Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
The best way to predict the future is to create it. Peter Drucker
Todayism versus Long-termism. I watched a YouTube video with Ari Wallach he is the author of Longpath: Becoming the Great Ancestors Our Future Needs. Now that is a mission statement! We will become the ancestors of the future, whether we are good ancestors, ones the future is proud to look back on because we left them in a better place, or they wonder how we could make such a mess for them to clean up is yet to be determined.
We have visionaries in our midst, and those that believe the end is near. Thinking the end is near gives us a get-out-of-free card in our own minds, what can we do? Believing we are on the cusp of change, indeed our history is about being on the cusp of change and making things better.
Things have not always gotten better for all people at all times. One of the things we do not have is a common belief in what is to be done, but this is not necessarily a weakness. What if it is a strength and that as we question ideas, question hypotheses, question what will make things better and what will make things worse we will go forward haltingly, slowly, and we will fix what we can fix and learn to live with self-imposed limits to make life sustainable?
What if we harness the ideas of people on different sides of issues? What if we try different ideas to see what works? What is the minimum lifestyle we could live and be happy? What is the maximum lifestyle that could be offered to everyone? What is sustainable not for the next fifty or one hundred years but for the next thousand and ten thousand years?
What if each one of us set out to be the best person we can be and set the next generation up for success? We want the next generation to turn the taps on and get clean water. We want the next generation to be able to live in dignity, freedom from want, and safety. We want the next generation to have wild places to go, and forests to walk in. We want them to be born healthy and live long healthy lives. We want them to breathe fresh air and be able to raise a family in peace and plenty.
We don’t all agree on what it would take for a better future for our children. I do think most people are trying to make things better. Most people have not given up. Some of us have lived such lives of abundance that wanting more for our children might be part of the problem. We grew up with the best of the best. When I grew up being middle class or even less than the middle class was a very comfortable place to be.
The future depends on what we do in the present. Mahatma Gandhi
It isn’t as comfortable even in Canada to be middle class. We will have to find ways to address this because when the largest amount of the populace decides they are getting too small of a piece of the pie bad things happen. We have lots of people stoking the fires of discontent, and others are sounding the horn of the apocalypse. Too many movies focus on the end is near. We are told that our mind can’t tell the difference between visualization and physically doing things. All those movies we watch, aren’t they like visualizing the future?
Life is a relay race, and we were handed a baton we must pass to the next generation. The better we run our race, the stronger the position we leave for the generation we pass the baton to. One of the things we can all do is not think we know what is in other people’s minds, what they are thinking, especially when we think it is something bad. The more grace we give to other people, the more grace we will get back. We all want a better world, or at least we should believe we all want a better world and see how that works for us. One of the things we do when we think the worst of other people is give ourselves a pass for not acting better. We need to hold ourselves to the highest standard we can, we need to expect less of others and more of ourselves and believe if we all do our best, the future is bright.
The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it. Thomas S. Monson
Every thought we think is creating our future. Louise L. Hay
You can’t live in history. You’ve got to build for the future. Ruud Gullit
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