I have a theory. I will call it the ‘pimple’ theory. Let’s start with my fervid belief that everything happens for a reason. That as the baseline ‘given’, I had to ask myself how it was possible that George Bush could have been our President for 8 years, starting with the different conglomeration of factors that had to be in place for him to get elected in 2000 to begin with.
Here’s what I came up with. At a systems level, taking a long view, what, exactly did Bush achieve? In 8 ‘short’ (albeit extremely painful for me, the country, and the planet) years, he managed to smoke out corporate greed, problems in the financial institutions, obsolescence in the car industry, greed and stupidity and lack of foresight in the real estate industry and the environment, problems with international relations/wars, abuse of our constitution, laws, and technology, etc. etc. We can all name our favorite 5 – 10 things to hate. Personally, I could start screaming and naming all of the abuses I’ve closely, and angrily, followed for 8 years, starting with his very first dictum on January 21, 2000, of capping all funding for global clinics offering birth control or abortion. I’ve been screaming ever since – so I offer my theory from a place of new consideration.
I now believe that as he brought out the worst of so much, we now have the capability of swooping down, cleaning up the mess, and starting from a spiritual, collaborative, respectful heart space; those of us making a difference in the world will now have a platform to be heard and offer our new models into the world where there was no space before.
It’s like he took the bad stuff and brought it up like a pimple, and now we can clear it up and start fresh, like young shoots emerging after a forest fire. Taking the long view, maybe, Bush did us a favor.
I believe we’re going to end up far better off, with the greed, manipulation, dishonor and dishonesty gone, and collaboration, servant-leadership, true innovation, creativity, and individual leadership finding voice.
Thank you, Mr. Bush.