend even more time in front of a screen. Now, you know, my glasses, I'm having a bit of a honeymoon period in them, but they have embedded cameras in them, which can make some people feel uneasy even though there's an indicator light. And then anyway, I see a world where screen time is close to 24-7. And maybe we're not going in that direction, but if we do, I'm ready for it. I'm not trying to impose it on anyone else. And the conversation makes people uneasy because it's not now. I think for a lot of reason, not focusing on the present moment, whether it's past or future, should make people feel somewhat uncomfortable because it removes someone's mindset of focusing on what's right in front of them.

Speaker 1 45:20

I again, you you're very unique, as are many marketing media web folks. I mean, part of your work is web design and the work that you do requires you to spend more time on the screen. I think what particularly bothers me is uh with young people, like children and youth. Like, I mean, I have come across these young kids where, you know, mom says, Do you want to go to your friend's birthday party or swim party, or do you want to go to the park? And the the child's response is, no, I'm just gonna stay home this Saturday and play video games. You know, granted, they're playing video, you know, the Wi-Fi connected video games where there's somebody else somewhere else in the world, you know, playing against them. But to me, I feel like that takes away some of that human contact that we is so natural and needed for us as human beings to continue nurturing um who we are. Um I think I think that's what worries me. And just the relationships that have have been reduced to text messages and social media back and forths versus lunches and coffees and family gatherings. I think that's the thing that I I think want to heed people to be cautious of.

Speaker 46:36

And I think the biggest challenge with that in you know, the these statements or this statement may be somewhat controversial, but my my two cents on it is that one of the reasons why we're really not able to compete with technology that supports our everyday life is that technology uh has more uh embedded collective intelligence and accessibility than our species will ever be able to internally retain unless there's some sort of accepted what would be perceived as a singularity, right? If the two combine and they have in a lot of ways, there there really is no competition because the information, the stimulation, the accessibility, the fact that our time's limited and our tech infrastructure is a lot less limited in a lot of ways. There really is no way to compete. But I think that there's uh an advantage that our species has is that because we're not as accessible and because collectively

One Challenge For Rotary This Year

Speaker 47:46

we're really not as intelligent, I think that there's a a quality and an acceptance tied to uh humanness that may uh, you know, knock on wood, never be as accessible in that format uh through technology. And I could be wrong. Maybe, you know, maybe our you know our species is becoming irrelevant and we're just gonna be kind kind of confetti in the future and much more free and happy, or like I really don't know. I I I just I'm not I'm again I'm not worried about it because I work in that space, so it's a little bit self-absorbed. I'm excited about it.

unknown 48:29

Yeah.

Speaker 48:29

And I and I but I can be a little bit compassionate and understand that that some people are not, but I think having going back to what you said about mentoring kids, I think there's a great opportunity and an uh a realization that I come to that we need people in all camps, like basically just different mindsets, whether it's someone who is super religious or super on the other end of the spectrum, not religious at all, or somewhere in between. And then having Democrats, Republicans, independents, libertarians, and people who are super compassionate, and then the people who have, you know, uh maybe uh sold a product or service at the first time at the age of eight and have never experienced uh uh anything close to a real human emotion. I think just having the entire range of the human experience within that body that's accessible from these individuals being mentored is really important because it gives them the idea that there is a range of experience and mindsets that they can adopt to create their own.

Speaker 1 49:39

Exactly. The diversity and the complexity of all of us. And and particularly one of the things, you know, I'll throw out some of the other things that, you know, clubs like this can do, like particularly for Midwest City, this is something of interest to me. I see so many young people, you know, I talked a lot about many of them getting lost in the technology world and maybe never coming back to say hi to us again. But there are many of them who are actually very hard-working kids with great I've you know, I've shared the experience of a young man who came by to sanitize trash cans from me who started his own little business. I think he was 16 years old, right? There are so many

