“Many people regard it as a hopeless task to search for a unifying bond in all the cultural factors that are in a state of dissolution, disunion, and uncertainty. It is impossible to achieve it without a concerted striving towards unity, even though what separates people is almost always inessentials both in emotional and mental respects. We must learn not to concentrate on what separates, but to direct our attention to whatever unites, and regard everything that separates as inessential.”–Claus of Meckenheim
Creative problem solving has become one of the most ‘in-demand’ skills in the 21st century. It is arguably the most marketable talent one could have in the global competition for employment. There is no shortage of classes, lectures, seminars, and workshops teaching ‘creative problem solving’ all over the world.
Almost all these programs will try to teach the participants how to solve problems they might encounter in the business world within different types of market structures and socio-political environments. Enriched with 17th century mathematical ideas the field of creative problem solving has branched out to all types of subject areas such as Operations Research (OR), Game Theory, Network Analysis, Neural Networks, Decision Theory, and Econometrics, quantitatively and Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), Strategic Options Development and Analysis (SODA), and Strategic Choice (SC), qualitatively, within the formal education systems.
Understand the problem
However, none of these theories have been able to bring in any solution to the problems we, as a country, are facing today. The most important part of a problem-solving process is to understand the problem and the environment within which it has been created clearly. Some even say that reaching such an understanding about the problem will take one almost three quarters of the way to the solution where different options to reach a feasible outcome can easily be seen.
When a country faces economic and political problems similar to what we are experiencing today, even understanding the problem and what created it clearly might not be an easy task.
It may be easy to say that the dollar shortage is one of the problems, not having enough money in the treasury is another, having to make huge payments to the lenders for the money we have borrowed is yet another. On top of these, we are getting the bad end of a world economic and food crisis due to Covid-19 and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
All of these together have brought the hyperinflation due to which the prices of essential goods are skyrocketing pretty much on an hourly basis. Making matters worse, people have lost faith in the Government since they do not see anyone taking the responsibility while each and every lawmaker is trying hard to hang on to their seat in the Parliament while passing the buck to someone else.
Different parties are trying to propose different solutions safeguarding their own political interests which clearly shows that there is no unity among the law makers themselves. People have begun to understand that, the mess we are in today is a result of these selfish segregations through party politics and corrupt practices of policy makers and officials and people’s silence over the years.
This can be the beginning of a transition from the representative democracy we have been practicing in the country since independence to either a more practical and efficient type of representation or a participatory democracy. That might even be seen as one small silver lining in this dark cloud covering the country at the moment.
No genuine concern
Even though the citizens have understood the importance of being united in this hour of need, the law makers still are playing the same game of partisanship with the intention of grabbing the power with no genuine concern about the suffering of the people.
Perhaps it is time for these policy -makers to think at least a little bit beyond their selfish cocoons and try to see that one doesn’t have to be Einstein to understand that one cannot solve a problem with the same mind that created it.
These problems have their roots in this segregationist thinking where they only thought about themselves, their families, the clan or the party and not the people in the country. The individualist will to power leads to division while the universalist will to unity shows the value and viability of one’s individualism.
The will to unity does not fight against other views but finds a common thread to tie that diversity into an even bigger and stronger unity. The individual has a natural right to exist, to be different from others, to celebrate his/her individuality without harming the greater good.
That is the ultimate freedom. Without freedom there is no individual character, only masters and slaves, or rulers and ruled. The will to unity is the strongest defender of that freedom and such a will must be based on free thinking and the freedom to express those thoughts.
Belonging together
True unity can neither be enforced nor be achieved through political deals at the expense of one’s freedom. Such a will to unity is an indestructible sense of belonging together and solidarity proved in action. That is the type of unity that can make any nation as strong and as great as it can be.
Now that the people in the country have come to their senses and realised that they cannot be disconnected from the process of deciding the future of their country any longer, the time has come for the law makers also to think out of their party politics boxes and change the mindset of perceiving their role as law makers and the enormous responsibility they shoulder being answerable to citizens of the country.
Most people believe that they are non-conformist enough to stand up to a group against a few things they do not agree with but conformist enough to blend in with the rest preserving the group identity. One other interesting observation through experiments on conformity was the impact of one non-conformist would have on the rest of the group in reducing the tendency to conform. Law makers should remember that one person with a strong backbone can make a big difference.
All this, of course, must be done in good faith with the intention of achieving the common objective of pulling the country out of the deep hole it is in. Putting on shows like Parliamentary debates and finally voting for the decision on party lines is a tried and tested formula for disaster.
Therefore, this is the time for the Members of Parliament, if they are genuinely interested in doing something good for the country, of course, to stand up on their own feet and create an environment where all the members in the decision-making body would feel accepted and empowered to burn their own conformity boxes and speak up and share their independent thoughts with the intention of achieving the common goal of helping the citizens of the country.
Such a will to unity within the supreme governing body of a country most certainly would bring about a gigantic power for outer unity, a power that can even overcome any dictatorial enforcement, if that country needed such a power.
The writer has served in the higher education sector as an academic over twenty years in the USA and fifteen years in Sri Lanka and he can be contacted at [email protected]