ANY STEP IS A START
Saturday, January 21, 2024
Taking a step away from or toward anything is a step, one that comes without any guarantee it will be perfect or that you’re headed in the right direction, it’s a step in some direction.
Suppose that’s in the right direction. Great. If not, it’s a test that proves one more way that won’t work.
It’s just a step, and how do I know it’s not the wrong one?
If I wait a while, brood some more while stewing in my own juices, and then if I research more options, that will be better – then I’ll be ready, right?
No, because that’s sitting.
I’m talking about taking any step as the wisdom of taking action, whether a step to get away from something or race toward something, because anything else is just a form of sitting – not getting anywhere, not trying anything, too comfortable in where we are to explore where we want to be, or where we should be.
We have legs and minds that race much faster – we are designed for this, meant for this, and we have a calling we must heed to get going.
And, as many have noted, life is short.
Or we can make life longer, bigger, and more exciting/worthwhile and deserving an extended stay, but there are steps to take.
What needs doing, and what can you do about it?
What can you do, what impact can you have, and will it have lasting value for you?
Or is it not about you alone but more about creating something of lasting value for someone else, anyone else, or everyone else but you?
Or both?
What needs doing, what must be done, and what calls out for ideas, inspiration, and solutions are the many problems of living things on earth – some as close as we can get, some as far away as you might imagine – and the ‘getting our head around the issue/problem’ is probably the biggest part of any problem.
The need to solve that problem remains.
While that might include a crusade to save the planet, cure a disease or replace Adam Smith’s invisible hand, the problems most needing solutions are smaller and closer to home, no less complex to solve but essential ones for us all. We are closest to them. Local knowledge and issue ownership are more effective and likely to gain traction than an imposed solution from an expert far away.
The reality is we need it all, don’t we?
Do we not appreciate that wisdom manifests within caring, committed and involved people close to home – closest to the issues, knowing the problem, are often most motivated to find a solution?
True, it’s no simple patch for a leaky tire inner tube; its complexity and difficulty are spread across and entwined with competing issues and values – part science, part craft, part magic, part magician, part sweat, and part tears. Of course, we all want a point-click or ‘open this app’ solution to the complexities of life. Sometimes a better solution with imperfections is better than no solution at all. That’s no excuse for not solving a problem the best we can with what we have. Sitting on our hands waiting for some magical solution to be produced in a lab somewhere, or from a management memo, or from a talking-head politico show-boating from their bully pulpit – that’s no solution; that’s victim-speak.
Really, what’s that about?
In the fullness of time, we humans, who might live a century or a bit longer, are the most intelligent species in this solar system, perhaps in an entire galaxy (we must consider that if there are civilizations out there more sophisticated than we are we likely can’t see them). Still, the most complex problems we need to solve are most likely for all of us, inside our heads and within our family and one-on-one relationships – at work, home, and in the community. That doesn’t mean we won’t also have time to solve world peace, famines and disease outbreaks and fix spacecraft while still in flight with duct tape and rubber bands – because we can do all those things.
Before we grapple with the existential threat of Artificial Intelligence that is already gone from an ‘incredible tool invented by humans’ to a more incredible tool, one capable of developing refined better versions of itself, we have far less to fear from that than we should fear inside our heads.
Inside us is the equivalent capability of the best and brightest of everything ever written, discovered, developed, sold, invested in or changed the world – our human brain with sensitivity and emotional capability. No other creation of nature, humans or machines, can beat or exceed it. I realize A.I. is a phenomenal tool already reinventing life as we know it – for the better – albeit glitches, fears, and ethical gaps to bridge and concerns the machines rather than people will take control of our lives. Some worst-case worriers think we might be there already.
We, collectively and individually, must be vigilant, but we also need to be proactive, don’t we? A machine, a piece of software, might give us extraordinary breakthroughs, but shouldn’t we be engaged as well?
We decide what we want, what we want to be done, and what we want to be prevented – and when we can’t agree, we discuss, debate, argue and sometimes fight. I don’t see humans letting a machine take that away from us.
We have the capacity to do everything that’s been done and things nobody has yet dreamed or figured out. We want that to be more than a message to ourselves each morning as we look at that youngster in the mirror or when we watch grandchildren growing into their personal game-changing selves.
None of our efforts guarantee success at anything, but we all must agree that lack of action has far less chance, so why not make the effort?
We, our children, grandchildren and countless generations of their descendants, will rock this world with everything we can do to live whole healthy lives and make enormous contributions to the appreciation and quality of life for others and caring for our planet and humanity in the bargain.
It’s cliché to say it all starts with a single step, but it always does.
It always has.
Take your next step, not with trepidation, but with tightrope walker gusto, because every step will take you somewhere, and you don’t need GPS or a map; it’s always helpful to have a general idea, direction, or intention, but it isn’t essential.
Why?
Because every great thing in life, in our society, happens because of passionate people making changes occur, and the first draft/first design of anything changes in many ways from start to finish.
Besides, who wants to finish if you aren’t yet to any ultimate goal?
Dream big, leap high, imagine the impossible, and then do it.
Why not start now?
Take a step, any step, but take one …
At worst, you’ll prove another way that won’t work.
At best, you’ll change the world.
At worst, we’ll be a prototype to evaluate and improve.
At best, we’ll be the ones designing our improvement – that’s intelligence that will never be artificial.