Rethink Your Purpose, Repair The World | Ashley Stanley | TEDxBeaconStreet
The speaker, a descendant of Holocaust survivors, argues that confronting historical injustice, symbolized by her grandmother's experience in Vienna, necessitates that everyone use their current privileges to actively participate in building social justice in the present. She frames this responsibility by contrasting the inaction witnessed in history with the actionable choice to "stand up" now, citing the role of her company, 11 Spoonfuls, in redirecting food waste to address current inequities. This call to action culminates in the pledge to honor the legacy of those who suffered by actively advocating for marginalized groups.
## Speakers & Context
- Unnamed speaker; descendant of Holocaust survivors and great-grandson of individuals who immigrated to the US from Vienna in 1938.
- The address frames personal family history (grandmother's survival) against the backdrop of current social necessity (anti-racism, social justice).
## Theses & Positions
- The fundamental failure of historical moments (like the Nazi era) was the inaction of people who could have stood up, as illustrated by the speaker's grandmother's observation: *"no one stood up no one took a stand."*
- Personal patriotism is rooted in the gratitude felt by ancestors who immigrated to the US; this gratitude mandates a corresponding responsibility to "do more."
- Social justice requires active participation and advocacy, moving beyond mere acknowledgement of problems.
- Food waste is not merely a logistical problem of supply, but a problem of distribution, which 11 Spoonfuls aims to correct.
- To be an ally is to "take a stand" and become "each other's keeper."
## Concepts & Definitions
- **Mema:** The speaker’s grandmother; the last surviving member of the Holocaust in the family.
- **Tikun Alam:** A Hebrew ideal meaning "to repair the world."
## Mechanisms & Processes
- **Food Rescue/Redistribution:** The process used by 11 Spoonfuls to intercept and reroute edible food that would otherwise be wasted.
- **Social Service Stream:** The mechanism by which rescued food is distributed to feed communities most impacted by "economic social and health injustices and inequalities."
- **Cultivating Culture Internally:** For a company like 11 Spoonfuls, the "how" of operations (e.g., paying a living wage, offering wellness access) is as vital as the "what" (food rescue).
## Timeline & Sequence
- **1919:** Birth year of the speaker's grandmother, who was born in Vienna.
- **Pre-Nazi Era:** The grandmother lived in Vienna, experiencing pre-war times when the department store the family owned was part of the city's structure.
- **During the Nazi Era:** The grandmother survived when others did not; she and the speaker visited Vienna to retrace family history.
- **1938:** Great-grandfather, grandmother, and great-uncle arrived in the United States as refugees.
- **2010:** Founding year of the company, Love Spoonfuls.
- **2020 (around):** The year the speaker was considering starting the company, as colleagues discussed celebrating 10 years of Love Spoonfuls.
- **2012 (approximate):** The time the speaker was giving her TED talk.
## Named Entities
- **Vienna:** City where the speaker’s grandmother was born and where significant family history was revisited.
- **Lottie:** Childhood friend of the speaker's grandmother who shared a meal with her during the Vienna visit.
- **Love Spoonfuls:** The company founded by the speaker to address food waste/insecurity.
- **11 Spoonfuls:** The current iteration of the company, focusing on logistics and distribution.
- **Boston:** City where the speaker moved from after a period of personal rebuilding.
## Numbers & Data
- Birth year of grandmother: **1919**.
- Holocaust survivor status: Grandmother was the *last surviving member* in the family.
- Time span of grandmother's pre-war life: Nearly **70 years** since Hitler took power.
- Frequency of food waste in the US: **40%** of all food produced annually.
- Total estimated food wasted in the US: Roughly **63 million tons** of food.
- Proportion of global food supply lost: About **a third** of the global food supply.
- Years the company was founded: **10 years** ago (from the speaking time).
- People fed weekly: **30,000** people.
## Examples & Cases
- **Vienna Walking Tour:** Retracing the grandmother's childhood history, including observing her elementary school and catching the sight of horses she used to watch.
- **The Meal with Lottie:** Sharing lunch and "sharing silverware" with Lottie, a friend who was otherwise a generalized character in history.
- **Great-grandfather's Success:** Establishing a business in Vienna that later became a target/victim of the Nazis.
- **Immigration Gratitude:** Great-grandfather and family spending their lives working to repay the debt felt for the US "opportunity."
- **11 Spoonfuls's Rescue Metric:** Rescuing and distributing over **17 million pounds** of fresh healthy food.
- **The "Community Bill of Rights":** Created for both employees and partners to guide the company's culture and operations.
- **Lafayette Park footage:** Mentioned as an example of people standing up in response to injustice.
## Tools, Tech & Products
- None specified, other than the act of *walking* or using *social media/email* (for the initial eulogy).
## References Cited
- **The Talmudic Concept of Stewardship:** Implicitly referenced through the idea of being "each other's keeper" and actively repairing the world.
- **Rachel Parsons' footage:** Referenced as an example of public standing up in Lafayette Park.
## Trade-offs & Alternatives
- **Current approach:** Active, operational work through 11 Spoonfuls (distribution/logistics).
- **Alternative failure (Historical):** Inaction, where people failed to "take a stand" when confronted with injustice.
- **Alternative failure (Logistical):** Allowing food to be wasted due to distribution failures rather than supply issues.
## Counterarguments & Caveats
- The speaker initially struggled with articulating the emotional weight of history into a concrete framework until finding the problem of food distribution.
- The need to move beyond "business as usual" and the perceived societal comfort zone of simply wanting things to "go back to [the way they were]."
## Conclusions & Recommendations
- The most critical responsibility is to actively participate in and advocate for social justice and to be actively anti-racist.
- The method of action must be personal: *"Walk from where you stand and use what you have."*
- Commitment to operating ethically ("how") must match the collective principles of the community.
- The ultimate goal is to be a responsible steward, making sure that "Black lives don't just matter but the black lives need to be honored valued recognized and stood up for."
## Implications & Consequences
- A failure to act today creates a moral debt that will echo across generations, mirroring the historical failure of inaction.
- The impact of the family's history shifts the speaker's sense of self from mere survivor/descendant to active agent of systemic repair.
## Verbatim Moments
- *"she was the last surviving member of the holocaust in my family the last first-person narrative the last true guardian of our legacy"*
- *"no one stood up no one took a stand"*
- *"it was a moment of grace of compassion and some healing"*
- *"hunger wasn't a problem of supply it's a problem of distribution"*
- *"we take fresh healthy and perishable food that would otherwise be tossed and upcycle it into the social service stream"*
- *"where am i going what do i have and how do i use it"*
- *"we are each other's keeper and it is time"*