- We look and see the "New World" we are creating:
Some of us "complain", some of us "agree", some of
us are "fearful", some of us "don't care". We are a
mixed bag of emotions. We are as diverse as the sands upon wind swept shores.
We are "Humanity" at its worst and at its best with full potential
to be either. So how have we come to amass ourselves on the brink of possible
destruction?
-
- When I was young (at least younger than now), my idea
of the American Dream was quite simple: good job, good food, good friends,
good living - safe and secure. If only things were really that simple but
considering the plethora of choices we have in the midst of diversity,
finding the "Good Things" of this life are not easy. All things
considered, we must be "Responsible" and "Wise" in
our choices. The extent of the "goodness" we experience is directly
related to the "Wisdom" we use in making our choices.
-
- As Americans we have grown up experiencing more of the
"Finer" things of this life than any civilization in history.
As "Consumers" in a complex "Consumer Economy" we have
been able to "Purchase" our needs and for some of us our "Wants"
but are the things we purchase always "Good"?
-
- Is it good to own a pair of tennis shoes? Yes if you
play basketball. Is it good for Nike, Inc. to charge $100 for a $1 pair
of shoes? Yes if you own stock in the company No if you just want a
pair of shoes. The same can be said for Microsoft, General Motors and every
other consumer driven company in America (and elsewhere). So why are we
willing to pay someone else's asking price for the things we want and need?
We are "Consumers". We are conditioned to "Buy" things.
We are constantly bombarded with instructions on what our needs and wants
"Should Be". So the first thing we "Buy" is what we
are told: tell the story well, and without question we will buy.
-
- The best "Story Tellers" in this nation are
those that reside in advertising. You may find this shocking but most of
the political "Spin Doctors" we have come to know, hate, and/or
love came out of corporate America advertising. What better place to learn
the power of influence on a mass scale? What better place to learn how
to convince consumers of the things and the ideas they "Should"
buy? Success for the story-tellers is not in their ability to "Sell"
it is in OUR willingness and ability to "Buy".
-
- No I am not an economist and this is not a dissertation
on economic policy. I am making a very basic point: We buy what we were
trained to buy and our buying power determines those that control "What"
we buy. Package a product poorly (bad story-telling) and we do not buy.
Package it well (good story-telling) and we can't get enough of it. So
in a very real sense WE determine which companies will succeed and grow
and which will fail and wane. We determine these things according to what
we "Buy" according to what we are "Told" to buy to
the extent we are "Willing" to believe what we are told. We sure
do put a lot of power in other people's hands: people we do not even know.
We rely on "their" wisdom at the expense of our own. We allow
others to pick our choices for us and in so doing, we set aside our own
wisdom and ignore the responsibility of the choices we willingly make (on
cue).
-
- No this is not a philosophical treatise either. It is
"Common Sense". I can look back at the choices I have made in
my life and I can understand how I have come to this place and time. I
can easily see the goodness from my wise choices and the badness of my
foolish choices. I can see the wisdom I "should" have had but
did not, and the wisdom I do have "after the fact" (hindsight
is always wiser than foresight). In the midst of all this looking back,
I can understand why I am responsible for the choices I have made. Sure
at times someone "convinced" me, but I decided. Sure at times
someone misled me, but I chose to be foolish and un-informed. Sure sometimes
I just wanted what I wanted no matter what.
-
- I know we are ethnically diverse: skin color, hair color,
physical attributes and such. These things aside, I consider we all come
from the same "Gene Pool" when it comes to the choices we make
and the wisdom we do or do not have. We are all susceptible to "Good"
and "Bad" story-telling but in the end WE decide what we will
believe or not believe whether we are misled, un-informed, or just self-fulfilling.
-
- I have spent my fair share of time complaining about
what someone else is doing or is not doing. I am not particularly thrilled
with the current leadership I see in Washington (all parties inclusive)
but I know we all come from the same basic gene pool when it comes to choices,
wisdom, and responsibility (whether we accept it or not). As such I know
that what I NOW see is a product of that common gene pool to which I belong.
This view allows me to be "Responsible" for "My
- Part" in what is happening.
-
- I used to live in California. Everyday I used that "Overpriced"
ENRON power in my home. I own a pair of NIKE's and I don't even play basketball.
I drive a car I bought because of its name and reputation and reports I
read. I like a job where I can feel important whether I have the money
to show for it or not (preferably having it to show is better). I have
political opinions. So what is so different now that I have found the wisdom
to be responsible for my part in what is happening?
-
- I seek to be wise in the things I now do, in the choices
I now make, in the things I desire. You see I now know that the only power
I have in this life is in the choices I make and - like it or not - I will
be held responsible for those choices. I have decided that if I want the
"good job, good food, good friends, good living - safe and secure"
I must first provide for these things in the way I deal with others. I
must first be willing to offer these things before I can expect to receive
them and I must be responsible enough to accept what I receive not with
a defeatist attitude but with a determined attitude to just keep trying.
It really is simple we really do receive that which we give! Expectations
are powerless responsible actions are mighty!
-
- Now when I look at all the things that are happening,
I think of the "Little Engine" that could. It wasn't intimidated
by the big engines: It was not fearful of the mountain: It did not sit
at the bottom of the hill overcome by expectations: It did not wait for
the Story-Tellers to weave the tale: It said I too am an engine I can
I will It did!
-
- Our nation was built by the "Little Engines"
- We the People. Even though we may be losing our way in the complexities
of the Story-Tellers tales: even though this world as it now is was built
by each of us, no one can choose for us when we choose to be responsible
for OUR part in what is happening: when WE choose to take responsible action
whether others do or do not.
-
- In the story that is yet to be told, it is possible that
OUR dream can return and that dream can go out to those that have yet to
dream and we too can be "The Little Engines that DID".
-
- http://monthly-messenger.org/Article_Subs/Little_Engines.htm
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