Things We Can Be Sure Of

As we discussed at the beginning of this year, hope alone is not a prudent basis for planning or investing; however, it is often the genesis of great things.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." ~ Mahatma Gandhi

In the face of populist rage against large financial firms and corporate executives -- an attitude that I believe feeds upon itself and makes an economic recovery all the more difficult -- I stumbled over a wonderful ray of light amidst the pessimism, uncertainty and rage -- a recent BusinessWeek article, written by Jack & Suzy Welch, called "Put Your Rage on the Back Burner."

Within this short article, I found many reasons for hope now -- not necessarily hard evidence of an economic recovery in the short-term, but refreshing faith in the positive undercurrents that exist in spite of (and especially in) difficult times:

These are things we can be sure of:

...right now as you read this, there are hundreds if not thousands of geeky, brilliant engineering wonks sitting in their dorm room at MIT and Stanford, not to mention campuses around the world, oblivious to the weather as they pour their hearts into cool new ideas.

...legions of people out there aren't frightened by the economy.  They're called entrepreneurs.  And challenges don't make them surrender; they make them fierce.

...right now, in companies large and small, new and old, teams of employees are huddled in meetings, working their butts off to figure out how to save their organizations -- and the jobs of their coworkers.

...in laboratories around the world, medical researchers are putting in their 18-hour days as they try to unlock the human genome and create cures beyond imagining.

...on a warm spring day, a mother and father will hold back tears as they watch the first member of their family graduate from college.  You can be sure countless other parents will feel that same pride.

You can be sure that for every jerk who undermines business with his compromised ethics there are 99 decent hard-working people who wake up every day determined to do right...

You can be sure that this summer there will be a new song on the radio that is so catchy and fun you can't get it out of your head...

Can you think of other things that we can all be sure of now -- things that are not being reported by the mass media -- those things that give us hope and faith in humanity?  Have you noticed (or are you doing) positive or promising things in your corner of the world?  If so, I'd love to hear about them...

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Related Post:  Hope is Where We Begin

Comments

[jimcos42]

I'm actually surprised there are no comments yet. Perhaps it just attests to the depth and breadth of the gloom.

But I too have been imagining the creativity and energy going into projects that will drive and sustain the next expansion.

Each expansion in recent history has been driven by technologies called "new." Autos, electricity and the radio in the 1920's; consumer durables and electronics in the 1950's-60's; information technology and the emergent global economy in the 1980's-90's.

I don't sell any financial products, but my premise is that the S&P500 is going to 10,000 by mid-century (give or take a few humdred points and/or a few years). I look around and see a lot of bright, articulate young people (under 30) being bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and I'm encouraged. That's the side of the street I want to stand on.

Press on.

[Omar]

Deep article. We can be consumed by so much negativity that we miss the beauty of life.

[Kent @ The Financial Philosopher]

jimcos42 & Omar:

I appreciate your comments! Naturally, the emotions of "the moment" will dominate our perceptions of the present and plans for the future. Often, and to our detriment, this behavior can be quite costly to our finances and overall well-being.

In good times, we form bad habits and overlook negative potentialities; and in bad times we form good habits and overlook positive potentialities.

No matter what the environment, one should keep their eyes and mind open to those things developing that emotions will hide.

Thanks again for comments...

Kent

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