Learn from Your Past and Change Your Future in 2015
We can’t change our past so let us all change or Future in 2015
America and to a large degree the Western World has descended into the depth of the blame game. Leaders blame their staff. Business blames government. Working people blame both. Yet unless any can change history, it is time to lay aside blame and focus on the future.
By Richard A. Mathews
Perhaps the World did not learn enough surviving the Global Financial meltdown.
Perhaps just perhaps the threat of the Islamic State’s “caliphate jihad,” will accomplish what the Great Recession could not.
But such hope for change appears a long shot from Washington D.C. to our Business Community to Main Street America herself as the blame game continues to dominate daily headline news.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Mankind has the wisdom to address its current problems productively for the benefit of all.
See how many of the following quotes on leadership you can identify or better yet find closure with.
1) “I’m here to build something long-term. Anything else is a distraction.”
2) “The art of leadership is saying no, not yes. It is very easy to say yes.”
3) “Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source for learning.”
4) “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
5) “Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because they want to do it.”
6) “The real leader has no need to lead – he is content to point the way.”
7) “Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise.”
8) “No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.”
9) “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.”
10) “Where there is not vision, the people parish.”
If there is a common theme among all of the above it is a focus on the future, a focus on learning to unite others in commitment to a future goal, a focus on leadership by the will of others.
From the Mark Zuckerberg to President Andrews Jackson to the author of the Biblical Old Testament Book of Proverbs, mankind has been encouraged to set our vision on the future not be blinded by the past.
Here at Voices of United States, I have never intentionally misled you. I know I cannot change the past. I fully recognize that for far too many enacting revisionist history remains a full time job.
Together we have spent much of the past four years putting aside the blame game focusing on plausible courses of action to address the major problems facing America and the Globe as a whole. As we have discussed;
1) There can be no, “hope for change,” without an actual plan to raise the standard of living for all including the 100 million American’s living just above to below the poverty level focusing on education particularly amongst those on the lowest rungs of societies economic ladder.
2) There can be no, “economic growth,” without an actual plan to restore America’s infra-structure to its former standard of excellence encompassing everything from energy to communications to transportation to basic water and sanitation networks.
3) There can be no resurrection of the, “American Dream,” without an actual plan allowing our nation to compete on the Global stage competitively freed from redundant tax burdens, regulations failing cost/benefit analysis and subsidies by our trade partners.
All of the above will require commitment spanning generations, sacrifices made by society as a whole today for the benefit of future generations and above all long-term planning which is not held hostage to the extremes wings of any political party or obligations of special interest political donations.
As such, do yourself, your children and if you are truly fortunate the future children of your children a favor over the next six weeks and ask the candidates running for Congress or for the Senate in your state,
“What is your plan to restore the American dream?”
For the benefit of your career, ask your manager or their superior or if you are lucky the owner of where you work,
“What is your plan to be successful not just today but for the next twenty years?”
Or do what JFK requested now over 50 years ago,
“Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”
United we the people of these States of America can and have accomplished the impossible.
Nobody can change that historical fact either. With your commitment nothing is impossible.
Editorial Notes:
The following are noted as author of the quotes presented
1) Mark Zuckerberg http://www.biography.com/people/mark-zuckerberg-507402
2) Prime Minister Tony Blair http://www.biography.com/people/tony-blair-9214379
3) Bill Gates http://www.biography.com/people/bill-gates-9307520
4) Martin Luther King, Jr. http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-king-jr-9365086
5) President Dwight D. Eisenhower http://www.biography.com/people/dwight-d-eisenhower-9285482
6) Henry Miller http://www.biography.com/people/henry-miller-9408455
7) President Woodrow Wilson http://www.biography.com/people/woodrow-wilson-9534272
8) President Abraham Lincoln http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/abrahamlincoln
9) President Andrew Jackson http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/andrewjackson
King Solomon from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs – The Bible http://www.godvine.com/bible/proverbs
Editorial Note:
The prior essay was originally published here at Voices of United States appearing beginning October 1, 2014.
It ended the year as our most read, "stand alone," essay which was our second reason for bringing back for your review.
The primary reason for its return is, "We can't change the past but we all can work on changing our Future."
Peace be with you.
Rick
