The Long Term Effect of Close…But Not Perfect

What if the first decision was close, but not perfect?

 

Think about your day from the time you leave your house to get to work or school or wherever you go when you leave home.  Will a right or left turn make a difference in whether or not you can get where you are going?  How do you know that?  Most humans learn best through trial-and-error, and this is no different.  The path that works is the right one and the paths that do not are wrong.

 

All throughout the day you will make decisions that will potentially “matter” further down the road or not, and that is just one day’s activity.  What if the first decision was close, so close that a substantial threat or benefit was avoided or realized, but the decision set the course ultimately in the wrong direction?  When would we know?  How many steps, or years, or dollars later to find out that the first decision was close but not perfect?

 

Watching the constant finger pointing that our leadership is engaged in at the moment, we should take time to think about the task, actually the tasks, that we have asked our leaders to manage in our absence.

 

  • Protection of the rights assured us by the founding fathers
  • Establish and maintain the highway system
  • Supply electric power in quantities that exceed demand
  • Protect the storage, distribution of fresh water
  • Treat and sanitize wastewater to protect the downstream users of water
  • Establish and maintain a safe and plentiful food supply
  • Secure the national borders
  • Protect the liberty, health and safety of the population
  • Capture and prosecute offenders of accepted societal norms
  • Educate the population
  • MAKE DECISIONS IN THE ABSENCE OF THE POPULATION
  • ..to name a few

 

And what if in each instance the decision made and the “angle-of-attack” was close, but not perfect?  The quote attributed to Atlas I believe is “give me a lever, and a place to stand, and I will move the world.”  Perspective is the need for a place to stand, to view the future not remember the past.

For the long term it is critical that we take a breath, take time, to assess where we are, where we NEED to go, where we want to go, and then set a path to get there considering what we have learned to date along the way.