My OperaHope vs. Reality: Standing on the Threshold of 2009
Thursday, January 1, 2009 5:31:13 PM
I am an eternal optimist. That is how I'm wired. That is the foundation of my faith. I am also a realist. I know an uphill climb when I see one. As we stand on the threshold of 2009 and all the promise it brings we also stand before a pretty steep slope that will require conquering.
There is promise in our a new president. His preparation for office indicates a person who has a pretty strong grasp on the realities we face as a nation and as a planet. There seems to be a growing commitment to tackling the issues of globabl warming, and ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by a more diverse group of people than we have ever seen before. A shorthand way of expressing all my hope is that people are finally seeming to get it with respect to the steep uphill climb we face as a nation and as a planet. This is no small achievement.
What tempers my hope is the brutal gravitational forces of the challenges we are facing that will make the climb difficult. For instance, the awareness of our situation has not yet made its way into changing behavior and attitudes among the American people. We have yet to grasp the fact that we cannot sustain the wasteful lifestyles to which we have grown accustom. Energy usage must be curtailed. Our consumption patterns will need to be governed by needs, not our wants. Individualism will need to be redefined. It will have to find its place as a contributor to and instrumental member of an interdependent community. There will be no place for the "Marboro man," the rugged individualist, in 2009 and beyond. There simply aren't enough resources for everyone to have their own way whenever they want it.
Economists still speak of an economic recovery based on the undisciplined spending we knew prior to the current recession (depression?). Common sense says that isn't possible. The resources of planet earth are being depleted beyond their ability to regenerate. Climate change is wreaking havoc on global crop production. China and India are developing rapidly. The hundreds of millions of people in these two countries alone are expecting the same priviliges of consumption that Americans have enjoyed since WWII. Resources are already stretched thin. Where will the new resources come from to sustain an American middle-class lifestyle for nearly a billion more people?
Changing one's incandescent light bulbs to CFLs and driving hybrid cars are great things to do. I have done both. But I also recognize that these two acts have done litle to change my overall patterns of consumption. That is the next challenge all westerners face. It will require more than a lifestyle change. It require us to make a fundamental shift in our self-understanding. A new meta-narrative will need to be written from which our individual scripts must flow.
That will take more than a new president and a nod to the reality of global warming. It will take a people willing to set aside some personal preferences for the good of the whole, for the promise of a future worth living for the children and grandchildren they love. It will take a people who find their self-worth in servanthood and global citizenship rather than self-centeredness. That is a tall order.
Hope still wills out for me in the face of these realities. I believe in the power of God to transform people. I believe in the basic character of the American people. Our DNA still contains within it the desire to build communities and overcome daunting challenges in the face of all odds. This spirit is what once made us the emulation of the world. I believe it is still in us to do it again.
There is promise in our a new president. His preparation for office indicates a person who has a pretty strong grasp on the realities we face as a nation and as a planet. There seems to be a growing commitment to tackling the issues of globabl warming, and ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan by a more diverse group of people than we have ever seen before. A shorthand way of expressing all my hope is that people are finally seeming to get it with respect to the steep uphill climb we face as a nation and as a planet. This is no small achievement.
What tempers my hope is the brutal gravitational forces of the challenges we are facing that will make the climb difficult. For instance, the awareness of our situation has not yet made its way into changing behavior and attitudes among the American people. We have yet to grasp the fact that we cannot sustain the wasteful lifestyles to which we have grown accustom. Energy usage must be curtailed. Our consumption patterns will need to be governed by needs, not our wants. Individualism will need to be redefined. It will have to find its place as a contributor to and instrumental member of an interdependent community. There will be no place for the "Marboro man," the rugged individualist, in 2009 and beyond. There simply aren't enough resources for everyone to have their own way whenever they want it.
Economists still speak of an economic recovery based on the undisciplined spending we knew prior to the current recession (depression?). Common sense says that isn't possible. The resources of planet earth are being depleted beyond their ability to regenerate. Climate change is wreaking havoc on global crop production. China and India are developing rapidly. The hundreds of millions of people in these two countries alone are expecting the same priviliges of consumption that Americans have enjoyed since WWII. Resources are already stretched thin. Where will the new resources come from to sustain an American middle-class lifestyle for nearly a billion more people?
Changing one's incandescent light bulbs to CFLs and driving hybrid cars are great things to do. I have done both. But I also recognize that these two acts have done litle to change my overall patterns of consumption. That is the next challenge all westerners face. It will require more than a lifestyle change. It require us to make a fundamental shift in our self-understanding. A new meta-narrative will need to be written from which our individual scripts must flow.
That will take more than a new president and a nod to the reality of global warming. It will take a people willing to set aside some personal preferences for the good of the whole, for the promise of a future worth living for the children and grandchildren they love. It will take a people who find their self-worth in servanthood and global citizenship rather than self-centeredness. That is a tall order.
Hope still wills out for me in the face of these realities. I believe in the power of God to transform people. I believe in the basic character of the American people. Our DNA still contains within it the desire to build communities and overcome daunting challenges in the face of all odds. This spirit is what once made us the emulation of the world. I believe it is still in us to do it again.
