We spend too much of our time running away from problems instead of addressing them head-on. Let’s be honest, we in America have a history of messing things up and then moving on instead of fixing them. We have been struggling with the idea of equality and justice for our whole existence, maybe it is time to finally look at fixing that problem. We have known that we are doing serious damage to our planet for at least 30 years but still won’t seriously address it.

I think part of the problem with this is that too many of us baby boomers are just tired but don’t want to give up the power they have accumulated over their lifetime. That is especially true of those in public offices. Many still believe that 21st century problems can be solved with 20th century solutions. But, the world is just not the same. And then there are too many of us who have let an idle-minded narcissists convince them that our problems are “fake news”! Instead of disappearing, these problems pile up until they come back to hit us full force, and that will happen much sooner than many believe. Yeah, these are difficult problems, but ignoring them will only make them more difficult to address.

We seem to always put off the problems for others to solve. Instead of fixing our own generation’s problems, we should be running toward future problems before they become almost unfixable. I won’t likely be around to see that day, but I do dream it will happen within the next decade or two.

Don’t run away from something, run towards something

That almost seems to be the mantra of Millennials and Gen-Zers. As us baby boomer die off, and they take over the reins of our government, things will change rather quickly. The people born in the last forty years are ready to tackle the problems we have left behind, if only we will let them do it.

For what its worth, I just want to leave them with a couple shreds of advice from my life experiences:

1. Don’t give up your enthusiasm, to make your world a better place. I know there are many out there who will get in your way. Don’t let them drag you down.
2. I think you have already learned it, but don’t ever think you know everything you need to know about any subject. The world is changing too fast for that to even become a possibility.
3. Look inside yourself for leadership. Wisdom and empathy are not innate, they are gleaned from experiences in your life. Fill your life up with noble experiences. It’s up to you to come up the solutions for today’s problems we have left you and tomorrow’s which will inevitably come up. Don’t leave that leadership task to someone else. If not you, then who?
4. Never allow any rules of life, culture, or even tribe to convince you that one group of people are inherently superior to another. If you treat true equality as a core principle you are well on your way to making this world a better place than you found it.
   

In closing, we all need to quit running away from things that might take more time than we desire. We need to recognize that some things don’t have simple solutions and will take strenuous effort maybe over a long period of time to accomplish. We need to quit kicking the can down the road.