Journal Entries
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Bon Journal
The bigger picture
So caught up are we in the nitty-gritties of daily survival that we
forget the bigger picture.
At work, that is surely one way management can hold on to staff. Keep
them so busy in their work that they have no time to wonder about the
bigger picture.
At home, the micro elements prevent curiosity and temptation from settling
in. If you're worried about paying your bills, why would you worry about
the system?
Who wonders about the bigger picture? Academics and intellectuals? Idealists?
People with time on their hands?
Only when we can free ourselves from debt and obligation, can we start
seeing the bigger picture. An American living in England told me recently
that he was disappointed in his countrymen. He felt they voted with their
wallets rather than with their hearts. If people have ends to meet, they
would not speak their minds, he said.
If this is true, then only the rich and idle could afford to see and
think the bigger picture.
It's been shown that local optimisation will not be as effective as
global optimisation. That is the rationale for the Kyoto Protocol - that
countries could trade with each other to reduce carbon emissions - rather
than rely on individual domestic policies. It has also been shown that
multi-pollutant reduction strategies are more effective and efficient
than piecemeal attempts at reducing each pollutant independently.
Yet, in our busy daily lives, if we have only the time and capability
to care for ourselves, we can hardly see beyond ourselves. Why would I
ask if anybody else would like what I don't want when it's easier to throw
it away? Why would I share a ride when it's easier to take a taxi? Why
would I find out if what I want is available in-house when it's easier
to just get a new one? Have we all become so independent and individualistic
that the effort to share and communicate is not worthwhile? Or is the
local picture bigger than we can handle?
15 June 2001
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