Dr Aola Imcha
The health of a society depends on the wellbeing of its people. In reality, most people can create the kind of future they want or desire. Having a sustained vision of a successful future allows one to carve lots of mental paths to it, to actually live one’s way into it, step by step.
Having a complete vision of the future gives you a constant source of hope and motivation. You’ve got to have a dream. You have to break the future into very specific component domains of experience that, when totaled together, add up to your life that amounts to your physical self, your social life, your career, your financial health, your emotional life, and so on.
Charity is not the only language we need to speak today. Today, we need to build the self-esteem of people. Of course we cannot afford to ignore the financial aspect but at the same time, they should be made aware that they have the means to create something. We need to give them a vision.
You can achieve what you want in life only if you have a clear vision of where you are headed. The reason why most people aren’t moving forward is that they don’t even know where they are going. If they are going anywhere, it’s towards whatever they are programmed for, which is essentially whatever their parents have envisioned for them; they are not even living their own life but living for others. Many of us do not think this way, at least consciously. In fact you will find that the principled solutions stand in contrast to the common practices and thinking of our popular culture.
I have often seen that people who have a vision or a dream contribute to the development of their society. People who encounter an urgent need too facilitate in society’s development. Out of a need or a dream, a person gets motivated to do something. Today we lack both. We are not giving our people a vision, or a dream about one’s village, society, or the world.
There is an absence of direction and focus. Drug abuse, alcoholism, corruption are some of the principal factors contributing to the poverty in most of the states. These are the issues we need to address and not forgetting violence. So much is lost when violence takes over one’s life, one’s mind. The cause for violence is very simple to identify. It is lack of understanding and a narrow vision of life. Don’t you agree with this?
This attitude indicates a lack of taking responsibility. Not taking responsibility leads us to nowhere. You cannot progress in society without taking responsibility. We need to know this. Our main responsibility is to make people responsible. You are responsible for every thing. And I think this one principle can help people go a long way.
The same thing is replicated in bureaucracy. As one gets to a higher post, the more grim and stiff they become. One becomes more and inaccessible to people. Most of our development initiatives are hindered by such an attitude, which causes a lack of communication with people. Improvement of communication, sensitivity towards the environment, broader understanding about inter-dependence and a long-term vision, all these are the basic factors that will bring about sustainable development of any society. Without these, development will be like a stool that has no legs. Without these I do not see how sustainable development can be maintained or furthered.
We all live in an interdependent society; we cannot survive on our own. We are dependent on the society and in turn society expects something from us, citizens. Each one of us is situated in that equation. We just need to attend this idea in our minds: What can I do for the society? What type of society do I want to leave behind for my children? One that is more beautiful than what we have inherited or one, which is more terror-stricken, unsafe, where we feel insecure? These thoughts, ideas and such attitude of questioning have to be cultivated and ingrained in each one of us so that we can bring about some changes to our society that we live in.
The bleakness of the present is so oppressive just because we can’t imagine an alternative for tomorrow but we should constantly remind our self, it is apparent that we of this generation are in a position to affect profoundly the living conditions in the remote future. Each and all of these issues, and our abilities and inclinations to manage them, have grave and portentous implications for generations far into the remote future.
I firmly believe that structural social work is possible within our human service societies. If we think that we can change the world overnight we will be disappointed. However, if we begin with a vision of a better tomorrow we can start to construct this better world through their practice.
The writer of a proverb says “Where there is no vision, the people perish”. Let us all remind ourselves time to time to ensuring that this vision for a better tomorrow becomes a reality for the benefit of all citizens, present and future.
