Neighbours forum, posted by Annis Parker. It explains exactly why we
should stop looking to government for solutions and take responsibility
ourselves for the future of Christchurch.
Christchurch: 1st City of the 21st Century. That's my objective here.
Because we're mostly stuck in our old heads, we're in danger of
creating the "last city of the 20th Century" which is exactly what we
don't need.
This article is about health care, but it's also about each community
"owning" the state of the community and actively choosing to create it
in a self-designing, and self-sufficient way. "We are the problem, we
are the solution, we are the resource."
John
PS. David Thompson is planning a meeting on TUESDAY, 14th August.
Venue to be decided, central city preferred. Suggestions? Offers?
"Assuming responsibility for what is:
People often flee from responsibility and blame others for the state of
things. They mistakenly believe the federal government or state
government should do something about the problem. By expecting others to
act, personal accountability is avoided.
Hospitals must "own" the disease in their communities if they hope to
improve community health status. They must believe the world around them
is created by their conscious or unconscious beliefs, attitudes and
actions. Everything that is "out there" is a reflection of what is "in
here" (in our heads). This is a primary tenet of postmodernism. Reality
is a social invention. We create our social world. The environment
simply reflects our consciousness.
Ultimately health care is habitat re-design. The future is about
self-designing, self-sufficient healthy communities. The motto must be,
"we are the problem, we are the solution, we are the resource."
Currently there are three competing models in healthcare: (1) the
government model, (2) the marketplace model, and the (3) community
model. Only the community model empowers communities to solve their own
problems. Currently the marketplace is getting the most play in the
media. As a result, corporate profits soar while local communities
languish. This is about to change. The healthier communities movement
will cause a redistribution of power and resources. Health systems of
the future will be value driven rather than driven by the forces of the
marketplace.
The edge runner is part of this redistribution of power. She awakens
communities to their responsibilities and suggests mechanisms for
carrying out these responsibilities. She is an advocate of the motto,
"keep it local." If a community is going to assume responsibility for
what is, it must be awakened to this fact. This requires raising
community consciousness and the development of a mechanism for
re-designing the community health system. Our new century in America
will be the century of deliberate design, the reinventing of our
country. Health care will be the gateway for that re-design effort. Now
is the time to assume responsibility for local conditions, and more
importantly to do something about them. Intuition is our most powerful
tool to invent a new and preferred reality!
Lee Kaiser"