Youth Entrepreneurship And Local Incubators

Speaker 1 50:15

young kids who have dreams and visions and hopes. And maybe some of them have the parents who have the, you know, business mind that can help them maneuver that. But I can guarantee you there's like a hundred more that don't have that resource of a mentor that's teaching them how to start that business bank account, how to get, you know, put in a bid, for example, for a lawn or contract with the city or something. But some of these organizations, whether it's the Chamber of Commerce, whether it's the Rotary Club, I would love to see one of these uh civic organizations step up uh that has a consistent, and I don't mean like a one-day workshop in a year. I mean like a monthly meeting where you are trying to tap and recruit, you know, entrepreneurs within their teens. And you're basically teaching them how do you start a business? How do you come up with a business plan? How do you start that banking um bank account? How do you get a tax uh ID number? You know, how do you put uh a bid together to, you know, we've got young kids that go around mowing lawns, right? Well, imagine if one of these young kids established a small corporation and hired a couple of more teens in the Middle community and they came out and put out a bid, which would most likely be less than some of the contracts you and I are approving for mowing lawns around the city. That enriches and empowers some of our own residents within our city, right? That doesn't just feed the teenager, I'm sure helps the single mom or the struggling grandparents who lives in our community, gives this young child an experience of a lifetime that will probably redirect their lives for the rest of their life. This is how you start a business, this is how you succeed, and this is how you further empower other young people in your community. It'll probably save the taxpayers of Midwest City a couple of bucks because we can probably get our lower bid from some of these kids. Now, I may be being an idealist out here, but I see an opportunity there.

Speaker 52:13

I love that trust the kids, uh, you know, obviously within uh legal constraints, but trust kids um early on, let them succeed, make mistakes, anything in between.

Speaker 1 52:28

Um Brian, the generation that won't give up the power, right? The one that we were talking about earlier, who get there and they just won't surrender to power or to position and won't pass on the torch. They were going to war in their teens. You know, we should trust our kids with the uh entrepreneurship. There's so many more things that we can, you know, pass on the torch to this younger generation.

Speaker 52:52

We just gotta inject some hugs. I mean, you gotta I I have to hug myself and get hugs before I get grumpy and stuck. And then we gotta throw a bunch of love off of uh, you know, onto all of the other people that are currently grumpy and stuck, right? Just basically shower everyone with love, be compassionate for I mean, if I can be compassionate about, or if someone can be compassionate about my many limitations, then you know, I I I owe it to anyone else, regardless of, you know, it's easy to say grumpy or stuck, right? I mean, uh I could put a bunch of labels onto my existence. That's just one variable tied to a temporary instance of what can happen if someone holds on to power too long. I may be in that situation in three or four years from now. I really don't know. And the reason why I'm compassionate towards it and I witness and I worry about it is because I am very aware that I can be subjected to that same exact experience, right? I'm concerned not only for my fellow person, but also for my own self to maybe not want to, you know, follow in it in those footsteps. But I think that empowering youth is really good. I've I've thought we actually talked in uh the Rotary Club of the Original Mile at a recent uh we uh talked to some to an individual who is a counselor at uh Midwest City High School, and we talked about trade progression and that kind of stuff tied to some technical schools out there, and we talked talked about the availability or lack thereof of uh local incubators, you know, of basically teaching kids or teaching young adults about the ins and outs of uh you know different tax structures and maybe just some basic marketing principles, access to small business loans, whether or not individuals should put themselves in that situation in the first place, and being able to just navigate somewhat freely in a place where maybe they weren't able to explore before because some of us, and I I was in this for I was lucky enough that I had an uncle that was an entrepreneur and I had very small exposure to him, and I was very grateful to have a couple of experiences growing up. But most of the adults around me, and I say this with the most respect, were still figuring out how to take care of themselves when I was being raised. They had no idea how to create or manage any type of business structure. So just respecting kids who are in that exact same maybe they want to dive outside of the fishbowl of uh uh, you know, being inside of more of an employee mindset where they realize, you know what, I can create jobs, I can create my own organization. Maybe there's a reason why I don't fit into a structure where I'm supposed to, you know, follow all the rules. Maybe I'm supposed to create my own rules and realize that I need to develop respect for organizations from a completely different angle. I agree with you. I think there are a lot of ways that we can work together as a community to empower some of these younger people. And hopefully we can have more of these conversations and fill in the gaps.

