It’s been a surreal few days for me so this post will follow that vein. I awoke to the news of the tragedy at Northern Illinois University on Friday. A lone gunman walked into a classroom and opened fire killing five students and wounding others.  For the gunman, there existed a terrible and incomprehensible disconnect between his world and the real world. There is speculation the incident could have been caused by the gunman going off of his medications. Yet, he was conscious enough to remove the hard drive from his computer and the SIM card from his cell phone.

The outpouring of community support since the tragedy has been tremendous. Virginia Tech has reached out to NIU to offer what advice and support they can.  Virginia Tech basketball fans are being encouraged to where NIU colors at games. The overflowing turnouts at memorials have been equally moving.  So while the act was the result of some disconnect, the NIU community has grown stronger.

“A heightened sense of togetherness now felt on campus is a wonderful thing purchased at a horrible price,” said Jonathan Perry, director of counseling at the University of Arkansas.

Juxtapose to Saturday afternoon.  I participated in my first Oovoo.com chats. It started off with what turned into a one-on-one conversation with Geoff Livingston, author of Now is Gone. We discussed the steps necessary of introducing social media into your overall marketing strategy.  He also introduced me to the concept of the “magic middle” (which I’m happy to be a part of at the low end of the scale).

A couple hours later, I was talking about the next Age of Conversation book with Gavin Heaton, Drew McLellan, Luc Debaisieux, Kris Hoet, and Paul Mcenany.  It was a crazy and contagious mixture of dialects and time zones. Kris and Luc joined us from Belgium, Gavin in Australia, Paul in Texas, and Drew and me in Iowa. 

The connecting nature of this technology was an eye opening experience. You can now enjoy an immediate and engaging conversation with anyone in the world one on one. Where blogging opened the door for conversation, oovoo has the capacity to eliminate any latency issues with your discussions. The feedback is immediate.

The possibilities are endless:  virtual conferences, virtual jam sessions with musicians around the world, the discussion/sharing of diagnosis with doctors anywhere, or one-on-one counseling. What other uses of this technology can you envision? 

Time is on my side, yes it is
Time is on my side, yes it is

Now you always say
That you want to be free
But you’ll come running back (said you would baby)
Youll come running back (I said so many times before)
Youll come running back to me

Time and change. Time and change.  Mick argued eloquently, that given enough time, his lover would change her mind and come running back to his loving arms.

Last fall, Tim Johnson asked me how I was going to change the world.  I responded with this post over at Liz Strauss’s site.  I’ve been thinking some more about the whole deal and I’m not alone.

It’s a popular topic. Liz had a great conversation going on last month: “What’s the difference between the person who changes a dream into reality and the person who looks on?  One changes the world.”

I would argue the person with the dream and the time can make the change.

Roger Carr reminds us we don’t have to be great leaders like Abraham Lincoln and Mother Teresa to make a difference but you do have to give up some time. “We just have to do the best with who we are, with the time we have, and the skills we can use,” says Roger.

Rosa Parks became the face of the civil rights movement because she chose to act. Whether a conscious act or not, she set change into motion.  She took the time to sit down.

We can all make a difference in this world but we have to get over this obsession with time. Without it, change isn’t coming. Is time the only difference maker between the change agents and the perpetual dreamers?

This post is part of the Non-Profit Blog Exchange Virtual Event.

Animosity is everywhere. Bloggers are keenly aware of this. Some people hate it. Some people thrive in it. Some people hide behind it.

Well, Temple University just received two anonymous checks to the tune of $5 million (full story here). The only catch? Send the issuing bank a yearly update on how the money is being used. Nice work if you can get it.

Like many non-profits, we used to have a general Anonymous category on all of our printed donor lists. It was a catch-all category for anyone making a donation of any amount. This always felt like an injustice to me. But, we must respect the donor’s wishes.

Reasons to Remain Anonymous:

1. altruism - they aren’t making the gift to gain recognition
2. privacy - they don’t want other non-profits/charities calling them to ask for a donation
3. security - they don’t want other people to know how much money they have
4. ulterior motives - i.e. politically motivated donations, steering online conversations through an alternate identity

What’s your take on animosity? Good thing? Bad thing?