|
The naturalist Charles Dubois said,
"The important thing is
this: to be able at any moment to sacrifice what we are for what we could
become."
This is true of individuals, of families, of businesses and other
organizations, and of nations and societies.
What could we become if we were
willing to take the risk? What could we do about education? Poverty? Health?
Opportunity? Freedom?
America has always been a future-oriented society. Columnist David Brooks even suggested that Futurism is the true religion of America.
But
in recent decades many Americans have become so fearful of losing our long era
of peace and prosperity that as a nation we have refused to tackle our big
problems, fix our glaring mistakes, or pursue a bold strategy toward the
future.
Unlike the pilgrims, pioneers, greatest generation and entrepreneurial
leaders since World War II, we are now mostly...tentative, hesitant, uncertain.
We are, as a nation, often simply unsure.
While wisdom and solid analysis are certainly strengths, the
new age of timidity is hardly good news for the future of freedom or
prosperity.
Has the time arrived to
sacrifice our faltering sense of "security" for a bold vision of 21st
Century leadership? And if so, what will it look like?
Certainly playing it
small will not take us where we need to go.
| 
Social Leader Daily by Oliver DeMille
