In describing today's accelerating changes, the media fire blips of unrelated information at us. Experts bury us under mountains of narrowly specialized monographs. Popular forecasters present lists of unrelated trends, without any model to show us their interconnections or the forces likely to reverse them. As a result, change itself comes to be seen as anarchic, even lunatic.
–Alvin Toffler
This quote, forwarded to me my a dear friend, captures my concern for this new generation of leaders. There is so much isolated information, poured nonstop upon the public, that they are drowning yet thirsty for something more. Context, connection, purpose... we need to make meaning from the bits and bytes.
Education here again could play such a vital role. History provides the backstory, Literature provides context, and Science provides critical analysis of cause and effect... but only when we see the grander purpose in education. Life is a series of choices and consequences - karma's cause and effect. When we teach in isolated bits and bytes, we hide the nature of life. Our ability to change is our greatest strength.
I continue to be amazed at the writing of Paul Hawken in Blessed Unrest. It's a new view of system, of collective action, of forest for the trees. In the end, we cannot wait for others to make sense of it for us, we must be the makers of meaning.
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