2021
May
26
Wednesday

Monitor Daily Podcast

May 26, 2021
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Trudy Palmer
Cover Story Editor

As I recall, I did finally master doing a cartwheel as a kid. I know for a fact, I could somersault – and still can, for that matter. That’s not much to crow about, I know. But it’s all the more reason I’m curious what makes superstar gymnast Simone Biles tick.

Last weekend, she became the first female athlete to land a Yurchenko double pike in vault during a competition.

What’s behind the kind of drive that leads her to execute moves so extraordinary that, so far, four are named after her? According to her coaches, Cecile and Laurent Landi, being motivated from within is key to her success. 

“We saw in her eyes that she wanted to do it for a good reason,” Mr. Landi told The Washington Post. “It wasn’t from the pressure of anyone else." 

Speaking more generally, he added, “If deep inside them they want to be successful, and they love the sport, they will find a way to get better.”

Simone Biles … better? A five-time Olympic medalist, she has won every all-around competition she’s entered and is the most decorated gymnast, male or female, in world championships. We’ll have to wait until the Olympics to see whether the double pike becomes Ms. Biles’ fifth eponymous move.

But clearly, the right motive and a love of the sport create room to grow. That’s how last weekend’s first-ever feat came about. Ms. Biles tried it years ago “just to play around,” she told another Washington Post reporter. “Never in a million years did I think it was going to be feasible,” she said. 

As she grew stronger, though, it came within reach – and she couldn’t resist.


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Today’s stories

And why we wrote them

The sense of urgency behind the president’s big infrastructure bill is waning, while other legislative priorities have stalled. With a thin margin in the Senate, Democrats may have to lower their ambitions. 

Kuba Stezycki/Reuters
Warsaw-based Belarusian blogger Stsiapan Putsila is pictured at the Nexta office in Warsaw, Poland, on May 24, 2021.

When your sources and audience live under tyranny, how do you tell the truth? Nexta, an online channel, blends journalism and activism on purpose.

Patterns

Tracing global connections

What if peace between Israelis and Palestinians can come only if each side appreciates the other’s ties to the same land? The recent fighting has reinvigorated that search for understanding.

Courtesy of BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, UK
People ride exercise bikes at the Swaminarayan Hindu temple in London as part of the Cycle to Save Lives fundraiser on the weekend of May 1, 2021. Participants at temples in Leicester, Essex, and London combined their efforts to cycle 4,700 miles – the distance from London to Delhi – and ended up almost tripling that amount.

India’s devastating pandemic has spurred its diaspora to rally in support. British Indians are looking past their differences to work together on relief efforts.

Difference-maker

Peter DaSilva/Special to the Christian Science Monitor
Frank Ruona, running coach for the 1000 Mile Club, a running group that includes current and former inmates from San Quentin prison, records Markelle Taylor's time during a 10K run along a bike trail on March 14, 2021, in Mill Valley, California.

Life in prison is a constant reminder of a person’s failings. To counter that, Frank Ruona runs with men on the “inside,” shining light on the redemptive effects of steady support and achieving goals.


The Monitor's View

Reuters/File
A man in Sassenheim, Netherlands, works in his kitchen during COVID-19 pandemic.

In coming weeks, many employers around the world will be singing a new tune: How do we get ’em back in the office after so many employees worked from home?

That issue, of course, doesn’t apply to workers who continued with front-line labor during the pandemic. But for those who could work remotely, their eyes are now open to alternative work arrangements.

Many will welcome a return to in-person encounters that cannot quite match the digital kind. They miss the cameraderie of the office. Innovative ideas can spring from casual conversations. And without the distractions of working at home, employees at an office can be more focused and collaborative.

Still employers will be conscious of those employees who were able to find a work-life balance that improved both their personal needs and professional accomplishments. The new work mantra is not “how many hours did you work?” but “how much did you accomplish?” Many employees find they got more done each day by not commuting.

For some, remote work just makes financial sense: Keep the same job, with the same pay, but move to a part of the country with lower living costs, while saving on commuting costs as well.

Companies are making plans to bring employees back to their offices in stages over the summer. Most popular may be early September, when children will mostly be heading back to classrooms, freeing up parents who provided child care to head in to work. Many companies are pledging to take a more flexible approach, hoping to keep the most talented and productive on staff. Google plans to give its employees four weeks of “work from anywhere” time each year. LinkedIn will allow a good portion of its employees to work remotely for up to half of the time.

How badly do workers want to work from home? A recent study by Microsoft showed that more than 70% of workers want to have the option of working remotely with flexible hours. Blind, an anonymous U.S. network for professionals, found that most people it surveyed would choose being able to work from home over receiving a 30% raise.

For many, a return to the office is coming. But the traditional office is going to have to compete harder to win over employees who’ve found a surprising renewal in remote work. Employees will need to be aware of the benefits of in-office work to an organization. The key for employers will be to find win-win solutions that enhance both their ​organization's goals and worker satisfaction.


A Christian Science Perspective

About this feature

Each weekday, the Monitor includes one clearly labeled religious article offering spiritual insight on contemporary issues, including the news. The publication – in its various forms – is produced for anyone who cares about the progress of the human endeavor around the world and seeks news reported with compassion, intelligence, and an essentially constructive lens. For many, that caring has religious roots. For many, it does not. The Monitor has always embraced both audiences. The Monitor is owned by a church – The First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boston – whose founder was concerned with both the state of the world and the quality of available news.

If we’re feeling limited by how we – or others – are defining ourselves, considering how God made us puts us on the path to healing and progress.


A message of love

Peter Dejong/AP
Donald Pols, director of the environmental group Milieudefensie, celebrates the outcome in the court case brought by the group against Royal Dutch Shell in The Hague, Netherlands, on May 26, 2021. It's a potentially precedent-setting ruling – with Shell being ordered to rein in its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030 – and the oil giant said it expects to appeal. The plaintiffs pressed for Shell to act in line with the global goals set out in the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
( The illustrations in today’s Monitor Daily are by Jacob Turcotte. )

A look ahead

Thanks for checking out today’s offerings. Come back tomorrow when we’ll be reporting on humanitarian relief efforts in Gaza.

More issues

2021
May
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Wednesday

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