What needs to be happening to make that future continue its
course? Does it require us to do things we are not doing today? Does it assume
current problems are gone, fixed or erased somehow? Does the future require us
to see people and things in a different light? Appreciate them more or at least
differently? How?
In imagining the future, what resources will we need to make
it happen? Are those resources available? The ones which are lacking, can we
find other resources to replace them, or can we just do without them entirely?
Can we still create, innovate, make good things happen without them?
Here’s a thought I’ve had repeatedly of late:
We citizens have the smarts, experience, capability and competence to
build a new future. Basic resources required: stable governance, reliable laws
and contracts, and an educational system that is accessible, provides life-long
learning and helps keep us continually employable.
If this idea is correct, then we have the necessary
ingredients to reinvent a vibrant society and economy on the ashes of the
current mess. The state of our nation and economy is
such that large pieces are broken. They are negatives that distract our
attention from innovation. They are anchors whose lead weight alone drags us
down and impedes forward motion. It keeps us from imagining the future. So
first we have to shed those negative images so we can do what we know how to
do: imagine the future and build it.
I was in a committee meeting of the local Chamber of
Commerce yesterday. Our elected state representative was present to inform us
of state resources available to assist small businesses. Instead the discussion
rapidly focused on the state’s financial chaos and political gridlock. The same
message is in most newspapers, magazines and on most radio and TV news
broadcasts. This is life in Illinois California America
If the problems become the whole of our consideration, they
snuff out ideas; they overwhelm our sense of proportion and most importantly,
our future.
Problems will always be with us. How we live with them tells
a lot about us. But problems do not or should not define us. We must define
ourselves more dynamically. We are innovative creatures. We have brains capable
of reasoning and inventing. We have done so endlessly over 300 years. And we
will continue to do so. Weighed down with problems and responsibilities? Sure.
Defeated by them? I don’t think so.
We act defeated, however. The pension obligations of public
service employees are huge. Future financial stability of Social Security is
enormous. Medicare challenges us financially in so many ways, far into the
future; it seems impossible to fix.
But these problems do not define who we are and who we can
be. They only inform us that we didn’t manage our affairs well enough to avoid
the problems. We can fix these issues and avoid them in the future. But first
we have to repair the engine that makes all of this
possible in the first place: the American inner spirit and the economy that
results from it. Innovative, cutting edge, leading the world to new futures
continually. That’s our role and destiny.
We have been resting on our laurels. For too long. We are
living on yesterday’s capital. And it is running low. It is time to rebuild and
reinvent.
This starts and ends with each person. We need
encouragement. We require safety and nurture. We will thrive on challenge. We
need a stable legal environment of laws and contracts, and we must have a
reliable governance system. We have the former. We evidently lack the latter.
So it is up to us to do without it temporarily, or replace it in the long term.
But we have no time to waste. We must begin collaborating
and innovating now. Today.
This requires new leaders and a willingness to follow. Are
we ready to take this on? I think we are. I know I am. Are you?
February 16, 2012
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