I remember when Vision for what the future would look like was playfully helped along
to the tune of movies like Back To The Future and The Adventures of Bill and Ted.
The furthest time-forward travel the writers dreamt up for McFly and Doc's travels in the DeLorean was 2015, the year the two traveled to when Back to the Future II was released in 1989 (just 30 years ago). Those movies are among the classics because what the future looks like will always be a grand invitation ... if we allow it to be.
We as the human race have now made it well past the futuristic year that was highlighted, before its time, in the dreamatic scenes of Back to the Future II ... As we live ahead of that fictional picture of the future to shape the one that will actually make it to the books, one momentous idea from one of my favorite authors lays it out best for defining Vision -
"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are." - C.S. Lewis, Writer
I love this quote. It's so packed with food for thought, being in itself invitation.
One invite I "see" in Lewis' idea ... is to take a look at where you have been for gaging where you are going.
It's something a good historian or a wise elder may say to you, and it's excellent advice.
The year 2020, for many, seemed to have especially called for such a gesture, well before Jan 1st arrived this year. The number arrangement itself calls for a grand look into what's ahead, used in the medical field and widely known for being the description of perfect vision. Having 20/20 vision denotes having sharpness of vision from a specific distance . Essentially, your clarity rating is established based on your identified distance to what is being viewed.
Without a doubt, the idea of the year 2020 effortlessly ushered in the sentiment for taking a good, anticipatory look at what awaited in the distance. Leaning on the medical definition of vision, I consider that one may be able to yet still look out into the future, to even see what they dared to see out in the distance on Jan 1st. Yet, what is then evidently left to consider also is how can one accurately establish their clarity without first identifying their distance to the target?
The year has definitely called for us to adjust our ideas of distance ... literally and figuratively.
With the sentiments of C.S. Lewis close to mind, I identify great opportunity to shape our ideals about the future in ways that the mainstream may have at times tried to succeed in beating us to,
as it produced coverage on the crisis that we met us this year, unfolding in its various stages.
Mainstream narrators stuck to what they know best ... for business. President Donald Trump on many occasions called the crisis as one against an 'invisible enemy'.
In a war with physical borders and weapons, I question if it would be as popularly unquestioned for mainstream to cover the death toll of the friendly side on a daily basis along with the range of other hope-challenging facts, most of which could be labeled with the blanket title, 'virus gets close up with 3D, red carpet treatment.'
While part of dealing with the crisis this year arguably involved
proportionate efforts of weighing the relevant facts with the picture being
delivered at large, what shined forth in this effort was the humanity right in
my 'backyard' ... things that matter to the thriving of life and well being
around me, in retrospect to most of my attempts at dishing up a sane report in
the channels that task themselves with telling the story that matters. I was able to fine tune things like smiles and patience displayed in complete strangers I found myself more closely observing at the grocery store or park, in the immediate spaces around me.
There has been a class of media to rise up since the crisis began
that has at least attempted to take decent responsibility for their influence on
the culture, with titles like, 'Here's How to Manage Your Anxiety After
Quarantine', and 'Fun Things To Do This Summer While Social Distancing'. Yet,
if we want to get back to the 2020 picture of vision, these are not topics that
elicit distance clarity - unless you've decided to shape your distant future
around the existence of the crisis we've been navigating this year.
Even more relevant to the point, these titles do not denote the things that safe gaurd the true win that I stronghold as the narrative for my distant vision, the stories of humanity all around me this year, 2020... ones I will share on this blog.
It is my prayer that as you read you will get juice for your 2020 vision, clear vision on what's ahead, and that this style of narrative will find a bright stronghold amongst the ways we decide to accept the story of humanity being told - and valued - around us ... for a beautiful stepping out into the future.
Love,
Isie
Reference
Back to the Future Part II
https://www.backtothefuture.com/movies/backtothefuture2
