The Next Innovation

Holes in her shoes signaled her poverty in wealth, but not in spirit. She had just graduated from Delaware Institutes of Technology (DIT). Her cinnamon skin, gray eyes, flowed with her hair as she marched to the startup tech firm. Armed with her digital resume on her smartphone, she moved with the grace of a strand of hair passing across her face.

“There’s a way to do this,” Sonina Gilberts announced in her office. The glass walls and white furniture and abstract “art” both eased and made queasy Venesu Holbrook.

“I’ve noticed your resumé. Spotless. Absolutely wonderful ideas, you’ve been highly recommended by the provost and the president. You made the dean’s list or greater for every year you were at DIT. Now, I noticed something. No volunteer work. Why not?”

“Thank you for this chance. I would say that I didn’t work in a soup kitchen or hand out turkeys because only the recipients can be selfish.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s quite alright. Only people in need are qualified in our culture to be selfish. They can grab and beg for the alms of those with more than them. And those with more either have a guilty consciousness, or a pompous idealism that says, ‘I did my good deed for the day.’ Why don’t we say we did our good deed after punching out from our shift at work? Why is it that the people who need help are treated like apples and we just spray them to make everyone feel better rather than looking at the root?”

“I…I think I see your point. It doesn’t matter. Not your point, the fact you have no volunteer work. It’s quite alright here. We have a diversity of opinions. All are welcome.”

“All aspects of life should be shielded from forced diversity, though. I mean look at all of this wealth around us. It didn’t come from giving and sharing. It resulted from building and trading. We have the opportunity to be the moral smartphone.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Technology has driven us to this device with more memory than what put man on the Moon. If we can project that same sort of energy to changing the morality of people, we will live as complete human beings walking upright into the rising Sun.”

“Well, yes. I see that you’re very strong-willed and able to form disparate ideas and make them into a cohesive whole. I’m going to give you this position as assistant to the CTO. You’ll start out at ten million a year with stock and options.”

“Thank you.”

“But that’s not all. I want you also to report to me once a week concerning this whole world-changing idea. It’s intriguing to hear you even come up with such ideas,” Sonina replied.

“If there is something I can remedy, it is the wokeness of this company. I think I can tackle that issue by instituting objective ideals within this environment and speaking of environment—”

“Whoa, whoa. Let’s slow it down a bit. What do you wish to do about the environment?”

“I seek to let everyone know the difference between environment and nature. That man commands nature but must respect it. That the only environment worth ‘saving’ is the human one. The technology this company represents is fantastic. It just needs a few weeks.”

Sonina looked at Venesu incredulously. “And what might those be?”

“The campaigns to save the snails and whales and trees and bees. They’re quite alright without our intervention. Say they go extinct. That’s the law of the land. So many species have been wiped clean from this planet. Our meddling with nature only worsens the problem.”

“I see. So you won’t be Mother Teresa or Jane Goodall either.”

“I sure won’t be either. I will be Venesu. A smart worker and one aware of her own prowess. I’m good, be you and I know that’s enough. I endeavor to be excellent in all my doings work or whatever else.”