The Presidential Campaign of 2008 was based on a platform of political and social transformation. Each campaigner attempted to sequester the word “change” into their own exclusive sphere, but only one was successful in doing so... As welcomed as the political change has been, economic change has visited most Americans to some degree, bringing with it terms that show little regard for one’s financial portfolio or financial well being. Even if the “Bush” economy has not affected you personally, it certainly has touched someone very close to you in your neighborhood, work, church or family.
If you never had to personally, we all know someone who has “pushed the reset button,” and started the survival process over again… Just like the button we push when our computers lock up or “crash” without warning due to some malicious virus.
Our hard drives overload with programs, and responsibilities that cannot be sustained for lack of communal and fiscal space… Pressing the reset button is a vital first step towards recovery. A complete transformation follows the reset, and that necessitates patience on everyone’s part.
Regardless of how much you have or don’t have, what you lost or were able to save, change is heaped on us all. In the community of America, 10-15% unemployment affects every workplace... Laying off teachers affects every community… Losing health insurance directly affects all health standards… Closing Detroit auto factories devastates every neighborhood. We all share in this network of life, and are all affected by these disasters usually by no fault of our own.
Sometimes assets and interactions are lost for good after a crash. Pushing the reset button does not ensure retaining old and cherished files, or maintaining contacts once thought essential to your own existence. These realities sometimes become memories gone with the wind… But only the strong can push the reset button knowing things could change for better or worse, with emphasis on the later.
Former Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote: “If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.” The power of “change” is determined by its convert, not by outsiders intent on observing another’s renovation. But we all share in the transformation... good or bad.
Everyone who has to reset must do so with valor and determination, setting aside those offering pity and guilt of failure…
Change is coming: “If you don’t create your own change, change will create you.”
G.L.M.
