Forward Looking People


President Barack Obama keeps mentioning that he is a forward looking person. Here are some of my (narrow minded) thoughts on what I think forward looking means.

I've heard it said that "to know where you are going you must know where you came from." I wonder though if the past is obvious and evident, do we need to continue confirming what we already know? In other words, do we need to continue looking backwards to move forward? When I was in school (long time ago) what I learned was taught to me, and it was assumed that I remembered my previous lessons, and that I would progress from lesson to lesson, learning new subjects. That, as it is said, is a given.

I also learned to never bully my fellow students. It took some time to learn that and after a few bloody noses, I seemed to finally get it. I moved forward, became humble, compassionate and I was often the first to make peace. I found that, doing so, I got a new kind of attention from my peers. They acknowledge that I was maturing. Some found me equal, some looked up to me and some looked down at me.

Those that looked down at me, called me weak. They clung to their old ways of thinking. Believing that the only way to show strength was to be a bully. They retreated from me when I reached out to them with compassion. They feared my humility and struck out at me when I showed kindness to others they did not approve of. I keep my patience for them and hope they will change.

Change is a hard task to overcome. They are comfortable with what they are used to doing. They are proud of being seen as the strongest or the most advantaged. They are confident that people fear them. They feel a sense of entitlement because they are wealthy and powerful. They feel that they deserve respect for saving the world from tyranny and evil. They are arrogant and full of pride. I keep my patience for them and hope they will change. Scientist sometimes jokingly say, "The only one constant in the universe is change."

Inevitability. Choosing to do nothing, is the impetus for change. It may come from an external source or it my come from within, but inevitably change will come. Doing nothing, may delay the change but that will result in greater consequences. Perhaps that is why some people choose not to change.

There seems to be, at least here in the United States, two types of people. People who want a tombstone and those who want to be cremated. It appears from my observations that those who want to be cremated are enlightened. I know that that is a very narrow statement, but to me it seems to be true. I'm sure there are a lot of enlightened people who have tombstones. I want to be cremated, because I believe that cremation recycles my body back into the system. I mean if I could really have my way, I would choose to have my body buried raw, so that the beasts in the ground will feast on me. I digress. My real point here is that those who want tombstones for their own deaths are the same people who fear the inevitable change(another narrow point of view). If they are allowed to continue in their ways, the Earth will be their tombstone.

"Here lies humanity, we chose to destroy our planet for the sake of self indulgence."

I think this is why Darwinism is such a feared topic. Darwinism suggests there will be change, adaptations and the inevitable evolution of humanity. Creationism suggests that humanity is static, that humanity was created as it is and that it can not change. We are who we are because that is the way we were created. In god's image none the less.

Here in lies the possible excuse to not change. Why change something that works. We are comfortable and confident that this way is the right way, there is no proof that change is for the better. We created this way of living and it can not change. That is choosing to do nothing and choosing to do nothing will inevitably cause something to happen. And! Now I am back at the beginning of my opinions.

We know where we are coming from, we have a good idea of where we want to go. To get there, we might have to leave some people behind. If we keep looking forward to a better future and we are patient they might change and catch up.

pass along and if you would like to, add your own thoughts and comments.