As we stand at the edge and look towards the future, I wonder if we will start to build bridges or continue to erode the banks. As we continue to borrow against our future, our children’s future, we are damaging the fabric needed for success. We fight for things that benefit ourselves right now without thinking through the issues in a holistic manner. We throw insults and accusations at those in leadership to discredit them often simply because they are not on our ‘team’. We shove people in a category because they have voiced an opinion about one issue, at one time, concerning one matter. We are ripping away the power of thoughtful discussion and compromise. We are tearing down the pathways to unity and power all in the name of money, taxes, ‘freedom’. As we stand at the edge I wonder if you will reach out your hand to help me up or continue on your way without looking back.
Every decision we make has an impact. You can choose to support those looking to build community or those looking to build themselves. What do you want our future to look like? What do you want to pass down to our children? Will you stand up for those making decisions that do not benefit you today, but rather benefit us in the long run? Will you make changes to your lifestyle today that reduces air and water pollution in the future? Will you change your shopping patterns to support your neighbors even though it may cost you more cash today? Will you stop spreading hate so that your children can experience a world that puts respect, conversation, and community as a top priority?
I don’t have the answers and I struggle to make the right changes myself. I am always looking for a better way, but often fall short. We are standing at the edge of an ecological disaster, a financial meltdown, an energy nightmare. We are facing serious climate change issues, over fishing, agricultural deprivation of soil, polluting chemical companies, ozone layer deprivation, waste disposal problems, energy production issues, energy grid failures, overpopulation, food shortages, water pollution, poor fiscal policy, political lobby groups, and communication failures just to name a few. How can we ever overcome all these challenges? How can we get past the political maneuvering of those with money and power and make a real change in our community? We only have one option that can provide success – we have to come together, as a community, as a nation, and as a family and work towards a positive future. We need to stop fighting for power and instead work to help each other.
“The encouraging thing is that every time you meet a situation, though you may think at the time it is an impossibility and you go through the tortures of the damned, once you have met it and lived through it you find that forever after you are freer than you ever were before. If you can live through that you can live through anything. You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, `I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ The danger lies in refusing to face the fear, in not daring to come to grips with it. If you fail anywhere along the line, it will take away your confidence. You must make yourself succeed every time. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”
You Learn By Living (1960)
