“So, let me see if I have this: A hurricane has picked up speed and power and is headed for Georgia. Management and labor are coming here to work out a settlement to avoid a crippling strike that will begin at midnight tonight; and the government is planning a siege on 18 to 40 of its citizens, all the while we hold a state dinner for the president of Indonesia.” -- C.J. Cregg, The West Wing, Season One.
Fast forward to summer 2020. A pandemic has spread across the country – to say nothing of the globe – and has killed more than 150,000 Americans. The Republicans and the Democrats are not working out an extension for a desperately needed federal supplement so Americans can pay their food and housing bills before Congress adjourns for their summer break; and the government is in continual conflict with peaceful protesters working towards social justice, all the while it has no idea how to send children back to school for the fall. The truth, no television.
In the midst of chaos, the only hope is a plan. And a good one, at that. But a plan --any plan -- will do. And what we have right now, my friends, is no plan. And a lot of fighting. It’s simply madness.
One of the most important ideas I learned from teaching young children is that they always need to know what the plan is. Every morning included a brief meeting laying out the schedule for the day: “First, we’ll go to the playground, then we’ll come in for snack, etc.” This gives children a sense of certainty and something to look forward to, to say nothing of a feeling of control.
It should come as no surprise that young children are not the only ones who need to know the plan. Everyone needs to know the plan. It give us certainty, something to look forward to and a feeling of control.
Right now, we are in a continual state of not knowing what the plan is, with only an assurance of continuing uncertainty, nothing to look forward to, and a consistent sense of having no control whatsoever.
The “general welfare” mentioned in the U.S. Constitution, is in peril. How can we finally get the message across that now is the time for rapid diplomacy, not ongoing infighting?
