As we turn the page on 2024 and look forward to 2025, it is incumbent on all of us to make this a process of reflection. My reflection always takes me back to 1993, 14 years into my practice of pediatrics and medical genetics. I was in the midst of my early career and totally dedicated to the practice of medicine for my patients and families. I was also engaged in an educational process to continually improve. I was surprised to hear a talk that shook my foundation as a citizen and professional in my community. Leland Kaiser, health care futurist, was giving a talk encouraging hospitals to be active participants in their communities on a proactive basis.1
“For anything that happens in our community,” Leland Kaiser said, “each of us as individuals and your hospital as an entity need to say, ‘I am the problem, I am the solution, I am the resource.’” Those were pretty simple words, but the message was powerful for me. I have to take personal ownership in the issues in my community (I am the problem), I have to work with my fellow citizens (I am the solution), and I need to be willing to devote my continuing energies to the community (I am the resource). Those 12 words became my mantra and catapulted me headfirst into community activities.
What was I doing to make a difference? Was I engaged? Was I a good citizen? I set out to articulate Five Steps to Community Improvement, writing a series of op-ed pieces over more than a decade starting in 1999 after the Columbine massacre.1 Learn to be the best parent you can be, get involved, stay involved, love for others and forgiveness were those Five Steps, each one needed to enhance positive change in our community. Those points are the beacons of light, illuminating the paths to follow. Equally important though is the concept that these Five Steps are all interrelated and interdependent.
These Five Steps are really just one path with five different but related components. Examples abound. One cannot seriously engage in community improvement by getting involved without practicing love for others and forgiveness. One cannot learn to be the best parent you can be without getting involved in community affairs. One cannot profess love for others without practicing forgiveness. While our focus on learning one or more of these components might change from time to time, we need to remember to engage in all Five Steps consistently.
While we try to stay engaged at all levels, it is also important that we engage in, what I call, the 3 Rs of adulthood. When I was a youngster, everyone talked about the 3 Rs of learning—reading, (w)riting, and (a)rithmetic. Those 3 Rs were considered to be the basic tenets of learning. As we get into adulthood, we have to continue our learning efforts. The 3 Rs of adulthood have to do with our ability to adapt to change.
- Review – one of the things we don’t do very well in today’s busy society is to take the time to review our lives. We need to review what has happened in our lives and what our responses have been. We need to review what we did right, what we did wrong, and how we can improve. We can’t always change the circumstances or situation in which we live, but we can change our behavior. The purpose of reviewing then is to take stock in our lives, not dwelling on the past but changing positively for the future. Without taking the time and energy to review our lives, we won’t be able to improve our lives and the life of our community.
- Renewal – if we are honest with ourselves and review our lives completely, we will admit that it is time to renew our energies for things that make a difference in our lives. We need to renew our energies for our spiritual well-being, for our personal well-being, for our family’s well-being, and our community’s well-being. Without this renewal of purpose and spirit, we cannot truly make a difference.
- Recommitment – after reviewing our lives and renewing our faith in ourselves and others, it is time to recommit our energies to that purpose. Commitment means involvement with a sincerity of purpose and humility in action. We’ve all been committed to various activities in the past. By reviewing life’s experiences and renewing our sense of purpose, we are now equipped to truly recommit to activities that can make a difference in our lives and the life of our community.
The 3 Rs of childhood (reading, (w)riting and (a)rithmetic) change to the 3 Rs of adulthood (review, renewal, and recommitment) as we age and mature. If we are serious about helping to improve the life of our community, each of us must go through the processes of reviewing our life’s experiences, renewing our spiritual energy, and recommitting to making a difference.
Another part of the 3 R’s process is the ability to change one’s personal filters for how we interpret things. Writing the series of articles since 1999 has forced me to consider reasonable suggestions for tangible ways to improve my community. At the same time, I noticed a change in the way I viewed and interpreted things. Movies, TV shows, sporting events, personal relationships, and social interactions all seemed to be “viewed” through a different filter than before. I found a new sensitivity to issues, a sensitivity that allowed me to see opportunities that could make a difference. Unless we can see opportunities through a “socially sensitive” filter, we will not be moved to action. When we appreciate issues in our community with our revised filter, we learn to accept personal responsibility. Only then are we moved into action. We can now recognize that issues in the community will not change until we take personal ownership and become part of the solution by committing our personal resources.
So, when we pause and reflect on our actions in our community, a “new and improved” filter (developed by our review through continuous introspection) will allow us to renew and recommit our energies toward community improvement. It’s not easy or second nature and requires significant work. Self-assessments will show that we need to change on a regular basis to really improve.
Much like we need to change the filters on our home heating and cooling systems on a regular basis for them to work efficiently, an honest self-assessment of our own actions should lead us to changing our own “filters” on a regular basis to improve how we interact with others and react to changes in the community. Sometimes our filters get “dusty” and need to be swapped out with a clean filter. Only then can we move forward in a positive manner.