Vision

"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements." 
--Napoleon Hill

". . . and at times a strange far look would come into his eyes, as if he saw a vision in the skies." 

— Henry Timrod, “A Vision of Poesy,” from Poems (1860)

Unfortunately, the concept of vision and visioning has practically deteriorated to mere cliche' for many of us. The avant guarde speak of "vision" as if it is the discovery of the late 20th, early 21st, century enligthened society. Yet, we find like T.S. Eliot's Little Gidding, the actual discovery is that our journey has returned us once more to where we began. Noted long ago in biblical scripture, "Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18)." Developing a clear understanding of where it is we want to go, what we want to do, our purpose for being, is something that humankind has had to come to terms with for much of recorded history.

"Man has lost his vision, .... Power is what he lives for now."

--Earnie Frost, Cherokee Indian

Working with groups of educators, and their support systems, over several decades has had the sobering effect on this writer of having to witness Earnie Frost's perspective become manifested in our efforts to develop a clear vision for our schools and other instructional organizations. Although Bloom urges us to work towards helping the individual work through the stages of human growth and development to become the "self-actualized" person, we often fail to prepare them beyond the bottom tier which emphasizes those constructs that we frequently frame as sustenance and security. Certainly, this is not a onerous we can lay upon the back of our formal instituions alone. Afterall, schools generally reflect the expectations of the society they serve. The most current example of a society forcing its designs upon its public schools is the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). NCLB was not the natural spawn of the United States public education system. Rather, it was an executive decision to place a foster child into a mostly non-receptive foster home. Even the most rash among us should find it difficult to be too out of sorts with our public education system for not wanting to become surrogate parents to a child of questionable parentage.

Our awareness, however, of the potentialities and possibilities that await the activated and supported human imagination, should drive us to demand more than the minimal necessary precepts of a revenue generating, and nationalist, citizenry. Solving the challenges of the current and future world makes it imperative that we stoke within each child the fires of imagination and creativity, which in turn fuels the mind's visionary urges; the creation of a better world rather than illiciting allegiance to the quid pro quo. We must, as author Tom Peters challenges us, go against traditional thought that rationalizes "if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it," and, instead, to "break it even if it appears to be working." The same thought might be expressed through the following quote by Kurt Hahn: "There is more to us than we know. If we can be made to see it, perhaps for the rest of our lives we will be unwilling to settle for less."

The challenge to develop visionary educational systems and processes is complicated by the very nature of the task. The "raw material" of school systems, public or otherwise, is as diverse and complicated as is the children being served. As Henri Matisse noted, "There is nothing more difficult for a truly creative painter than to paint a rose, because before he can do so he has first to forget all the roses that were ever painted." If creating the perfect image of a rose seems next to impossible, how much more challenging is creating the perfect image of a child of tomorrow without forgetting all of the images of children past and present. The difficulty of the task did not keep Matisse from continuing his efforts to capture the essence of the rose, nor should we expect to divine an easy pathway to accomplishing our intended task of envisioning a better world for our children.

As imperative as developing a vision for our schools might be, we will find little respite through its birthing. As demanding as nurturing the child within through its gestation and forebearing its climaxtic entrance into the world, the astute parent realizes that it is at this point when the real work of parenting begins. The newly formed vision, like the newborn child, will require much effort on our part to see it through to its maturation. Alfred A. Monapert puts this thought into words as follows: "To accomplish great things we must first dream, then visualize, then plan... believe... act!"

Like the new mother, an organization can experience its own version of post-partem depression as it realizes the visioning process is merely the beginning of a long-term commitment. Although bringing the vision to life may have required much effort and sacrifice on the part of the parents, the process ahead will demand even more of us; a commitment that will often demand a greater tax than we had anticipated having to pay during the euphoric days of inception and development. Lest we falter under the possible burden of responsibility that our vision holds for us, or risk the folly and futility of attempting to act without a vision, the fusion of vision and action holds the key to unlocking the door to the future.

"Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world."

--Joel Barker

A final thought to bring the current exchange to a close is to not to become so fixated with the future - what is to come - that we fail to envision the possibilities of what the current moment offers us. Especially in difficult times, one is tempted to forgo the potential rewards awaiting the stalwart in the present moment for the speculative dividends of a future date. As one applies the compass to mapping a route to future wealth, s/he may do well to pan for the gold that awaits those willing to expend the effort to releave it of its current burden. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "This time like all times is a very good one if we but know what to do with it."

 
Recently, the Children's Champion was asked how he might deal with resistance to change. His response was rather simple in its essence. Resistance to change is usually generated out of fear for the unknown, and an attempt to move one out of his or her comfort zone. Thomas H. Lee believes, "An effective vision helps people accept inevitable changes and put information and events into context." Helping people to visualize a payoff greater than the risk to be taken frequently puts them more at ease, and allows them to see the possibilities rather than the pitfalls. Children represent the possibilities that await a future time; a future world. Our vision of that world should be one filled with hope and promise. When we understand the importance of creating such a future for our children - the vision - fear is replaced with fever, a fever which has as its source our passionate belief that by planning for our children's future we will leave a legacy that will honor our generation as one which cared for both the present and the future without sacrificing either. We might heed Earnie Frost's admonition and find the power that we seek through thoughful visioning of the future. The secret of success may, in fact, await those who harmonize vision and power, rather than those who choose to put them at odds to each other.

"Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart.

Who looks outside, dreams.

Who looks inside, awakens."

--Carl Jung