If we are going to face the future with bravery and resolve
we must also meet that future fully realizing the demise of the old economic
order. For starters are these quotes
that may tickle or startle you:
“If our country is going broke,
let it be from feeding the poor and caring for the elderly. And not from
pampering the Rich and fighting wars for them.” ~Living
Blue in a Red State
“When someone tells you that they
got rich through hard work, ask them whose.” ~Labor
411
“How can it be that it is not a
news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when
the stock market loses 2 points? ~Pope Francis
“The best customer of
American industry is the well-paid worker.” ~FDR
“Change is the law of life. And
those who look only to the past are certain to miss the future.” ~ John F.
Kennedy, June 25, 1963
“The end of democracy and the
defeat of the American Revolution will occur when government falls into the
hands of lending institutions and moneyed incorporations.” ~Thomas Jefferson,
1816
Some have said I am an idealist. Others claim me to be a
visionary. I’m not sure what they meant by that latter term, but hopefully they
didn't mean I had my head stuck in the clouds! I don’t mind being classified as
a thinker or idea person. Those types of people help us all make sense of
happenings, discoveries, history, and the present. They bring fresh thinking to
the table. They give us inspiration and ideas of our own. They keep our feet
firmly planted in the mission and vision of what we are about or ought to be
about!
It is easy to lose sight of our purpose for being – whether
our own personal reason for being or that of our firm or organization. We get
very busy in the details of living and working, so much so that we can forget
why we do what we do. I have seen it many times in my profession of strategic
planning. Whether a for profit corporation or a non-profit service agency,
church or charity, we have a reason for being: a purpose. What is it exactly?
How committed to it are we? What must we do to do it well and successfully. And
to whose benefit?
Not easy questions to answer, or to ask! But needed
questions just the same. And they need and deserve good answers. That comes
from thinking. That comes from wrestling with the details. It also requires
some uncomfortable personal questions.
Who are we? What ought our lives be about? To whose benefit
is our life to be lived? And what is right or wrong about any of these
questions?
Hard work of the mind needs to be done. We are changing. We
need to change. There is nothing but change – or death! All is moving throughout the universe. Nothing is static but for a moment. Just enough time
perhaps to see it and understand it? Who
is to know. But change is a constant. Just at changing rates!
I think the American Culture is undergoing a major
rethinking. And it is high time for it to occur. I think we have lost our way.
I think we have allowed the pendulum of individual and corporate power go too
far. I think it is time to rethink what we are about and who we are.’
Hopefully we will learn that we are but a small portion of
the planet and need to be good citizens of the global community. We need to
learn give and take in that global village. We are not always the big man on
the scene! Nor should we be. The global village needs to learn how to live
responsibly among all of its neighbors and share the good to help those in
need. So that all will prosper.
Idealistic? Sure! Realistic? Not so sure! But I’m willing to
look into the future and think about it and maybe even help make it happen.
Are you game for this odyssey? Want to come along on an
adventure? The more the merrier. Hop on!
December 5, 2013
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