@RotoTok says “you guys are just beginning to understand how powerful you are when you come together and work on an idea” #dsummit
@RotoTok is Rob Muller with Roche (a great guy), and he touched on something pretty huge with that sentence. He’s right. But it can often be hard to see that from the inside. Thank you Rob, for helping us glimpse our potential.
JDRF President & CEO, Jeffrey Brewer, spent lunch with us. How brave to submit himself to an open Q & A session with a bunch of rowdy social media advocates! There are many things JDRF is working on that most of us have no idea about. I find a lot of hope in that.
But nobody knowing about these efforts leads to a lot of unfair attitudes towards JDRF. It seems Mr. Brewer knows this, and is working on better communication and education.
Just before lunch we heard from Isabella Platon with the International Diabetes Federation. These guys are providing so much to so many in need, yet we know so little about them here in the US.
@scottkjohnson: I feel very distant and disconnected from the IDF, and I want to change that. They need our help, and we need their reach. #dsummit
Their President, Jean Claude Mbanya, was able to share a few words with us at dinner, and it was very moving. There are people dying every single day because they can’t access insulin. Something so many of us take for granted.
That should not be happening in 2011.
At the end of the day? There are so many important causes, and not enough resources to work on them. How do you choose where to spend your energy?
How do you figure out where you can make the most impact?
How do you make sure you’re not spinning your wheels and not making any difference at all?
How can you ignore any area of diabetes advocacy and still sleep well at night?
How do you choose?
How do you choose.
[…] Scott Johnson thinks about relationships and and how we must take action. […]
I would love to be involved in the summit and make a difference. Please let me know how I can help!
Great perspective, as always Scott – and thanks for the kind words. I think there’s going to be a lot of good that comes from this summit, and I can’t wait to get started. 🙂
I like what Sysy said there – we all have our “micro”-causes within diabetes advocacy and I would hope that between all of us, we’re covering everything. No one person has to do it all.
Great post, Scott. Thanks for sharing it. Yes, it was also so moving to hear the IDF passion on this, in a way that enables us to share that message with more people and push for a change on this. Same with Jeffrey Brewer and all the other discussion. These experiences help us be able to connect the dots, and be an even stronger Diabetes Community not only nationally but worldwide.