We define intractable as
“hard to control or deal with.” In our
world today we live in a sea of intractables.
Take a look:
The Israelis and
Palestinians – intractable
Acts of individual and
group terrorism – intractable
Shias and Sunnis –
intractable
Race relations in the U.S.
– intractable
Tens of millions of
refugees and no end in sight – intractable
Income inequality –
intractable
India and Pakistan –
intractable
Prejudice against “them” or
“the other,” whoever is different than we are – intractable
Political dysfunction in
Washington – intractable
And the list goes on – and
on.
For glass half full people,
there are rays of sunshine that break through the clouds every once in a while:
The Irish stopped killing
each other – finally
In many places same sex
marriages are legal
LGBTQ rights are greater
than they used to be
Medical breakthroughs are
saving many lives
A black man was elected
president of the United States
Most of the world is taking
climate change seriously
Infant mortality rates are
declining
The Chicago Cubs won a
World Series
The problem with cynicism
and bemoaning the state of things is that it doesn’t help. If you don’t like what you see, sitting on
the sidelines is a safe place from which to criticize, but you won’t change
anything. Theodore Roosevelt makes the
point:
“It is not the critic who
counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled or where the
doer of deeds could have done better.
The credit belongs to the
man who is actually in the arena: whose face is marred by dust and sweat and
blood; who arrives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who
knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a
worthy cause: who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high
achievements; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring
greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
know neither victory nor defeat.”
