Problem Solving

To solve a problem, one must recognize that a problem exists.  This may seem simple; however, the obvious does not always apply.

Alcoholics need to understand they have a problem with alcohol; abusive partners need to recognize their abuse and liars need to realize that they are liars and that lying is a destructive habit.

Our nation needs to recognize that debt is a problem, the ignorance of God is a nightmare and that “truth” based on belief lacks authority, strength, and logic.

Industry in the United States is on the precipice of disaster because of a generation of workers who have had the world revolve around them in such a way that reality is a new and frightening concept to them. Those who are entering the workforce want their bosses and associates to bend their schedules around their social structure just as their parents and teachers did. They want to enjoy the perks of hard work without the work, gain positions they did not earn and be honored for exceptionality for doing what is expected.

The modern worker wants to live with the perks that commitment brings without the responsibility, and the establishment is trying to accommodate things that are un-accommodatable.

A “me first” approach to life never has and will never work. The “me first” approach produces cowards rather than heroes, consumers rather than producers and critics rather than those who empower.

For a society to be successful, we need to think in terms of how individuals contribute to the whole and not how the whole adds to the individual.  A culture built on the foundation of “self” has no corporate strength.

The answer to the long-term problem is to have parents and teachers and bosses stop making the world revolve around children. This may sound simple; however, it is engrained in our lifestyle, and those who do such a thing are considered too strict, even harsh.

I am important, and my life is important in the context of how I contribute to the whole and the more I expect the whole to be about me the more distorted life becomes.

When life is about me, things seem hard, and my struggles seem insurmountable. This is because of my distorted view of reality.

Perhaps it is time for a new kind of industrial revolution led by those who are concerned about the future health of an unhealthy generation. This new revolution will not be fueled by inventions, techniques or financial incentives but by restored relationships.

People were created as relational beings and relationships, by the very nature of the word, demand proper interactions. Synonyms for relationships are connection, association, link, correlation, correspondence, parallel, alliance, bond, and interconnection.

If we try to take away our connection, association, link, correlation, correspondence, alliance, bond or interconnection with God and each other we live disconnected, unassociated, linkless, non-correlating, non-corresponding, non-parallel, no alliance, no bonds, connectionless lives.

When we live life out of context, we respond in various ways. Some live angry lives, others depressed while others kick their energy level up and live crazy, out of control lives.

There are many problems and challenges facing our nation today, and if we try to address them all, we would soon be exhausted and discouraged. In fact, there have been many who have given up any hope of change and have withdrawn as much as they can to preserve what little peace and prosperity they still enjoy.

The answers today are no different than they have always been for the problems today, although manifested uniquely, are the same. We have lost our connection with God and with each other and are now looking for that connection, or love, in all the wrong places.

Significance, security, and acceptance are byproducts of lives lived in the context of a proper relationship with God and each other. Those who seek the byproduct apart from the cause will frustrate themselves and those around them. Those who develop a proper relationship with God and each other will enjoy the byproduct of both while positively contributing to causes much more excellent than self.