The Way it is (From Hereford Times)

The Way it is

11:37am Monday 29th January 2007

• Print
• Email

As a member of the Bulmer Foundation Team, I often get involved in conversations about how to change systems which have become unsustainable. People seem to understand that our current systems are struggling. Ask a teacher or a nurse or a farmer and they will give you a list of what is not working. Ask them what they would like to change - their response is often one of resignation. ‘I don’t like what’s happening ……. but what can I do?

Such protestations of powerlessness are actually very powerful - they ensure that things are left exactly as they are. Every individual who ‘resigns’ is another person rescued from the difficulties of trying to do something positive.

A sense of powerlessness to change ‘the way it is’ infiltrates government offices, board rooms and the living rooms alike. - it is no respecter of hierarchies. Even the Prime Minister says there is a limit to what he can do.

But if enough people insist that change is impossible – the chances are it won’t happen. Believing oneself powerless is self-fulfilling.

A common label put on change agents is ‘idealist’ - ‘naïve’ is another one. People accuse us of simply not understanding ‘the way it is’. This is a neat way of dismissing even the most robust case for significant change. Yes, there is a need to avoid naivety – but in my book this means being mindful of the massive changes we need to make.

We humans have collectively disturbed the climate, our food is contaminated, our families are breaking down, our children are depressed and our society is riddled with addictions and alienation. And, things are likely to get much worse if we don’t dramatically change the way we do things - as anyone who saw Al Gore’s ‘Inconvenient Truth’ at the Courtyard will know. Really, the time has passed when we can stand by and hope that somebody else will magic our problems away.

We need to act, each one of us – and fast.

Professor Shirley Ali Khan