Facing an Uncertain Future

Not knowing what the future holds is a clear and present reality. All the time. Never do we truly know what the future holds. Period.  We can guess, we can project, we can calculate permutations and probabilities, and from those calculations we may even come close to predicting the future accurately. But there is never a clear answer that is known. It is still guess work at some level of sophistication or another.

That’s the real world. We live in it. We can like it or lump it. Two choices for us to deal with.

There may be softer choices between the two if you consider small differences among them. We can like the option if we are in general agreement with what happens. Or we can look upon the negative option as an opportunity to do something with that happening. It’s the basic question of “is the glass half empty, or half full?”

Looking at it in that manner gives us some other options, but it really is only buying us time while we work out options and possibilities with the negative happening.

Of course we can study and research what each outcome is – the good or the bad – and determine what the positives and negatives of each are. The indisputable truth, however, is that we are stuck with the basic question: either this happens or that happens. And regardless of what does happen, we have something we can do about it. We can either take advantage of the happening in the one direction, or if it turns against us, we can do something to counteract that happening and build towards a better future result.

This is what managers do in organizations that deal with the day to day realities of their operations. If things go well, then they move on to the next action plan and make another good thing happen, hopefully. Of course if things don’t go well there is a back up plan to handle that situation. Over time the organization continues to function and do its business, employ its people, buy and sell resources and turn out products and services.

Governments do much the same thing. They have functions to handle. Their agencies have a mountain of work to do. And the long term efficacy and success are both plotted and planned. Back-up plans are prepared as well should they be needed. This is what professional management people do. They function through thick and thin. They assess probabilities and options, then make plans to handle whatever comes down the path.

The stock market is a hedge making apparatus. So is the Futures Market. Hedging values one way or the other – the commodity (or stock) goes up in value, or down, and what are the options to implement according to the scenario that occurs. Mankind has faced these issues time and again and prepared for it. In modern times mankind faces these issues on a daily basis, and yes, sometimes on a minute by minute basis.

The difference between the past and today is simply this: America is at a crossroads. What will it do for good or ill; and what results will those actions have for good or ill? And then what will most of us do about that set of resulting circumstances? Will we follow good with ill or more good?

I know this sounds very philosophical, but if you doubt this logic, you likely will feel no pain in the coming months because you are unable to imagine what’s ahead, or you are in favor of what is to happen and will experience joy and fulfillment from the result. The rest of us, however, are fairly certain that the outcomes will sorely test the backbone of America. Will we understand the essence of what is happening and react well or poorly?

The options are not all that many.

The real question is if our nation realizes that situation is staring us in the face at this very moment. Does it?

My hunch is too few understand this reality. I fear too many of our people will go out for a drink, a good dinner, and possibly a night of entertainment and dancing, and then return home for a dreamy, boozy sleep. The morning will demonstrate to them that the world progressed without them and they might not like the outcomes.

The rest of us will be working out the details of what happened and why, and what we can do about it now that the damage has been done. Those who danced the night away will hope the more serious among us have done their work and will save the day eventually.

Only today the reality is that there may not be a day to be saved after all.

If the options are not many, then who and when will they arise to change the scenario to a better one?

Who among us gets this? Who among us is willing to do the hard work to correct the history before it falls into the abyss?

Hmm? Who among us? The question pends, hanging in the air. Waiting for an answer.

Will you answer the call?

December 21, 2016