It is truly hard to stay resilient. This is from a guy who thinks and lives resiliency every second of every day. It’s no wonder that many good folks are just throwing up their hands these days not knowing which way to turn.
Record unemployment, the stock market “yo-yo” dance and more than half of people still working not being happy with their jobs. The pundits have an easy answer: Government is the problem whether the Democrats or Republicans control the seats of power.
Our life resiliency is being bombarded with negativity on a daily basis with the 24-hour-a-day news cycle. Don’t get me wrong, I definitely want to know and understand world and local events. I, however, find that my resilience is sometimes compromised by the incessant “breaking news” about the latest comments from Sarah Palin, Nancy Pelosi or anyone in-between the schism we know as polarization.
I think we need to look past the “blame game,” and rely on ourselves to brush the non-resilient moments off. We need to overcome such obstacles and continue striving for our best as individuals and as a healthy member of the world community. No, I don’t want to go back to Herbert Hoover politics, and being an idealist is not practical in these uncertain economic days.
My overall life resiliency, however, is challenged when I hear the Democrats blaming former President Bush. Or, the Republicans bashing President Obama for nearly everything wrong in America. Our resiliency as a nation and a world partner also is being knocked down when individuals let a few differences cloud the overall good Democrats and Republicans bring to the table.
The old saying probably holds true: “Our government leaders agree on 90 percent of everything. It’s that last 10 percent that can cause bottles of antacids to be bought.”
A generation from now will historians brand this age as the beginning of our loss of resiliency as a nation? Where we could not adapt, compromise and have constructive conversation about important national topics. Yes, we have had partisan politics since probably George Washington left the presidency more than 200 years ago. But our overall national resilience is being tested to the max in these very uncertain days.
Despite the very challenging times, my career and life resiliency speaking/consulting business has started well, But, as with any of us, this very humble success doesn’t mean I can’t stop being ever vigilant. Whether you are employed by a corporation or an independent business owner like me, I truly believe our country’s political climate does not bode well for prosperous employment and solving our significant national issues – unless we stay resilient. Such challenges include getting 8+ million employed again, making sure 30 million folks without health insurance stay alive and stopping the acceleration of the foreclosure rate. The list goes on and on…
The next time you blame President Obama for being out-of-touch, House Speaker Pelosi for being out on the fringe, Sarah Palin for being a bit wacko or Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachman for just being nutty, please step back and remember one thing. Whether we are from a different country or not, all of us lose a portion of life resiliency where we can only agree to disagree.
I sometimes struggle with my resiliency while worrying about outside events. Like you, I don’t need our nation and world choosing sides and not being able to work together on the basics of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!
I guess I was wrong…I am an idealist who will never give up believing. I hope you continue believing, too.
Thanks, again, for reading and commenting on my article. Until next week…take care.
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