Stop saying “Oh my,” and start asking yourself “What can be done about it?” Better yet, “What can I do about it? Problems are only the backside of opportunities. They present challenges addressable with our talents, our brains, our resources. If all we ever do is say “Oh my” or “Who’s to blame?” we have missed the boat entirely. “What can I do about it?” should be followed by acquiring a better understanding of the problem. Is there a clear definition of the issue? Do we know the scope of the problem? What don’t we know about the issue? And “Who can help us understand it more fully?
As we move along, we will often discover that we need to put the problem in context with other issues that might complicate a solution, or help it along, and this will have an influence on determining a workable time frame for examining the problem in its entirety and arriving at a solution.
Hopefully this process will humble us a bit. We should discover that our initial reactions to the problem were skewed, perhaps by bias, perhaps by misunderstanding, but certainly by a lack of total understanding. It is then that we should turn to those individuals or institutions that have the knowledge, talent and expertise that we lack, a coalition that can truly determine the best and most workable solutions. Solutions in hand, we then turn to those with the ability and authority to implement them, a process that should at all times retain its transparency, informing all interested parties (which very well might be the public at large) of all developments, in order that everyone involved has an opportunity to fully comprehend the issues and the process.
Problem solved, it is time to get out of the way and let the implementation proceed unhindered. The time to have been critical or analytical is not in the solution and implementation stages, but in the steps that led us there. Once accomplished, all of the above will result in open, transparent governance for our community, whose citizens will be well informed on the issues that matter. And the best part? We will be full of good will and good humor. Is this a vision of the future we can all embrace? Clearly, the answer is yes. Can we get there? Well, that is up to you.
