As I walked this evening in the falling darkness of mid-summer towards the Common of Lyme, NH -- just outfitted with a great many tents in anticipation of the 250th celebration of its founding -- it was not hard not to consider some of the dark clouds which gathered overhead as ominious signs for the future.
Three years after the start of the Great Recession, this great nation finds itself weak and struggling. Employment remains at near historic levels. Economic growth as measured by GDP has come at a virtual halt, and a double-dip recession seems entirely possible. Our national and state politics lies hostage to ideologues who appear more intent on satisfying tests of near-theocratic purity rather than measuring the needs of the entire nation. Wealth and power increasingly accumulate at the top-end of society. Our children don't score well internationally in any subject, ranging from math to geography to foreign language. Worse still, way too many of our kids are fat. And so are we, their parents.
Add this sad fact: all of us increasingly want and encourage -- through our Facebook posts and Twitter tweets -- short, easy answers to complex problems. We are more interested in celebrities than the environment, which gets hotter and more dangerous each year.
Increasingly, it seems, we want what is easy and can be accessed from the comfort of a chair or coach. If it requires work, exercise, sweat and toil, or pushing our mind to consider facts we don't like but ought to consider, we surrender to the so-called reality shows which come over the HDTV.
No wonder it's a nation in love with intelligent design, Jersey Shore, and Michelle Bachmann. We pursue the stupid like it means something, and we abandon the hard truth for simple tests that ask if you are liberal, conservative, socialist, Christian, and Muslim, tree-hugger, fiscally conservative, or feminist.
Once upon a time, there were journalists and pundits who reflected upon the the news of the week or month, and then issued commentary that attempted to summarize what it all means. Now our pundits spout opinions faster than whales headed to the beach. Everyone is hot and bothered, and going nowhere fast.
Later this month, I will turn 47 years old. When I look in the mirror or (more often) the webcam today, I see a guy I can barely recognize. Where there was once blond hair atop my head, I see a few strands of closely cropped gray hair. My face is lined and tired. Though I work awfully hard to keep fit, I feel the creaks of age settling into muscles and bones. In meetings, I see the young staffers turn to me as if I know the answers to the dilemmas which lie ahead. Nearly all of my children are teenagers, and my oldest son can easily wrestle me to the ground.
It's a time of reckoning, but not just for me. The nation as whole faces some awesome challenges. The next 3-10 years are incredibly important. We stand ready, I'm afraid, to throw in the towel of character and capability for the pittance of ideology. If you read the emails I get from a conservative civic group in northern New Hampshire, you'd assume that Obama has laid havoc upon the nation. For this group, the answer lies in adhering to a pure conservative ideology that answers today's problems with yesterday's answers. On the other hand, if you travel 75 miles west into VT, I could show you a similar group who rails at President Obama for his so-called betrayal of progressives. I don't believe either perspective is correct or, more importantly, representative of the kind of dialogue we need to be successfully on the long road ahead.
Hard facts, civic engagement, and a desire to resist the siren call of easy answers ought to be our calling card for the next decade. There are no short-cuts ahead and here's why I know this: as I age and train for various athletic events, it's absolutely clear to me that there is no substitute for hard work. I must log enough miles running and biking hills. I must swim enough in the open water. Despite running consistently for more than 25 years, I can't forget to do it at least once a week while also training for the other sports. I must eat right -- vegetables, protein, some carbs. I must get enough sleep. I must stretch and lift and, interestingly enough, rest at least one day per week. There are no short cuts on the long road ahead.
We, as a nation, must decide if we are ready for the same. We must decide if this is the time we embrace the short-term comforts of ideological purity, or abandon them for the harder training road that lies ahead. If we are to strengthen this nation's exports, if we are restore manufacturing to world-class levels, if our children are to compete with the best in terms of physics, biology, calculus, and the arts, and if we are to have infrastructure (roads, Internet, health care, and civic structures) that compete with the best of the world, then I suggest we should avoid the temptation of easy answers underscored by ideology as our answer.
From my driveway, I walked this evening to the Lyme Common and saw the tents assembled in celebration of this small but wonderful town's 250 anniversary. My town seen a great many challenges and will no doubt see more ahead. I hope the nation has the same resilence and the same sense of perspective. It's not embracing what seemingly right that makes us stronger, but our willingness to admit what needs improving and to do the hard work to get us there that ultimately secures the future we want for ourselves and the next generation. Let's hope we have the courage to face this future and respond with strength.
I always wanted to posting something similar to that on my website but it seems you are faster
Posted by: flash video recorder | January 31, 2012 at 09:54 AM