Truth or Comfort: You Have to Choose
All photos by Jesse Rowell, Jr.
We’ve all heard of the red pill vs blue pill. But what about raspberries vs blackberries?
Lost Lake, Lost Compass
I was recently at Lost Lake, Oregon, on a “Trip to Nowhere” curated by Boyz N The Wood and Camp Yoshi. For once, I wasn’t leading, facilitating, nor managing a group nature-based experience this Summer. I wasn’t the guy carrying the agenda or the weight of young men’s expectations, traumas or fears. I was just another camper watching the lake shift color in the morning light, enjoying camaraderie, and having much needed time to meditate and sit with myself in the woods.
That’s what we aim for young men to experience on Camping to Connect trips; pause, presence, and the relief of not having to prove anything. I needed that reminder for myself. It reminded me what it feels like to refill your cup instead of pouring from an empty one.
But the truth is, it’s not just me running on empty. Our nonprofit organization, like so many others, is feeling the squeeze.
Raspberry or Blackberry?
In The Matrix, the choice was between the red pill and the blue pill: truth or comfort. Today, I’d like to offer you something sweeter: raspberry or blackberry.
Both are berries, both grow on bushes, both stain your fingers. But one comes with a sharp tang, the other with hidden thorns. Choosing isn’t about taste alone; it’s about what happens when you lean into complexity rather than reaching for easy sweetness.
That’s where philanthropy finds itself this year.
The Ripple Effect Nobody Asked For
Shifts in Washington around “woke” initiatives like DEI, science, environmental and social justice, have sent tremors through philanthropy. Whether you cheer those initiatives or not, their politicization has left a mark. Funders are pausing, pivoting, or pulling back. Some grants have vanished, timelines have stretched thin, and capacity-building dollars have dried up.
It’s as if the philanthropic GPS lost signal somewhere between “commitment” and “convenience.”
For nonprofits, that means we’re left juggling: do we chase new priorities just to stay funded, or do we stay true to our mission and risk the lean season?
Either way, the thorns are showing.
The Coelho Reminder
In Paulo Coelho’s The Pilgrimage, there’s a story of a pilgrim arguing with a popcorn vendor about Franco’s Spain. Each man left more convinced of his own position, neither transformed by the other’s truth.
Philanthropy today feels a lot like that to me. Too often, conversations aren’t about listening but about converting. Boards want to avoid ruffling feathers, corporations fear the bottom line, and leaders insist their version of justice is the one. Meanwhile, the stars still shine with different colors and different paths, reminding us that diversity of perspective is what keeps the universe alive.
My good friend and colleague CJ Goulding said it best on a recent Linkedin post:
“Freedom is both the capacity to dream about a possible future, and the ability/power to be able to make it happen.”
So, Which Berry Will You Bite?
Do you want the raspberry; easy to swallow, a little tart but fleeting? Or the blackberry; sweet but tangled, requiring care and courage to harvest?
As leaders, funders, and community builders, the choice matters. Will we settle for comfort, or will we risk the thorns to feed something deeper?
Camping to Connect, and countless nonprofits like it, need partners willing to step past the trend cycle. We need family foundations unafraid to stand on values, individuals willing to give without waiting for corporate consensus, and fellow nonprofit leaders ready to say out loud what so many whisper in private.
My cup is filling again. But our sector’s cup? That’s a collective task.
So, philanthropy: raspberry or blackberry?
