“Everything Proceeds by an Orderly Sequence of Growth”

Posted by Sibyl • August 5, 2009 • Printer-friendly • Permalink

The Current News:

(www.cnn.com) Obama made health-care reform a central theme of his presidential campaign and promised not only to achieve universal health care in his first term, but also to cut the average family's health care health-care costs by $2,500.

"I suffer no illusions that this will be an easy process," the president said.

The alternaview:

Regardless of what side of the debate you fall on, it is more than apparent that the healthcare debate is not going to be something that is resolved easily and quickly. Determining the future of healthcare is obviously important, but when I look at the debate and all the complexities and issues that must be resolved, I also see another important personal message and that is one of perseverance even when you hit roadblocks and encounter obstacles.

The debate on healthcare serves as a reminder to me that despite what challenges may arise and how many times you may hit a wall, you have to keep on pushing through, even though you may have plenty of reasons to give up and even though you may be uncertain exactly how the situation will ultimately play out.

We are unable to predict the precise steps on how something will proceed and that is why it is important to not become discouraged when things do not go exactly as planned. When obstacles and barriers arise, it may be difficult to see the big picture and that things are really falling into place. This is why it is so important to always have confidence in where we are going and commit to doing all that we can until we are successful.

It may mean things have to repositioned or even modified in some way so that we can successfully accomplish what we have been trying to do. We may have to compromise a little. That is all a part of the process and the journey and as long as we remain flexible and committed to our ultimate goal, eventually things will work out exactly as they should and fall into place.

This is what I am reminded of every time I hear more news about the healthcare debate. This alternaview is of particular interest to me today because I have been trying to push a project through at work that we have been developing for almost a year. So many people have invested so much of themselves along with time and energy into its creation. It really has been an exhausting process and we have hit just about every road block you could imagine. Tonight, I just found out that we have hit yet another one and if I am being honest, my initial reaction, was okay, perhaps it is time to throw into the towel.

After I relaxed a little and took a step back, I was able to see how my current predicament is really no different than what seems to be the endless back and forth with healthcare. Every so often you can see some progress being made and some steps being taken forward…and then you see obstacles arise and steps taken back. That is how the process proceeds and how things ultimately come to fruition. It actually brings to mind another project I worked on that had its many ups and downs, but after 2 years of persistence and dedication, it ultimately worked out the way it was supposed to in the end.

You can sometimes find reassurance that you are doing the right thing in the oddest places. The healthcare struggle has provided me with assurance that you do have to continue to move forward and be willing to do whatever else is necessary, even if it means going back to the drawing board. Although it would be easy to get discouraged by the length of the process and all the walls that seem to magically appear, we have to turn our attention to whatever motivates us to continue and realize the truth of that wise phrase by Thomas Troward… “Everything proceeds by an orderly sequence of growth”…this is the alternaview.