We’re rapidly approaching the turn of another year. And while I’ll be one of those saying "thank goodness, and good riddance", I can’t get particularly excited about putting 2007 behind us or welcoming in 2008.
Why?
Well, frankly I believe every midnight is a new beginning … a mini new year celebration. Every ending gives us a chance to assess the lessons we’ve learned and (hopefully) apply them to build a better life.
We, as a society (and as individuals) have a lot of lessons to evaluate this year. The doors to knowledge have been opened thanks to the internet and we’re allowed – no, challenged – to make use of all that information.
Savvy independent thinkers have been telling us for years that linear thinking isn’t cutting it. They’ve been telling us that we need to work together toward building a better world. They’ve been telling us that we’re only looking at half the picture and we can’t keep going in this direction without running into severe difficulties, to put it mildly. So this year…this end of day… let’s take a deep breath and start thinking (for want of a better word) wholistically. Let’s stop thinking linearly and start thinking about the whole picture. Let’s start asking the hard questions and thinking critically about all that stuff we’ve been learning. We can start by re-evaluating the lessons we’ve been learning both in the near and distant past.
Then, let’s apply what we’re learning each new day, and this new year specifically, by synthesizing and putting into play what we learn to build a better world – for ourselves and the good of all.
There’s one heck of a lot of re-learning to do and we won’t get turned around in one day – or even one year. But we can all get involved on a personal level and, little by little, we can make tomorrow and 2008 a time of uncommon progress…
If you want to join us, take a look at http://www.storyofstuff.com/ But when you do, remember, I’m not introducing you to a spectator sport. I’m hoping that you will be convinced, as I am, that the time to act is NOW…not next year.