Our Foremost Challenge

The United States census was completed recently. We now have over 308.7 billion people in our country. Wow. That is an awful lot of people. To paraphrase the opening line of the old television series, "Naked City," each of these individuals have stories to tell. It is my believe that given the right circumstances and with the right prodding, each person would be happy tell their stories, too; their likes and dislikes, hopes and dreams, fears, concerns and frustrations, sources of joy, and musings about life. And each of the 308.7 billion males and females need opportunities or outlets to share their thoughts in all these areas. Without chances to be heard, all of us become less than what we are. We function at less than our capacity, which means there is no chance of our achieving our full potential or maintaining it in any kind of sustained way.

This fundamental need to communicate is but one reality in our lives. The other is that we need others in order to fill that void. Communication, by definition, involves more than one. While it is the act of an individual, it can only be completed or consummated when more than one is involved in that singular act. We speak. Another hears. We write. Another reads. We move. Another sees. Action. Reaction. That is communication and that is what all 308.7 billion of us need to do for us to come any where close to living lives of fulfillment. This, of course, also holds true when it comes to us as a people collaborating. doing good things and working to make our society better.

Moving into the second decade of the 21st century, an overriding challenge for all of us is to seek out ways to help foster the communication needs we all share, not just for ourselves but others. I understand how difficult this is because so often our day-to-day, primary focus is to figure out ways we can be heard and come up with strategies to make known our feelings, opinions and wishes. There is nothing wrong with this, of course, but that effort needs to be coupled with putting the same kind of energy and thought into helping create an environment in which others can meet their need to communicate as well. This requires engagement and active listening. As our nation's population continues to grow, it will be the foremost challenge of the next decade and beyond.