Watkins: Eagles, ostriches or dodos?
Posted:06/04/2009 11:33 AM
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Friends have a way of flying in an out of one’s life. Sometimes they are physically present and at other times it is a smell, a song, a change in temperature, or a saying or thought that brings a friend to our consciousness. One such friend in my life is Koralo Chen. Koralo was born in Mianyang in Sichuan Providence in Central China. He has lived in the downriver community of Riverview for more than a decade and is now a U.S. citizen. Growing up in Mao’s China and seeing China open up to the world under Deng Xiaoping, and later emigrating to America, has given Koralo a birds-eye view of change in life. “Tom,” Koralo always reminds me, “It is a big world — and in a big world, there are many different types of birds.” This has gotten to be a standing joke between Koralo and me during our crisscrosses made together in China — from Shenyang in the far northeast, Shenzhen in the far southeast, Lhasa in the southwest, and Urumchi, the farthest place on earth from an ocean, in the northwest. During our travels we have met many different kind of “birds.” As exotic as the food, language, terrain, culture and the 55 distinct minority groups are to me in ever-changing China, this saying from Koralo invades my thoughts more back home in the mitten state of plenty, Michigan, than it does in a foreign land. If You Seek Strange Birds-- Look About You “Why?” you ask. Like different species of birds, it seems that in Michigan we seldom truly mingle together to solve problems that impact us all. Michigan is a big state and we have “many different type of birds!” You seldom see city birds with suburban birds, southeast Michigan birds with western Michigan birds, or “Yooper” birds, black birds, red birds, blue birds, blue jays, chickadees, robins, crows, finches, hawks, eagles, or owls flying together. Nope, it seems we all fly solo. Watching Michigan’s economy implode and seeing our state leaders scatter like a bunch of pigeons in Central Park, I wonder: are they capable of not ducking the problems long enough and actually flock together to make progress on the rest of the our behalf? How long can we be ostriches and ignore the problems our state is facing? Do we have to be like the penguins in the film the March of the Penguins — huddled together, frozen in place in the dark of the long Arctic winter, unable to move forward? Do we have to be like the owl, swooping down in the dark of night, devouring its enemies and regurgitating the pellet in a ball of fur and bones? Sure, it would be easier if our elected leaders were one species and not black, brown, yellow, white, suburban, urban, rural, rich, poor, business, labor, west side, east side, trolls, Yoopers, gays, straight, Republicans, independents and Democrats. Clearly, the birds of a feather flock together in Lansing. Our feathers may be different but we all we share the same DNA — we are all Michiganians. Will we be the geese flying in a mighty “V” wedge making progress together or the content geese making a mess on someone else’s lawn? Imagine if we were to form a wedge like geese, each different bird taking its turn leading and battling the headwinds as we collectively make progress. As Michigan continues to confront the global headwind of disruptive, transformational change, we have to hope we will find ways to spread our collective wings and soar to a better future It is a “big world.” Michigan, we can continue to be buzzards, picking each other apart; ostriches, with our heads in the sand; or, worse yet, dodo birds and extinct. Hey Michiganians, what kind of birds do we wish to be in this “Big World?” “V” for victory sounds right to me.
Tom Watkins is a business and education consultant in the US and China. He served the citizens of the state of Michigan as: state superintendent of schools! 2001-2005, state mental health director, 1986-1990 and as an elected member of the Wayne County Charter Commission, 1980-1982. He can be reached at: tdwatkins@aol.com |
