The Future! I think about it all the time! I wonder what tomorrow or next week or next month or next year will bring. You likely do as well. If I am not careful, I can obsess about it. When I do, anxiety becomes a constant companion. I know at some level that the future is yet to be written; there are no guarantees.
That last truth often bothers me. Why? Well, for one, I hear way too many people in politics and religion and education speaking as if they have the ability to predict the future. They speak in terms of absolutes. They speak in terms of certainty as if they hold some crystal ball that reveals the future in specific, unquestioned detail.
You know what I mean . . . “If I’m elected, then the economy will explode!” or “If he/she/they are in office, then the economy will tumble.” Where do they get off saying such things and where do we get off buying into such foolishness?
The future is uncertain. It is not mapped. It is uncharted. The only guarantee about the future is that it will be characterized by change. As much as we cannot predict the future, we do have the ability to exert influence on the paths it takes and therein lies the importance of our present.
Four quotes – two from Dee Hock and two from Native American wisdom – cause me to think differently about the future. I share them with you now . . .
- Dee Hock said, “Certainty is the place where questions go to die.” Whenever we operate from a foundation of certainty that our thoughts, ideas, perspectives, family, organization or group hold all of the cards, we essentially kill the possibility of exploration and new ideas. We cease to question. We cease to give merit to the questions or ideas or perspectives of others. You see, when certainty kills questions, the future disappears.
- From an unknown Native American tribe we read, “We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children.” The future is not ours. The future belongs to those who follow us – our children and their children and their children’s children. In order to act as good stewards of the resources and opportunities given to us, we must pay attention to the the reality that we do not own the future. We must work to protect diversity, equality, mutuality, abundance and opportunity for all. In so doing, we hand our children a future better suited for success.
- The Iroquois said, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” The Iroquois were a wise people. They understood that the foundation for a self-sustaining future filled with possibility is built in the present. As long as the decisions made today take into account their potential effects on future generations, they are wise decisions. Decisions that squander resources, ignore warnings or minimize reason tend to create paths that are filled with even more uncertainty.
- Finally, Dee Hock said, “We enter into each moment holding hands with a future composed of infinite possibilities and a past composed of infinite realities.” In this statement, Mr. Hock outlines the reality that the present, each moment we live, is connected to both the past and the future. In order for us to make decisions today that nurture the possibilities of the future, we must study and learn from the past; otherwise, we run the risk of self-defeat and thereby, future defeat.
I for one, vote for preserving the positive possibilities of a future yet to be determined and I believe the best way to do so lies in paying attention to the four quotes listed above.
Peace!
Mark E. Hundley
