Time To Build
Institutions are in certain decline. The Media is a collection of egos given to spectacle and preying on blood, catastrophe and scandal to…
Institutions are in certain decline. The Media is a collection of egos given to spectacle and preying on blood, catastrophe and scandal to keep readers on their page or viewers on their channel for one more minute.
Academia is little else than a support group. The most important skills needed -outside of STEM- are easily picked up online without paying thousands, accruing enormous debt and being bullied if one diverts from the official narrative.
Technical careers come with no student debt and paid apprenticeships, and have a fantastic ROI for those who apply them intelligently, too.
Non-governmental organizations have historically been citizen-led places with a cause, where people united around that cause joined hands and worked together despite their differences to build hospitals, feed the needy or save our heritage.
The greatest achievement of our institutions in recent years, sadly, is their descent into political activism. Missions blur and the goal for all becomes one: right wrongs seen through the lens of an ever-narrowing Overton window.
The thing with revolution is it never arrives. Every now and then, Cuban leaders have giant signs made and set up all over the country and order the government-sanctioned national media to print a first page stating «we’re close». That sums up the dynamics of the past 61 years of revolution: it is nothing but a promise, with tremendous sacrifices and hardship.
A promise that will never deliver. And a sacrifice the ruling class does not make.
When it really arrives, though, it arrives in force. Like in France. We are taught it was all rainbows, fairy dust and bubble gum unicorn poop. In fact, it was a time of misery, with mass killing of individuals and entire groups who disagreed. The generalized Terror, which now merits us capitalizing the word when we refer to it, is what has come after every revolution but the American.
But let’s focus on the building, which we are still in time to do.
If the COVID-19 crisis has taught us anything is that this society can work together if it sets off to. Helping neighbors is the normal thing to do and we have seen all kinds of people do it, regardless of who is their neighbor. Sharing knowledge and opening up channels to collaborate comes naturally when we see the next person as a person first and as a member of a group later.
Government has had the opportunity to learn as well. Stories abound of meaningful change, innovation and rapid response by Congress, state Assemblies and City councils all over. Adapting to new needs and passing legislation with lightning speed has taught constituents -and hopefully some lawmakers- that the realm of the possible has no boundaries.
Or rather, that the realm of the possible has only the boundaries that men and women in government, with their limited knowledge impose on society, with its unlimited knowledge and possibility.
It is time to build. Let’s.