Thursday, September 20, 2007
competing values - Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007
today’s Musing written and published from south Calgary, near Fish Creek Park
7C/44F (high 11C), overcast, lagoon a wet jello mirror, reflected autumn picture jiggling, just enough breeze to make water wriggle
summer ending, flown by, another ¼ year of life, so much stays the same; today, a non-occasion day, but tomorrow, wow - last day of summer, Carla leaves on a South American eco-adventure, sundown turns the season clock – a time for contemplation, examination of everything, of the magic of the earth, of mathematics, of plants, animals, crops and straw men and masks and pagan ritual; equinox on the 22nd, Yom Kippur begins at sundown tomorrow, ending at sundown on the 22nd
our nature is to collide with many influences, interdependency in every step; hard choices do not insure success nor do easy ones, dramatic choices do not insure success any more than passive acceptance of how things are produces joy or success or progress
someone taught me about forest management and land use policy issues; I learned about ‘competing values’ in a policy making context; each with merit, need and status – each interdependent; no growth without a healthy watershed, no industry without a sustainable resource, no balance unless values - the resource, weather, fire, pests, land, critters, water, air and more – were considered, balanced; no singular decision solved anything or produce a desired result – a complex but useful metaphor for everything
I learned compromise alters balance, good planning depends on good data, bad data often produced bizarre (though not always bad) results, hastily changed policy has long lasting consequences while weather, nature and fire were constant wild cards that could skew everything at any moment; choice makes change, doing nothing does not prevent change, it makes us an observer rather participant
I’ve been trying to influence two people to ‘see it my way’ of late; one a personal connection, another a business one; it is not important that I be right, but I think I am – so I compete for and ear, for attention, for acknowledgment of what I believe is obvious – our ideas compete, change vs. stubborn illogical rigidity
in our personal and business lives – competing values, relative importance of issues, hopes and dreams compete for attention, often conflict with those we meet, know, love and compete with; we establish priorities to support what we want most, we resist new ideas and change, however inevitable, because we struggle
struggling is always an option but, in itself, it is not a value; values are both independent and interdependent – they compete in our minds without need to give them a voice, these conflicts loom large in silence, they come down to size in dialogue - always
Mark Kolke
341,820
198.6
What do you think? Join the discussion - your comments are welcomed - please write.
To subscribe to Mark's Musings daily email distribution, write to musing@maxcomm.ca
©2007 MaxComm Communications, all rights reserved.
7C/44F (high 11C), overcast, lagoon a wet jello mirror, reflected autumn picture jiggling, just enough breeze to make water wriggle
summer ending, flown by, another ¼ year of life, so much stays the same; today, a non-occasion day, but tomorrow, wow - last day of summer, Carla leaves on a South American eco-adventure, sundown turns the season clock – a time for contemplation, examination of everything, of the magic of the earth, of mathematics, of plants, animals, crops and straw men and masks and pagan ritual; equinox on the 22nd, Yom Kippur begins at sundown tomorrow, ending at sundown on the 22nd
our nature is to collide with many influences, interdependency in every step; hard choices do not insure success nor do easy ones, dramatic choices do not insure success any more than passive acceptance of how things are produces joy or success or progress
someone taught me about forest management and land use policy issues; I learned about ‘competing values’ in a policy making context; each with merit, need and status – each interdependent; no growth without a healthy watershed, no industry without a sustainable resource, no balance unless values - the resource, weather, fire, pests, land, critters, water, air and more – were considered, balanced; no singular decision solved anything or produce a desired result – a complex but useful metaphor for everything
I learned compromise alters balance, good planning depends on good data, bad data often produced bizarre (though not always bad) results, hastily changed policy has long lasting consequences while weather, nature and fire were constant wild cards that could skew everything at any moment; choice makes change, doing nothing does not prevent change, it makes us an observer rather participant
I’ve been trying to influence two people to ‘see it my way’ of late; one a personal connection, another a business one; it is not important that I be right, but I think I am – so I compete for and ear, for attention, for acknowledgment of what I believe is obvious – our ideas compete, change vs. stubborn illogical rigidity
in our personal and business lives – competing values, relative importance of issues, hopes and dreams compete for attention, often conflict with those we meet, know, love and compete with; we establish priorities to support what we want most, we resist new ideas and change, however inevitable, because we struggle
struggling is always an option but, in itself, it is not a value; values are both independent and interdependent – they compete in our minds without need to give them a voice, these conflicts loom large in silence, they come down to size in dialogue - always
Mark Kolke
341,820
198.6
What do you think? Join the discussion - your comments are welcomed - please write.
To subscribe to Mark's Musings daily email distribution, write to musing@maxcomm.ca
©2007 MaxComm Communications, all rights reserved.
