I was speaking to a parent at my son’s school, who recently moved here from Pakistan. In talking about the melt down of the global economy, he said, “...there
is no other place I would want to be now but in the US. In no other country could the economy lose
over five million jobs in such a short time and not have major rioting and
violence in the streets. Americans are incredibly resilient people.”
This conversation reminded me that people see differently, they learn differently, they hear differently, and they comprehend differently. My friend from Pakistan was seeing America with a fresh lens - one from outside the system.
Shifting perspectives beyond the limitations of our discipline, industry, convention and culture is liberating. It emancipates us from the narrow rooms of our individual experiences. It powers us to conceive and revolutionize.
We need more conversations like this to get out of our unventilated rut. Through these kinds of conversations you can imaginatively project yourself outside the situation you’re in and imagine you’re looking at it from some other place. It is fundamental to our ability to rethink, re-conceive and re-imagine our situation.
So here is my
new angle of vision on America…
The reaction of Americans to the downturn has been extraordinary. Our response to this shock to the system has been one of stoicism and admirable self determination. And, if you look deeper, you can see that we are entering into a new era of American life. The direction of which is very positive.
Here are some of its characteristics.
We all make the world what it is
This meltdown marks the end of decades of narcissism and selfishness. This is a profound shift from a generation of - “it’s all about me and my wants and needs.”
As individuals we are learning to see the necessity and advantages of being a responsible part of a larger whole. We are defining ourselves increasingly by our web of connections with others. We are beginning to see how important good stewardship of the environment is. How sharing of resources and pooling of ideas creates real growth. We are simutaneously part of a local and global ecosystem.
We have the tools to change our world.
Americans have the courage and the savvy to persevere through the aches of our world. This is far different from the hopelessness and scars that the great depression left on our fathers’ generation- one that had to endure over a third of the entire country being unemployed.
Today our level of education, worldliness, social safety nets and economic information is unprecedented. These things give us the power to change our world. We have the tools and we’re learning to use them.
Balancing a vision of a “city upon a hill” with globalization
As famed social scientist Dan Yanlelovich puts it, “we’ve learned the hard way that left solely to its own devices, market forces serve only one master-the values of a market economy. As we have seen, these forces can be brutal, relentless, pitiless, and oblivious to human consequences.”
There is a growing understanding that our heritage includes both the capitalist drive and the responsibility to do what is right for the greater good, not just when it is convenient to do so, but in our everyday lives. The quality of our profits matters. As President Kennedy said “we must always consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill-the eyes of all people are upon us…for of those to whom much is given, much is required.”
This is the new spirit of America! A place where two people walking hand in hand is a movement.
The question for today is: Who are you holding hands with?
