How Can I Do That?

Remember John F. Kennedy’s challenge?  “Put a man on the moon before the close of this decade.” That was 1961 or 1962. He didn’t worry about how we would do it, the tasks and science, engineering and all the rest. He focused on the desired end result. The wheels of government and society turned in the direction he urged, and we found the means and ways to accomplish the task in July 1969. On schedule or slightly ahead of it!


Nathaniel Hill and W. Clement Stone preached, “The mind achieves what it can conceive.”


The message is clear, if we notice problems or crises bedeviling us personally or as a society, we really need to back off and think about it more.  What are the causes of the problems? What resources are we already committing to managing and solving the problems?  How well are those efforts working?  Are we effectively fixing the problem or making busy work serving the problem?


Enough of this. It wastes time and energy. Worse, it shuts down creativity. What we need to be doing is envisioning the outcome we hope for. In 7 years, or 10, I want our society to have an immigration policy and system that integrates newcomers to our nation in safety, health and psycho-social balance.  How else would the outcome of a healthy and successful immigration program be described?  Don’t take my words for it, add your own. That becomes your dream, and mine.


Knowing the objective well is the largest part of determining how to achieve it. What we know and what we don’t. The Space Program had to invent its way to the moon. It had to invent a way to transport a man to the moon and keep him alive. It had to carry that man off the moon and bring him back to Earth. Alive. And repeat it. And learn from it. So we could do other work in space at greater distance.


If we want an education system that will train each person to learn for themselves what interests them the most, and how to integrate that student and millions more into a society that collaborates on achieving more, all the while being healthy and happy, then let’s invent an educational system that will do that. This sort of educational system will continue to educate people of all ages as they need booster lessons. Training for new careers as old ones become obsolete will be a continuing future of my dream education system. What features do you especially hope for?


Once we have thought this through – what the objective truly is – then we can work backwards in finding the way forward to making it a reality. Just like the Moon Shot!


Outcomes matter. Dreams matter. Realizing that what we dream about is dissonant with reality informs us that a problem or challenge is present. It needs to be solved. This is what human activity should be about. This is what humankind is capable of.


Instead we have a political system that focuses on problems, ineffective solutions, and differences.

To change that failed system, let’s focus on what we dream of achieving. Let’s forget the problems of what is, and replace them with achieving the possible. We can work on the impossible later.

For now, let’s focus on the possible.


July 1, 2019