the American way: We can solve anything

[Julie Hotard]

Hi, Dan

I don't think it's a Type I problem for sure.
I think it's going to take lots of experts and
non-experts both.  I like the idea of what I
would call Stage I solutions.
There would be methods by which people learn
to discharge their emotions and communicate
effectively and nonviolently in our personal
lives, helping us all to get calmer and to think
more clearly about what to do about all levels
of problems, including terrorism.

I was at a great communication workshop yesterday.
One of the folks there was retired military.  He
thought that terrorists should be tracked down and
brought to justice.  There were other folks who
were more interested in the "feeding people" types
of solutions.  Doing both things sounded good to me.
We all got along with each
other just fine, and were happy to learn about each other's
views.  My point is that more final solutions will come
more easily and be more clear, once we first heal
ourselves and our relationships with others.  And that
there is room for using more than one solution.

Also, some problems can be solved a little bit at a time,
by each of us working within ourselves, and within
our families and communities, and also by being politically
active with clear heads.

I think also of the fascinating popular book The Tipping Point which tells
how doing some rather small things sometimes causes big changes-- like
getting rid of graffitti and arresting
people who jammed up the turnstiles at the New York subway
system caused a tremendous decrease in crime.  Because
of the fact that large crimes happen more in environments
where no one is fixing the small problems-- Perhaps
interpersonal communication problems are in the category
of one of these small things too.

I also think of the book Incredibly American which discusses
the typical American way of sucess in business, which may
also hold for success in other areas.  Which is to fail miserably
and then to figure out what went wrong and then ride to success
on that knowledge.  We may be doing this now in areas like
airport security.  Other nations could use this method of success too.  Many
of the things that are "American" are just human, except  with more wealth
and resources than most folks have.

I think of some quotes I have read, I have forgotten who said  them  "The
rich are different from us."   "Yes, they are.  They
have more money."  The U.S. is such a mixture of all the cultures in the
world.  Anything that anyone loves or hates in some other culture is found
over here in the U. S. too, to some degree, for that reason.  We've financed
incredible solutions to some problems, and we've wasted incredible amounts
of money on some of our mistakes.  And while we've been focusing on
the areas that were more important to us, our governement
has used our tax money to do a lot of things around the world.
And we've got a lot of different opinions in this country about
those actions.  And also a lot of clueless folks who were doing the human
thing of focusing on what was in front of their face and seemed most
important.  For the middle class, this was usually our jobs-- We're a rather
workaholic culture.  We focused on our jobs, and our families, and failed to
notice other things that were not right in front of our face.  I, for one,
wish we hadn't done that quite so much.  Many people here had gotten so
insulated and isolated-- that we thought, until last Tuesday, that we were
magically safe from many of the kinds of pain that the rest of the world
experiences.  Time to wake up.

Julie


----- Original Message -----
From: "Heidi and Dan Chay" <chay at alaska.com>
To: <OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, September 16, 2001 12:59 PM
Subject: Re: the American way: We can solve anything


> Hi Julie,
>
> You wrote,
>
> >>
> You mention that the American way is that you can solve anything.  I guess
> it is.  As an American, I don't even know if that is really true.  I do
know
> that we Americans have had many experiences of solving problems that were
> previously thought to be unsolvable.  So I figure why not go for it and do
> our best to solve this one too.
> <<
>
> There is a Harvard professor (whose name I've misplaced) who distinguishes
> three types of problems:
>
> Type I problems are easily diagnosed and easily "solved," often by putting
> an "expert" to work.  A broken femur might fall into this category.
>
> Type II problems are easily diagnosed, but not easily "solved" by an
> "expert" because "solving" it requires distributed constructive creativity
> of both experts and non-experts.  The social problem of lung cancer in its
> connection with smoking tobacco, woud fall into this category.
>
> Type III problems are neither easily diagnosed to peoples' satisfaction,
nor
> "solvable" by "experts."  A Type III will not be "solved" until the
affected
> persons agree on "the problem" in its complexity, and then agree on
> potential "solutions" to work toward.  In this category probably would fit
> issues such as abortion/women's rights and jobs/environmental degradation.
>
> From my perspective, President Bush seems to consider this experience of
> terrorism from which he intends to save America, as a Type I problem.  Do
> you agree?  Would a "war on terrorism" be a Type I solution for a Type III
> problem?  I ask this with the quote in mind, "Our 'terrorists' are other
> peoples' 'freedom-fighters."
>
> Best wishes,
>
> Dan Chay
> "To learn is to create."  - At de Lange
>
> *
> *
> ==========================================================
> OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
> ------------------------------
> To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
> view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
> Visit:
>
> http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html

*
*
==========================================================
OSLIST at LISTSERV.BOISESTATE.EDU
------------------------------
To subscribe, unsubscribe, change your options,
view the archives of oslist at listserv.boisestate.edu,
Visit:

http://listserv.boisestate.edu/archives/oslist.html