Right Now Syndrome

Today's topic comes from an unlikely source: will.i.am.

I was listening to the radio yesterday and a piece came on from the BBC news, will.i.am discussing what he calls "Right Now Syndrome," specifically as it related to education. The conversation swirled around deficencies in education for Latino and black students, and will.i.am stressed the importance of using technology to hook students in, making it cool to be something other than a stereotype, making it okay to not get everything you want Right Now.

Our society does have Right Now Syndrome; we seem to shy away from hardwork and persistence, and yet those are the very things that we need to be successful. This is not the same thing as the "pull yourself up by the bootstraps" mentality that has been shot full of holes with regard to underlying struggles with race, class and economics; this is simply about making a decision to be something other than what people tell you you can be, and making it happen. Making it happen is not easy, but the decision to rise above whatever holds you back is.

So how about we make some resolutions here, right now (ironic): let's resolve to be more than a stereotype, more than what other people think we can be (whatever that means to you), and work really, really hard to prove it to ourselves. And then, when we have finished, however long it takes, let's reach our hand back and help the people who are trying to do the same thing. Let's not turn into someone who forgets what it was like to struggle against prejudice or mindset; let's not forget that every day people struggle with things that are ten times harder to overcome than what we have had to deal with. Someone always has it worse.

Resolve to change the Right Now Syndrome into The Joy is in the Journey Syndrome. The results will last longer!