Courage
While there is much excitement about the many changes that are already coming out of the White House now, there is still the aftermath of what has happened over the past eight (or more) years that all of us have to contend with. Despite the near-euphoria that many of my close friends and associates are feeling about all the good things to come, there remains the reality of making a living and getting the bills paid that overshadows much of what they are doing…and trying to do. For many of them…myself included…this is a very scary time. Some of my more affluent friends are suddenly realizing that they don’t have the “safety cushion” they thought they had, and others are working rather menial jobs just to pay the utility bills…again, myself included. I understand that there is a very long waiting list just to get a job at Walmart now.
These pages of blog links and writings describe and detail many startling things about our society and what needs to be fixed, yet here we are…most of us…unsure of what lies ahead and how to pull out of the morass of social and financial upheaval in our lives. It seems daunting and even, to some, hopeless. We alone are responsible for whatever circumstances face us, and as a nation of people we are responsible for what comes of the decisions we make now…every day. We can’t blame anyone or anything else…not even people like Berny Madoff, or the idiot who jumped out of his plane in an attempt to fake his death and run off to God-knows-where with whatever money left over from having bilked his investors. They make Kenneth Lay (remember him?) and the guy from Tyco look like amateurs, in terms of living lavish lifestyles with other people’s money.
But guilty as they may be, and as outrageous as their lives may have been, they are products of our collective lifestyles. We created them, somehow, by having too long looked the other way and put into office people who not only tolerated such lunacy, they indulged themselves as well. George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and the plethora of senators, governors, big-city mayors and corporate leaders that all have come and gone now were products of our generation’s unwillingness to have the courage and the moral responsibility to do something about what’s been going on for a long time. Enron was but the tip of the iceberg…and a grim forewarning of what was yet to come. No wonder we can’t pay our utility bills, and many of us face the possibility that we might be homeless soon.
So, what can we do? How do we pull out of this? We’ve managed to elect a new President who seems to have the right attitude and willingness to do what needs to be done to make things right…but he has the equivalent of a national 9/11 to clean up, and he can not do it without every one of us being willing to take steps in our own backyards and in our neighborhoods and in our families and within ourselves to make the difference. We need to suspend disbelief and distrust, and we need to have the courage to own what is our responsibility for loss and damages in our lives. We cannot waste another hour worrying about what went wrong or what is bad in the world, and just focus on our individual lives…to clean up our own messes.
I’m not an economist, but I’m going to accept the fact that the only thing that stands between us and another real Depression is the extent to which we are willing to stop pointing fingers and blaming others for our problems, and have the courage to step up and do what is right in our lives to set things straight. We need to hear each other, and be willing to help…even if it’s only to care a bit more about others than we do about ourselves. That’s what brought us out of the last Depression, and a World War that makes what we’re going through now pale by comparison.
We’re on a global Titanic, folks, and we’re in the midst of huge icebergs. We need to apply what we’ve learned about the disasters of the past, and stop arguing over who did what and why, and look around us. We have great resources all around us…and we are they. It takes courage and compassion…and truth. That’s what all this is about. We’ve lived too long in denial, greed and avarice of our own, and collectively we have created the mess we’re in by either having supported the fools and the crooks we’ve put in office or have supported in business, or by having looked the other way and never took action to change things.
The time is now for each of us to buckle up, suit up and go to work. Obama and his team will do what needs to be done. Now, we need to do what needs to be done in our own backyards. That will take more courage and willingness to be clean and clear in all we do and say than we’ve known or done probably in our lifetimes. However, it really won’t take long to change things for the better…and in those lifetimes we can yet see and experience what the human spirit, and God, is capable of achieving.
Don Kirchner
These pages of blog links and writings describe and detail many startling things about our society and what needs to be fixed, yet here we are…most of us…unsure of what lies ahead and how to pull out of the morass of social and financial upheaval in our lives. It seems daunting and even, to some, hopeless. We alone are responsible for whatever circumstances face us, and as a nation of people we are responsible for what comes of the decisions we make now…every day. We can’t blame anyone or anything else…not even people like Berny Madoff, or the idiot who jumped out of his plane in an attempt to fake his death and run off to God-knows-where with whatever money left over from having bilked his investors. They make Kenneth Lay (remember him?) and the guy from Tyco look like amateurs, in terms of living lavish lifestyles with other people’s money.
But guilty as they may be, and as outrageous as their lives may have been, they are products of our collective lifestyles. We created them, somehow, by having too long looked the other way and put into office people who not only tolerated such lunacy, they indulged themselves as well. George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and the plethora of senators, governors, big-city mayors and corporate leaders that all have come and gone now were products of our generation’s unwillingness to have the courage and the moral responsibility to do something about what’s been going on for a long time. Enron was but the tip of the iceberg…and a grim forewarning of what was yet to come. No wonder we can’t pay our utility bills, and many of us face the possibility that we might be homeless soon.
So, what can we do? How do we pull out of this? We’ve managed to elect a new President who seems to have the right attitude and willingness to do what needs to be done to make things right…but he has the equivalent of a national 9/11 to clean up, and he can not do it without every one of us being willing to take steps in our own backyards and in our neighborhoods and in our families and within ourselves to make the difference. We need to suspend disbelief and distrust, and we need to have the courage to own what is our responsibility for loss and damages in our lives. We cannot waste another hour worrying about what went wrong or what is bad in the world, and just focus on our individual lives…to clean up our own messes.
I’m not an economist, but I’m going to accept the fact that the only thing that stands between us and another real Depression is the extent to which we are willing to stop pointing fingers and blaming others for our problems, and have the courage to step up and do what is right in our lives to set things straight. We need to hear each other, and be willing to help…even if it’s only to care a bit more about others than we do about ourselves. That’s what brought us out of the last Depression, and a World War that makes what we’re going through now pale by comparison.
We’re on a global Titanic, folks, and we’re in the midst of huge icebergs. We need to apply what we’ve learned about the disasters of the past, and stop arguing over who did what and why, and look around us. We have great resources all around us…and we are they. It takes courage and compassion…and truth. That’s what all this is about. We’ve lived too long in denial, greed and avarice of our own, and collectively we have created the mess we’re in by either having supported the fools and the crooks we’ve put in office or have supported in business, or by having looked the other way and never took action to change things.
The time is now for each of us to buckle up, suit up and go to work. Obama and his team will do what needs to be done. Now, we need to do what needs to be done in our own backyards. That will take more courage and willingness to be clean and clear in all we do and say than we’ve known or done probably in our lifetimes. However, it really won’t take long to change things for the better…and in those lifetimes we can yet see and experience what the human spirit, and God, is capable of achieving.
Don Kirchner
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