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I decided to wait until I returned home from the
latest Mayors’ conference in Atlantic City before
writing this article. Now that I'm back, I have given
some serious thought to the direction of our state.
I
remembered important advice I had been given in my
life by some of the people I respected the most; that
in order to come up with correct answers to the
challenges we face, we have to ask the right
questions.
I also have a feeling that here in New Jersey, I am
hearing too many of the wrong questions, especially
concerning how to ‘fix’ our financial challenges.
Some of the wrong questions I’ve heard
include these:
Who can we take money from?
Whose taxes can we raise?
Who should have to sacrifice the most?
What programs should be eliminated?
How many more hospitals can we close?
Who can we punish next?
I’d like to suggest that those are the wrong
questions, and the wrong types of questions,
and I believe they will only permeate a negative
mindset that will create a feeling of doom and gloom
among our citizens and result in more anger and
anxiety flowing throughout our state.
Some of my friends in the state know that several
years ago I had a major crisis in life. I almost
didn't make it. There are those who consider it a
miracle that I'm alive and productive today. I did a
lot of soul-searching during that time and also
researched different philosophies of achieving
success. My journey took me to the writings of a
gentleman by the name of Wallace Wattles.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Wattles wrote a
book called “The Science of Getting Rich”.
The book also helped to
inspire the best selling self-help CD
The
Secret.
Wattles presented a most unique theory of economic
success. Although he believed ardently in free
enterprise and democracy, he thought competition was a
bad thing. When I share this with my friends, many of
them suggest that it is impossible to have free
enterprise without competition.
Wattles presented an approach that he said would
guarantee success to any business that followed it and
conducted its affairs in a non-competitive way
within the system of free enterprise. He also
offered a practical game plan for doing so.
It was based on what he called the ‘creative’ mind. We
must pass, he said, “from the competitive to the
creative mind…”
It seemed to work for him, for although most of his
early life he lived within modest economic means, in
his later years he became very wealthy.
Part of Wattles’ game plan was having a clear vision
of what we wanted for the future. That was essential
for achieving success in a non- competitive way.
So-what vision do we have for the state of New Jersey?
I’d like to share my vision, and then present two
questions that might help navigate us in that
direction.
I have a vision of a state where everyone earns a
decent living, where it is safe to go everywhere,
where everyone can pay their bills without overbearing
stress, where there are enough good jobs for everyone,
where we all have decent places to live and our whole
state economy is flourishing.
A dream? A fantasy? Some of you reading this might
think so.
But one thing I did learn from Wattles- and other
American economic writers who espouse similar views-
is that often our vision of reality has a great impact
on what actually comes to be. When we act according to
our vision, and when our vision is beneficial to us
all, we can accomplish great things. And a cohesive
group vision can be a powerful force.
So I’d ask all of my friends in the state to try and
see past our fears-and our bills-and our
differences-and implant in the universe a vision of
New Jersey
where we can all live happy and productive lives.
In that sense, here are two questions:
What new partnerships can we form to create
opportunities that we haven’t even thought of yet?
What new strategies for economic success can we create
in our state that have not yet been considered?
I could add to the list indefinitely, and perhaps
in the future I shall, as I’m sure all of you can. And
I hope we all will start asking new questions-
questions about how we become a state where all
of our dreams come true at the same time.
If we keep asking more negative questions, we
probably will keep getting more negative answers. If
we ask new questions, though, we just might get new
answers.
Because the questions we ask just really might
determine the answers we get. |
