Whence Goeth?

So, the title is old English. Sue me. I wanted to catch your eye and get you to read this piece. Hope I don’t disappoint.

Where are we headed? Where do we want to go? As a society, family, town or village, what are we aiming for down the road?

I know we don’t think of living life in these terms, but in many ways,  we do. We want the new car because it is shiny and more beautiful, sleeker than the one we already have. Or maybe, the new car is to replace one that is falling apart and no longer reliable. That’s a short term goal; may take several months or even a year or two to accomplish, but that’s short term nonetheless.

Or maybe we have a dream to live in a larger, grander house? We picture the high ceilings, broad windows, lush landscape. We sense the spaciousness of the dream and the type of living we will experience in such spaces. That’s a long-term goal, one that will need 10 or more years to gain.

Surely our dream contains more? Maybe our kids will experience a rich education and an expansion of their thinking and creativity? We imagine them living their own lives of joy and dreaming and achieving the levels of happiness we only imagined for ourselves. is this the ‘whence we goeth’ we had in mind?

Actually, no. I’m thinking of a more far-reaching image than that. I’m aching for a future in which our society guarantees equal access to all to follow their dreams. I picture a society that values each and every one of its inhabitants as a potential to be fully realized. What inventions will flow from such creativity. What art and expressions of true meaning will be produced for us to ponder and awe over! A society like that will surely encounter problems easily digested and repaired? Or maybe not, but each hiccup in society’s functioning will not amount to a mountain of grief as it now does to stymie clear thinking?

I believe in the human race. I believe we are each capable of reasoning and creating. We are not all the same. We have different viewpoints and perspectives. We have different abilities and interests. All of this builds a richness of layers, each gifting the rest of us with benefits unknown. This is good. All good. Why would we be afraid of it?

Working together means listening to one another carefully. It takes collaboration, so we can conjoin our ideas and deliver workable solutions to whatever is not working. We can do this together.  We cannot do this alone. Society is a group product of all of our energies.

I yearn for the day we see these possibilities clearly and work for them together. With that working in our favor, where we goeth will be fun and breathtaking.

At least we can hope. And undo some of the damage of the Kavanuagh hearing?

September 28, 2018