Show Your Work, People!

October 2, 2010

These days, long vision is about as popular as long division. Unless your name is Descartes or Leona Penner, you probably haven’t hankered for either in a long, long time. That’s because, these days, we like easy solutions, snappy sound bites and quick resolution. Long vision and long division both prize patience and process, though. Both can be ugly to endure, but both also reward how we got there as much as they celebrate where it is we ultimately have arrived.

As much as I suffered through high-school math (I use the word “suffered” because it is both accurate and acute), I have to give credit to those math teachers who gave credit for showing our work. They knew that, when we take the time to show our work, to diligently track our move from one stage to the next, we also get the chance to track our growth or our mistakes. We get to move from long division to long vision. And that is a gift worth enduring Algebra for.

Worst are the politicians these days who will do just about anything for a positive headline and a nod in the voting booth. Collectively, they seem to lack both the thinking cap for math and the courage to plan for a future that is further away than, say, tomorrow. Or November 6th. Whichever happens first. In their pursuit for the short-term victory, they are dooming our futures. Who can be bothered with global warming, crippling debt or poverty when none of these possesses the shine and “ah factor” of tax cuts and mama-bear posturing?

I hunger for a politician who possesses the cojones to repeal tax cuts and asks us to start paying for a future that is worth living. And I will be the first to raise my hand in support of just such a policy, setting my sights and betting my hard-earned money on the long vision that sees a future that is bright for everyone, not just the politicians.