Getting Better
HILLARY
My life experience at 34 is different from when I was 24 — different jobs, different neighbors, different relationships, different technology — and the ability to adjust has led to greater maturity and to greater success. It's our ability to change that leads to advancement and enlightenment. I wonder then, why are some people so unwilling to adapt?
JACK
When I was running my company I had the habit of asking why an individual was doing something. I'd say, "I know you're busy, but I just wonder what are you busy with, and why are you doing it this way?" The answer frequently was, "this is the way we have always done it." It's amazing to me how a mindset can be that because it was right at some time in the past, it still is the way to go. Every body has to realize that the only constant thing that we can be sure of is change. And we have to adapt ourselves to current circumstances rather than seeking the comfort of past performance. In my lifetime I have seen such dramatic change. When I served for three and a half years in the Army Air Corps, it was totally segregated. Although there was a W.A.C. (Women's Army Corps) they never appeared, expect to do clerical work. My point is that having lived through the civil rights movement, I was witness to the trauma that the U.S. experienced changing our society so that we could live up to the words in our Constitution "that all men are created equal."
During the depression President Roosevelt introduced Social Security. It is now an accepted fact of life, but in the early 1930's there were many people who considered it "socialism", and totally foreign to the concept of a capitalistic democracy. I find it remarkable that in 2009 the idea of government insuring Americans is also degraded as "socialism". I almost laughed when I heard an angry man yelling at his congressman at a town hall meeting. He shouted, "Keep the damn government out of Medicare." I would love to get rid of the shouting and once more go back to intelligent debate.
HILLARY
I think it's hard for people to have a dispassionate conversation because these are life and death issues, and people's emotions are bound to get inflamed. Those who wish to maintain the status quo are very frightened, and thus are screaming to keep things the way they are. Those of us who want change are screaming because we perceive a train coming at us and want to give people a hand out of the way.
So the question is how to move with the times, with improving methods and technology, if a large portion of our society wants everything to stay the same?
JACK
It rests with our ability to communicate with each other, and to explain things in a manner that every body understands. As an example, for some reason the phrase "Government Option" raised all kinds of frightening pictures. I firmly believe in capitalism, but the word "option" tells me that I have a choice; just as I have a choice to send a package by the U.S. Postal Service or Fedex, or UPS. The last time I looked, both of these great private companies were doing very well and don't seem to mind that they are competing with the government Post Office. We have the option of sending our children to many great educational institutions. Harvard and Princeton don't seem to be concerned with the city and state college because we have the option to choose a program in accordance with our own needs. There is no question that private education has become very expensive and great numbers of our population would go uneducated without the presence of public institutions. What in blazes is so frightening about a government option in health insurance so that it can be afforded by millions of people who cannot afford or live with the conditions of private insurance companies?
Let's try to cool the rhetoric and get to the facts so that intelligent solutions can be developed for our entire population.
Communication is inspiration! Share your thoughts below.
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