Dreams vs. Memories

I cannot stop thinking about what I read in Chapter 15 of "The World is Flat" (Release 2.0, 1996). Author Thomas Friedman is discussing "The Curse of Oil" and near the end of the section, on p. 564, he says "When you have to make things with your hands and then trade with others in order to flourish, not just dig a well in your own backyard, it inevitably broadens imagination and increases tolerance and trust." After that grabbed me, I reread an earlier section of the chapter where, starting on p.553, Friedman discusses, "Does your society have more memories than dreams or more dreams than memories?" He says that if memories are emphasized over dreams in a company or culture, and of course in an individual, "the end is near."

The need for imagination and dreams is a deep part of the American culture, and has been since our inception. The need for imagination and dreams is what brought almost everybody here (those us who came here willingly.)

Today in the American culture, among people who have been Americans for several generations, you can see a similar divide. The people who have no imagination, no dreams, and who cannot or will not trade their services in the market place are usually the trouble makers, regardless of their location, race, and creed. I have seen people come from a poor ghetto, country, or trailer-park atmosphere, dare to dream, and went on to make something of themselves. It seems all that these rags-to-middle-class-or-better people needed was the audaciousness to dream (despite the laughter and maliciousness of family and peers), and an imagination to develop their competitive advantage.

In a global context, I see the dynamic that Friedman talks about as well. The U.S. has oil, but not enough that we can rely on it for our needs. We require imagination, innovation, and elbow-grease to feed our people. Dubai in the United Arab Emirates realized that they will soon no longer be able to rely on oil profits, so they imagined an indoor ski hill in the middle of the desert, and man-made islands in the form of palm trees.

I wonder about Russia. They are desperate to fix their economic problems, crumbling infrastructure, and demographic problems. They have oil, natural gas, coal, iron, diamonds, gold, and a plethora of other resources to sell. Luckily, those resources are not enough to run the worlds largest nation, because Russia has the cultural tendency to run rough-shod over its people and suppress imagination. However, non-renewable commodities are currently the primary fuel of their economic engine, and without those resources they would not be a blip on any economic radar.

When you read about Russia suppressing freedom and violating asset ownership it usually has to do with harvesting natural resources--but not always. There is also the problem of the Russian Mafia, which many people say is unavoidable at some point of doing business in Russia. The smaller municipalities have had a tendency to allow western companies to bring in imagination, technology, and capital, and then allow a local company to take over the operation. We all have seen the former KGB officer who somehow ingested a poisonous level of a radioactive substance, and the journalists who were critical of the Kremlin and somehow ran into freak, fatal accidents.

I see two Russia's. In both, the memory is long. However, in one Russia the memory is of the horrors of the Soviet Union and the Czars, which inspires a larger set of dreams for the future. In the other Russia, the memories are of "the good old days" of the Soviet Union when everybody pulled together, hard decisions were made for you, the problems were swept under the rug, and the politicians had absolute power. Here, imagination is dead. Which one rules Russia? Which one is in the hearts of the majority of Russians? Have all the Russians with dreams and the capacity for imagination left already? It would be a shame if the "Brain Drain" not only sucked out knowledge and experience, but drained away dreams, imaginations, hopes, and aspirations of a culture.

I am left wondering how we can inspire nations like Iraq and Afghanistan to dream, rather than remembering what Abdul did to Ali in 1322 A.D. I am left wondering how to replace or prop up dreams that have left the American poor, Russia, and elsewhere. And I wonder if the next generation of terrorists will come from imagination-challenged nations like France and Russia (or the American trailer-park and inner-cities), rather than Egypt and Saudi Arabia.