[Ailist] Appreciation vs. Cynicism

[Rob Voyle]

Hi Folks

I think we are missing the point when we argue from an either or perspective.  I 
have lived in the US for 25 years.  In that time I have seen both the greatness of 
the US and the worst of the US.  I have worked in an AIDs clinic and a Mental 
health team where I was proud to pay taxes, because it supported an incredible 
group of ordinary people to do extraordinary things.  I have also hated paying 
taxes when it paid for a war and the killing of innocent victims of our greed.

We are always "both and", and with an incredible potential for more.  To argue 
about casues of problems and issues of blames is no blame good because it 
doesn't lead to solutions.  What we are interested in surely is creating a 
tomorrow that would be good for us, and good for the rest of the world.  
Anything less will be unjust and unsustainable.

To create that world we focus on those life giving realities in our past and dream 
of ways to do more of it to create that future.  It is not about denial, nor is it 
about blame.  It is about joining together to create the world we would choose to 
have all the children of the world live in.

To create a better world we don't need better people, we just need to help the 
people we have discover and be their best.

Rob
  
Robert J. Voyle, Psy.D.
Director, Clergy Leadership Institute
For Coaching and Training in Appreciative Inquiry
Author: Core Elements of the Appreciative Way 
http://www.clergyleadership.com/
503-647-2378 or 503-647-2382