OK, I can't resist getting back into conversation with my blogging buddies.
Hope you had a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to 2010 as a banner year. Let's face it, in global terms 2009 was not our species' finest hour.
The New Yorker put it well on their recent cover...let's put 2009 out to pasture...give 2009 a broom or mop because there is a lot of mess to clean up (2009 is the old guy with the mop in the lower right corner).
Indeed, the last decade, at least from an American point of view, was not the best 10 years of our history.
And the near-disaster of this past week, when only through luck and courageous action on the part of passengers was an explosion on a jetliner headed from Amsterdam to Detroit averted, has set many people's nerves on edge. And rightly so.
What's the answer? Are we truly incapable of discouraging people from trying to blow us up? And if we can't discourage them, can't we block them from it? After the billions spent on security systems in airports around the world, this last situation is a serious wake-up call to the fact that whatever we're doing is unfortunately not nearly enough. Our security systems--around the world--have myriad places where you could drive a truck through the line of defensive security measures. Literally, it appears.
I don't like ending 2009 on a pessimistic note. Indeed, I am an incurable optimist. At least most of the time. So I'm looking for the silver lining in things.
Perhaps I should simply focus on Lukas Charles Krahn, the baby boy born yesterday to a relative of mine in mid-Wisconsin. He is already bringing great joy to those around him.
What I want is assurance that Lukas Charles and all the other newborn babes of this year can look forward to growing up--and growing old--in a country that is free for all to pursue happiness and prosperity.
At the New Years Eve dinner party tomorrow night, we'll no doubt have conversations that touch on Tiger Woods, the Detroit near-disaster, and similar mishaps of 2009.
I'm thinking right now my greatest gift to the group may be a question that takes us in a future-focused direction and is optimistic. I'm still working on that question.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
Hi Susan,
The question you might ask at your New Years Eve dinner party party -- one that I am completing a book on now -- is: How can we flourish, individually and collectively? In other words, what can we do to foster constructive hope -- as opposed to relentless false optimism or paralyzing pessimism -- as well as meaning and purpose, genuine self-care and nourishing friendship and intimacy. I am eminently certain that we can do this ourselves -- and support each other in such a quest.
Posted by: Jeffrey B. Rubin | December 31, 2009 at 10:03 AM