One of the many topics tossed about today deals with systemic problems. These systemic problems being so big that there is no one person or entity to blame. Some use it as an excuse to do nothing, others use it as an excuse to try to tear down the whole system, and others understand that it will involve a lot of effort in many places to grow beyond the problems.

At one point, the Catholic Church (the only Christian church at the time) had huge systemic problems. A man named Martin Luther decided he would attempt to fix the problem and drafted a to do list, so to speak. In the end, a whole new church (the Lutheran Church) began what is now known as the Protestant Revolution. Eventually, the Catholic Church fixed most of the issues, but not before the whole was transformed forever. Martin Luther did not want to create a whole new system of nurturing and expanding the faith, but he had a vision of what church should be like, and he followed it.

In one sense, Martin Luther was a failure. He wanted to fix his church and he was told “Not today.” The powers that were within the Catholic Church had been lured away from right practice over many years, many leaders, many temptations, and many misunderstandings. And make no mistake, the Catholic Church is not the only entity in history with systemic problems, only a convenient one for today’s topic. The big entity with systemic problems today is the government in America. And it is not just the federal government, but most likely every state, most counties and cities, and probably even most towns and smaller communities. I believe most media outlets have systemic problems as well that go hand in hand with the ones in the government. In a daily strip, Calvin askes Hobbes if he watched the news? No, a television show? No, a movie? Hobbes (reading a book) replies negatively to all of these items and Calvin asks with disbelief, “Then what did you watch today?” We have been programmed to watch and not learn for ourselves.

One of the ways I believe our government has been led astray is the reverse of the slippery slope. In another strip, Calvin asks his mom for permission to set a fire. She says no, so he asks for the more reasonable permission to ride his tricycle off the roof.  Rejected, he simply asks for a cookie which he does not get either. His response? “She’s on to me.” I equate this to how evil gets to us. Its easy to say no to the big things, but its easier to cave for the little stuff. We do not want everyone sitting at home not producing goods or services and still getting paid, but we must provide food for little kids, right? Mayor Turner and Alex Bregman are now begging for an extra 15% to make sure kids have access to food. Surely, we cannot say no to that.

I believe the solution to systemic problems are very similar to issues in our own everyday lives. We see what is wrong, we find something to address the problem, and we do that thing. My knee hurts, I should go to the orthopedic doctor and get it fixed, and once I do, the problem should be over (eventually). My government does not adequately educate everyone. Systemic. Much bigger than me. But if I can identify one step in the solution, I should apply it, or I should help those that do. The thing about big systemic problems is that it is a lot of little things and we must apply tiny fixes repeatedly to overcome.

In my little mind, the concept of selling your vision, over and over is a counterbalance with the concept of telling the accuser (Satan) “Not Today.” Whether our goal is to witness to a neighbor, to avoid eating that choclate covered pecan, or to help overcome a systemic issue inside our government, success comes from deciding what we want, deciding we are going to work at it, and not taking no for an answer no matter how many times we have to ask. So create your vision, sell your vision, and do it over and over.