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State Has The Rescources, But We Must Put Them To Work

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By DEREK MAUL

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 11, 2009

You've got to love Charlie Crist. With so much negative energy pressing on this economy, the governor's "I believe in Florida" message stands as an inspiration and a lesson in functional economics.

Belief is a critical steering component for any successful response to crisis. It is too easy to allow cynicism to take a dominant foothold, especially when so many institutions have broken trust.

But widespread pessimism and distrust are not the answer. America was built on belief, and this nation has prospered on the promise that we absolutely can improve our situation - provided we work hard and maintain our integrity.

At the same time, there is a note of caution I want to sound that has to do with the substance of our belief. We must be careful not to confuse belief with wishful thinking. Wishful thinking is a slippery slope when it is neither grounded in reality nor attached to bona fide hope.
Wishful thinking looks for a fast return to the fairy-tale economy that failed, to free-spending rooted in greed, and to unrestrained credit based on make-belief (notice the circular thinking involved).

Belief, on the other hand, calls to proven values and fully expects a challenging road on the way to recovery. Belief begins with the end in mind without avoiding the work it takes to get there. Interestingly, wishful thinkers in effect fail to believe unless they see immediate evidence. That's why wishful thinkers can seldom stand the reality of "work hard and wait."

Belief reverses the equation. Rather than relying on the premise that "seeing is believing," believers understand the truth in "believing is seeing."

The power of believing is how it effectively engages hope and leverages personal responsibility, therefore allowing believers to move beyond the spiritual circuit breakers of "I want mine and I want it now."

I believe (word chosen carefully) it is vital that Floridians understand what is at play when a genuinely positive leader like Charlie Crist makes statements such as this, in his state of the state address March 3: "The state of our state may be challenged today, but, my friends, the determination of our people is stronger than ever."

Such declarations should not be dismissed as Pollyanna but understood as belief-based encouragement. And we need encouragement today much more than we need one more list of reasons Florida is destined to fall into an ever-growing sinkhole of economic decline.

The truth is our state still has the resources it had 12 months ago. Our challenge is to put those resources to work, look to the future and stop looking over our shoulder.

Derek Maul can be reached at derekmaul@gmail.com.

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