Wednesday, January 20, 2010

The Wait Is Over


 We've been waiting a long time for rain in California. A very, very long time that brought several years of firestorms and destruction of hillsides. The fires all have names and they all caused loss of life, serious injury and catastrophic damage.

Throughout America, there has been a long wait for new leadership. A long wait, through terrorist attacks, economic decline, job outsourcing and downsizing, political scandal and intrigue. Each crisis has a name and they caused some level of deprivation that affected many or all of us.

One year ago a new administration took office in Washington, D.C. Two days ago a week of storms descended upon California. The waits were over but the results are not all that we want. We have seen a year of economic surgeries that were supposed to reinvigorate the housing and job markets, and rein in excess on Wall Street. We have seen the attacks by pirates, kidnappings of our citizens overseas, actual and attempted attacks on our homeland.

No amount of wishing is going to change what's happened. The clock won't turn back and the bell won't be unrung. We have seen some of our worst fears and some of our pretty bad fears come to pass. We have a lot of issues and problems to deal with, and we'll likely have more before we're satisfied that we have the change we want. So are we going to continue to point fingers, shout out loud, talk trash and fan flames with rhetoric and rambling? Are we going to wrap ourselves around ourselves and only worry about the nose on our face and the faces in our houses? Are we going to wait for 'someone' to fix everything? Are we going to continue to travel on 'More of the Same Road'?

I hope not. I hope that we will inhale, exhale and think about the criticisms that we want to level against the other party or the other side. Let's be real: if all of America's problems were solved by President Obama in the first twelve months of his administration, there would be murmurs of sorcery and calls for warlock commissions. The view from inside the job has to be decidedly different and a bit more realistic than when you're trying to get the job. You can't appoint only the people that agree with you (and he didn't want to), you don't get to select who sits in both houses of Congress (you can campaign for some, but no guarantee that they will win), and you don't get to turn out the lights and lock up the store for the night (even if it is a really nice store to live above). You get a 24/7/365 preoccupation that will test all of your skills and all of your patience. Remember the classic line from "Jaws"? 'Just when you think it's safe to go back in the water…' with the music building to a scary crescendo, and then came that shark that wouldn't die until the theater lights came up.

We have serious days ahead and we have serious issues to address as-a-nation. Sitting back doesn't work anymore for us as citizens. Who besides your immediate circle should know how you feel about the performance of your elected officials – the people who work for us? Answer: those same elected officials should hear how you feel from the time they take office until the time of the next election! You may or may not get the answer that you want, but your communication will remind them that you are paying attention to their performance. Just as your performance is evaluated by your boss or supervisor, elected representatives should know how their performance is rated by the people. But don't stop with communicating with those representatives: do something yourself to help make a situation better. Everyone has some skill to contribute to resolving problems. And here's a novel but not original thought: you can team up with people of different parties and positions to work for a common cause. The exchange of ideas leads to solutions faster than the exchange of insults. Don't quit if you don't prevail with your point or idea, keep expressing your ideas. Talking to each other is what's most important, not the size of the words or the smoothness of the speech. Dialogue is what counts and you have to be in the conversation to be in the game.

A very wise man named Stan Bush put it like this: "…It's really not about 'them'. It's about us…'We the people'. If WE continue to do what we've done for 200+ years, we will continue to be divided. We must not let parties and race (be) the deciding factor. After all, when the guy hits the winning home run in the World Series, or scores the winning TD in the Super Bowl…Nobody on the winning team really cares about his race or politics. They are just glad that their team won. We need a team."

Healthcare  for our citizens is still too important to ignore. The economy and workforce, housing and homelessness, education and national security have to be addressed. The team roster isn't closed, but the clock is ticking. Game on!

3 comments:

  1. As much as I am humbled by your reference, I am inspired by this article. So inspired was I that my comment became too long... and I posted it here....
    http://www.surfinwithstan.com/2010/01/everyone-has-some-skill-to-contribute.html

    Faith can move mountains..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dropped by to say hello and to let you know that I am paying attention.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Realized my earlier comment was entirely to cryptic, allow me to try again. We were both participating in a New York Times thread on FaceBook fairly recently and you commented on forming a group of folks with positive contributions to make. In following up, I came across this excellent work of yours and would love being able to keep up with your thoughts by following your blog.

    Truly OK
    David Alexander Marsilia

    ReplyDelete

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