Matters Overshadowed

Sit down at a table with a pad of paper and a pen. Get ready now! Put on your thinking cap. If needed, close your eyes and think on this subject: What are the topics that truly matter to me? Don’t be concerned about how many there are, or if some are more important than others. Just list them all. Try to be complete. I know it is hard to do this, but it’s also fun!

Now, that you have your list, how many items do you have? 15 or 20? Or more? Good for you. You have been thinking broadly and deeply.

OK. Now, sit back and scan your list. Without doing too much damage to any one of them, see which are duplicating others or nearly do. If you have some of those, combine them logically.

Now go back to the edited list, and place each item in rank order. Number 1 is the most important item. It cannot be placed lower on the list. Do not be concerned that this top item is probably very difficult to support or repair. Just put it where it belongs in relation to the other items. OK. Now go back to the list and complete your ranking. This may take some time.

Finished? Good. Take a look at the first item and the last item on the list. Are they screamingly different? Are they related in any way? You might be surprised to find a lot of relationships between all your items. That’s an indication of how complicated life is and our society, too!

More processing for you to do. I want you to draw another page from your pad, a blank one, and place it next to your list. Title the page ‘Public Awareness of Important Issues’. Now go back to your list and consider each item and rank them with respect to how you think the public is aware of this issue? Not supportive of it, but aware of it. Do this with each item.

Using another blank page from your pad, place it next to your first list of priority issues. At the top, title the page ‘Easiness to Repair/Address Issue’. Rank order each issue from the first page to this one.

Another blank page should be entitled ‘Issues Connected/Dependent on other Issues’. Examine the original priority list of issues and go through; identify which issues are connected to one another; you may find several are not only connected to another issue, but also connected to several. You may have a long string of issue #’s next to each issue on the list.

Now, what do we do with these pages? Several possibilities exist. Let’s examine some of them.

First, does the ‘connected/dependent issues’ list cause you to shift the priority of the items? If so, do so. It is important to realize that issues dependent on one another can be addressed and fix more than the priority targeted issue. You kill more birds with one stone. This is important because many issues are really platforms for other issues, and fixing one helps another. It is the nature of our complex society.

Second, after working all of these lists, have any issues begun to look considerably less important than when you placed it on the list? If so, cross it off. You may understand that fixing other issues will actually cause the now unimportant item to get the needed attention anyway.

Third, consider the lists again with the determination of addressing some of the simpler ones. Think about how you would fix them. Can you or another organization handle this issue? Is there a credible organization already working on the problem? If so, perhaps you can turn your attention to another item on your list.

Fourth, the issues you feel need immediate attention and can be helped by you, set them aside for an organizational approach to working on them. The remainder of your list should be placed on hold until you get around to working on them.

Knowing what you will or can do about an issue will take some time and serious thinking. You may be able to join an organization that is making big strides with the problem. Or maybe you can donate funds, time or talent to the organization directly to help them. Perhaps you could ask your friends and family members if any of them would be interested in joining you on this project; or at least discuss it with them. Together you can plan what the group can do to make a difference. None of this work is easy. That’s why these problems exist in the first place.

But they won’t go away on their own. They need you to be involved in the solution. It is the only way things get done in our nation. It is the way we are built and the way our government is structured.

We are in control of our lives, culture and nation. It has always been this way. It will remain so long after we are gone. Meanwhile, we have work to do!

And finally, think back on this whole exercise and ask if the news you confront daily has much of anything to do with the matters that matter to you. How overshadowed are the important things by the nonsense drivel we endure in each newscast?

Hmmm?

November 22, 2017