Speaker 1 55:56

One thing I do know is that the ambition is there amongst the younger generation. And ambition isn't always enough, right? Not every businessman will succeed, but there's also grit amongst a percentage of them. But the one thing just to keep in mind, if you guys do proceed, is you know, I I've become savvy enough these days where I can chat GPT on how to start a small business. But it's one thing, and it works for a wide variety of the population out there where they just read the steps and they handle, you know, taking the tasks and uh to town. But I think hands-on would be really great, right? So it's more than just handing out a flyer of here's how you do the bank, here's how you apply for the loan, but like putting them through the hands-on process, I think would be very influential too.

Speaker 56:42

Spraying the trash cans, mowing the lawn with them, uh, taking them onto you know, some field trips tied to a civic organization, helping them hand out the flags, you know, tied to the Midwest City Rotary Club during those events, basically exposing them to civic organizations, exposing them to a wide range of individuals that are making the decisions and show them that community visibility is accessible to everyone.

Small Civic Moments That Stick

Speaker 1 57:09

And I want to give you an uh Mayor Rick Rice kudos. Um, one of the things that you guys have recently changed is inviting a young child or youth to the council um meetings to do the Pledge of Allegiance, right? And I can almost guarantee you 90% of those kids will never forget that experience. Um it will be a highlight in in that age uh for them. And so again, introduction to a civic um event or gathering that will stick with them and they redirect one or two of them to consider, you know, public service at some level.

Speaker 57:45

I love that. And yeah, you guys have given me the all the constituents, the the entire horseshoe. Everyone in the city's given me the opportunity and the platform to collaborate and make that type of situation possible.

Speaker 1 58:01

It was one of your ideas, though, when you ran to engage, you know, the school system and kids.

Speaker 58:06

So I remain humble on air so that I can be egotistical offline. Uh but the uh the I'm I'm just glad that it's an opportunity. And one of the things that I think about when I'm doing that is uh uh my mom was cool enough to put me on an airplane, actually, for the very first time. The first time I I took a plane by myself, which might be unusual today, I was four years old. And the pilot gave me, I think the very first time, he gave me a pin, similar to what Rick does with the kids. And even though they're complete two completely different experiences, I remember that when someone in a th in an authority position that is legitimately humbling themselves to support a large quantity of individuals takes time out of their day to focus on someone younger and innocent who really has no idea what's going on in the rest of the world, how transformative that that experience can be. Till this day, I will always feel at home uh on an airplane. So if I can give a fragment of that experience back because those adults were cool enough, like for me, it's kind of passing on that baton. So um I'm just I'm glad that we can come together as a community and just give that to kids because I think that like I I agree with you. I think those small moments can really help solidify the structure for the rest of their lives. And then what's really cool is there's a there's an opportunity for them to do that with their younger generation and pass on the baton again.

Speaker 1 59:50

I absolutely agree. I agree, I love it.

Speaker 59:54

Well, I think that's good for now. We'll save the we'll do all the offensive stuff in in maybe episode two.

Sara Bana 1:00:00

Yes, maybe you can come and arm wrestle and disagree in all the things that we disagree on. That'll

Thanks And Final Nudge

Speaker 1 1:00:06

be fun.

Brian Triger 1:00:06

Yes. All right, well, yeah, thanks, Sarah. I look forward to chatting with you again. Again, thanks for coming out. Thank you again to uh Rotary District 5750, Midwest City, Metropolitan Library System, to uh Sarah and Sarah's family, uh to my dogs and cats, uh, friends and family, etc. And I'm probably leaving someone out. Oh, uh Rotary Club of the Original Mile. Uh love you guys. Uh it's a relatively new family, but I'm excited about that. And for everyone else listening, try to go out and touch some grass and cause some problems.