The Best Time to Solve Something is Always the Present

Response to the prompt ‘When Can We Start Trying To Solve All The Important Issues That Matter’

B. A. Cumberlidge. put a writing prompt for the world. Timothy Key asked new Illumination Writers (yeah, I am one) to take it up.

The question raised by Cumberlidge is, when do we start trying to solve all important problems. No one issue needs to have our complete focus and we need to be trying to solve all the issues that matter to us. Fair point.

What are the issues?

If we build a laundry list of pressing matters, we will see that no one issue truly affects everyone. Each one matters to some subset of people. The reality is that even things like food, water, and air that are fundamental to life, are not seen and used the same way by everyone.

Take the case of the Coronavirus that has taken much of the world to its knees. Yet, many remain unaffected by it. Obvious examples are forest tribes that are isolated from the rest of the human world. But even within the rest of the world, there is no complete agreement on the virus or its impact. This is not even due to a lack of information. In today’s data-driven world, data is available at the fingertips to many literally. Yet, there are no clear cut agreements even on something as critical and global as this virus.

This is because data is subject to interpretation. It always was, is, and will be. That means the same data means different things to different people, based on a variety of factors. What is critical to one person is not important for another. We can never get around that so long as we can and are allowed to think.

Being that the case, the world’s focus will not be on one thing. More importantly, it should never be. The result is we are going to be tackling more than one thing at a time — always.

How do we tackle these multiple issues? They are not on a linear time list which we can tackle one after another. Many times they are complementary. More than that, each is important to a group, at each moment. Therefore they need to be tackled at the same time.

Wikipedia even has a page for List of global Issues. And this is only a starting point. So, there is no dearth of issues to work on.

When should they be tackled?

Next, the question was about when do we start tackling these issues. The answer is that it is always the present when we should be doing it.

The ‘haha’ answer is that we should have been doing it yesterday. Joke aside, it is true that we should have already been addressing it. But that attitude has an assumption that there is a finite timeline to solve a problem and by not doing it yesterday we have lost a critical day.

Reality is, the large overwhelming issues that we face don’t come with deadlines. History shows it is very likely that they are going to stay with us for a long time, if not forever. Our goal and approach should be to end it, but we have to face the reality that at best we will be reducing it — tending toward zero is the real target. So, instead of pondering over a lost day, what we need to do is to start working on it now.

The Tamil poet-saint Poygai Azhvar from ancient India laments in a work written over a thousand years ago:

I was afraid and cried that I have lost a lot of time. I have seen You and I begin praying now.

Without worrying about the religious sentiment, we can apply this logic to the issues we face. The point is that we can be aware of lost time, but we can’t let that get in the way of starting the work now.

Some philosophies say that we always live in the present.

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment” — Buddha

Some science fantasy thoughts say that each moment spins of its own timeline and universe.

Physicist Sean Carrol states “there are these quantum mechanical events where some tiny quantum system becomes entangled with the wider world around it and multiple copies of the universe are created”.

If true, our every action in the present is therefore capable of spinning off its own universe.

What we know at a simple level, in the end, is that only the present is available to us.

The past is gone and is meant for learning only.

The future is to come and not fully predictable. Maybe at a gross level and up to a point we can predict some generalizations, but the entire picture will always be a mystery.

Howard Marks writes “These days everyone has the same data regarding the present and the same ignorance regarding the future.”

Howard is talking about investment but we can apply it in general to everything.

In the end, all we have is the present.

If we see a task and feel that it is important, then the time to take action is always now. Whether it is food, water, electricity, disease, race, sex, life, whatever — the work to fix it starts at this very moment.

Who does the work?

The part that was not included in the original question is, who takes the action?

Many of us excel in the idea of letting someone else do the work. Passing the responsibility couched in flowery words is easy. We are good at party chats, fireside discussions, expressing opinions over TV/Internet debates, etc. If words alone can solve issues, we will be staring at brand new problems to solve every day.

This does not mean words have no effect. Words are critical, but words alone are not. Reality is that the only way anything gets done or any changes happen is when people enter the fray. Frequently, that is due to words — but they have to inspire and incite action.

When we talk about worldwide issues, the solution to them also lies with the whole world. So, the answer to the question who effects the changes to solve these problems is, it is each and every one of us. Even those who think they are not impacted by a problem, can and should make a difference.

It is obvious that the impact of each person on an issue is not the same. But the impact made by each one is important. Each of us can effect it by small changes within our family or friends or community. Or if possible, reach out to the world. Every little chink made in the armor has a role to play in its diminishment and destruction.

“One person can make a difference, and everyone should try.” — John F Kennedy

• What needs to be tackled is not one but multiple issues. At the same time.
• And that time is this very moment, and the next, and so on.
• Finally, when an issue has a global span or tries to solve a human condition, it needs to be worked on by everyone.