"Become a possibilitarian.
No matter how dark thing seem to be
or actually are, raise your sights;
Always see possibilities
for they're always there."
--Norman Vincent Peale
Copyright © 2020
by Ralph F. Couey
There's a linguistic missive that's made the rounds for the past decade or so of how the Chinese character for "crisis" is the combination of two other characters, one meaning "danger" and the other "opportunity." It's the kind of dualistic interpretation that abounds in Asian philosophy, one possibility readily apparent, the other more subtle.
Some people in history have guided decisions by that point of view, achieving in times of crisis. Most people don't realize that millionaires were created during the Great Depression. Charles Darrow created a board game which enabled players to at least pretend to be tycoons. The game? Monopoly. It proved to be wildly popular, and made Darrow a fortune. Michael Cullen in 1930 started a grocery chain that became a success, even during a time of economic disaster. J. Paul Getty bought up depressed oil stocks that enabled him to create an empire. Joseph Kennedy, Sr. made a pile from real estate speculation, and its rumored, successfully violated the Volstead Act. More recently, during the Great Recession, WhatsApp, Venmo, Groupon, Instagram, Uber, Pinterest...all were startups between 2008 and 2010. These are billion-dollar ventures today.
Now, this post is not about how to get rich. I'll leave that to others. But history has proved that even during the darkest of times there are those who find the light.
These days we are all suffering from cabin fever, or more accurately Quarantinitis. We have plumbed the depths of home entertainment during this time when many have been required to stay home. We are desperate to get out of the house, and even return to work. But it won't be easy.
Reading the news, a careful examination of reports will tell us that even when the economy starts to open up, it will still take a year or more before we see the robust level where we were just before the pandemic. Small business, which is about 80% of the U.S. economy will take longer. A lot of small companies will simply have ceased to exist in the past two months. But entrepreneurs are by nature risk-takers, and it is likely that those same business owners will be back with something new for the market place. But it will take time to attract attention and build clientele. It's like turning on the shower and having to wait for the water to heat up.
It's easy to look at the situation and see only dark clouds. But to get things back on track will take at the very least the re-establishment of that singular American trait of optimism.
Norman Vincent Peale was a great writer, and was the author of a lot of verbal gems like the one at the top of this post. But it expresses one of the salient points that makes America fundamentally different. As already pointed out, we have a history of people who in times of crisis saw danger, but also saw incredible opportunity. Think about those brave souls who birthed this nation. They were taking on what was then the most powerful empire on earth at that time, a government with a global reach and a powerful army and navy to enforce its will. And yet they did so. It wasn't easy, in fact for the period of time between the Declaration in 1776 and the ratification of the Constitution in 1789, there were plenty of moments when the nascent United States teetered on the brink of disaster. But under those dark clouds, there were those stalwart souls who never took their eyes off the silver lining, who never let go of their optimism and commitment.
This country weathered financial panics in 1785, 1792, 1796, 1819, 1837, 1857, 1873, 1884, 1890, 1893, 1896, 1901, and 1907. There were depressions in 1873-1896, 1920-21, and 1929-39. There were shocks to the system during the inflationary crisis of the late 1970s which led to the recession into the early 1980's. The OPEC price shock in the 70's. Black Monday in 1987. The subprime mortgage crisis and the burst of the housing bubble in 2008-09. Our financial history has not been a smooth ride by any measure. And yet, here we are today, still alive and kicking.
I'm not making light of the current crisis or blowing pink scented smoke in your direction. The point is we are survivors. We made it through past crises in many cases by remaking ourselves into a form which prospered in the new environment. If I were to tie that up into a nifty slogan, it would be "We're Americans. We don't surrender."
We have to be careful of who we listen to, for there are those who have a stake in making the situation, and us, as miserable as possible. Yes, we face a challenge. But those who try to tell me that this is an unrecoverable situation I characterize as either cowards or rendering an agenda.
We can, and will survive this, and come out on the other side even stronger because as a people, we take to heart the painful lessons of survival, and eagerly apply them to the future. I don't say that out of blind optimism, but as one who has studied the lessons of history -- our history -- and seen how we engineered success out of the rubble of disaster.
Israel Tourism
This is a place in the Middle East called Masada. During the Jewish revolt against Rome in CE 73-74, the last survivors of the rebellion took refuge atop this lozenge-shaped table mountain. The Roman army laid siege to the place, but at first glance it would seem an impossible task. The walls of Masada, as you can see, were vertical. The folks living there had ample supplies of food and water. This could have gone on for years. But Roman engineers found a place where a small landslide had created a place where a ramp could be built, which it was. After only three months, the legions reached to top of the mountain and won an unbelievable victory.
During the American Civil War, the Union Army had laid siege to Confederate positions atop a nearly vertical massif called Lookout Mountain outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Despite the obvious challenge, Union troops, acting on their own initiative, ascended the heights and drove the Confederate troops from those positions.
Now, these were military actions against seemingly impossible geographic challenges. But with imagination, energy, and just plain courage, victory was attained. That same trait lives within each one of us, if we only take the time to dig deep enough to find it. The road that leads to the Other Side of the Great Pandemic of 2020 will not be built by politicians in high places. It will instead be made by us; people like you and me with the courage and stubbornness to get things done. People who feel as Theodore Roosevelt when he said, "Far better is it to dare mighty things than to take rank with those poor timid spirits who know neither victory nor defeat."
We must be strong, we must be creative, we must be resolute. We must understand that failure is not an end, but a learning opportunity for the next effort. Know that it will take calling on the steel that lives within all of us.
In this crisis, there is danger. But there is also opportunity, and one thing Americans all share in common:
We love a challenge.
No comments:
Post a Comment