A Personal View

Astronauts who have seen the earth from outer space consistently have two perceptions in common. They are awestruck by the beauty of our planet and by it's apparent fragility. They struggle for words to describe their total feelings, but they consistently report being transformed by the experience. If we could only find a way to make that a part of our everyday consciousness, perhaps we would all treat the world more kindly.

Like most of you, we haven't had the privilege of viewing the earth from outer space. We see a small piece of the world through our own senses and we see the greater portion of the world through television, the internet and various news media. Here's what we see:

On our local scene:

• We see fragmented communities. We see homeless people where there should be none—violence where there should be none—school boards quarrelling over governance issues that keep them from addressing the needs of their students. We see people rushing through life—wishing they could slow down and enjoy the moment.
• We see hope. We see people doing their best as individuals and joining with others to address our shared problems. We see people working to preserve the natural environment. We see the longing for true communities where neighbors look out for one another.

On our national scene:

• We see a nation struggling with its place in the world—a nation with a new awareness that we must be responsible world citizens—that we are not immune to the kind of terrorist acts of violence that have beset other parts of the world for years. We see a nation with its own share of knotty problems—too much crime—too much violence in our schools—too many people in need of adequate food and shelter—too much posturing and fighting instead of cooperation by our political leaders—too many people without adequate health care. Need we go on?
• We see hope. We see caring, competent people working on every one of the problems we mentioned above and more. We see a nation that is arguably the wealthiest in the world in terms of human and technological resources. We have the knowledge, the capability and the resources to solve many of our thorniest problems and manage others which have no final solutions. We have the opportunity and the responsibility to lead the free world—not as the sole leader, but one of many. The question is, do we have the wisdom and the collective will to do what we know is possible?

On the international scene:

• We see a world in turmoil. We see nations at war and others on the brink of war. We see our own country bogged down in an ill-conceived war of our own making when we should be leading the world toward peace. We see people committing senseless acts of violence against each other and the earth. We see a growing awareness of the reality of global warming but little effort to change our ways of contributing to the problem. We see a world of plentiful resources, but one lacking the leadership to make sure everyone gets the basics—food, shelter, healthcare, education—the freedom to pursue their own dreams.
• We see hope. We see people working for peace—people working to feed those without adequate food—people working to provide houses for those without decent shelter—people working to teach those without basic reading skills—people working to cure diseases previously thought to be incurable. We see an explosion in technology and creativity in virtually every field of endeavor as more people have more access to more information than ever before.

In summary, we see a world in pain—a world in need of care—and thankfully, we see a lot of caring people responding with positive action. It would be easy to feel helpless when we look at the size and seeming intractability of many of our problems. That is not our feeling. We are optimistic about the future. We acknowledge the size of our problems, but we also see the depth of our resources. We have risen to significant challenges in the past and we can do it again.

We are committed to using LifeDesign to empower and mobilize people thoughout our nation. Individually, each of us can make a positive difference in our immediate communities. Collectively, we can make a huge difference in the communities which surround and connect to our immediate community. We can build common approaches to managing some of our problems that are shared by people around the world.

This is one change effort we cannot afford to leave to others. Every one of us and every organization to which we belong has an important role to play. Certainly government at all levels must be involved, but we need not and we must not wait for them to lead.

We must be the engine that drives the change. The quality of life available to each of us is dependent on the immediate community in which we spend each day and sleep at night, the nation in which we live and the larger world community.

Take a look at a systems view.

Here's how we can change the world for the better.

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