The future lies in simple, positive, consistent actions

By Rumbi Chisenga

I’ve been pondering how we as humans are so often surprised by the future. Despite the availability of information and the ability to forecast and simulate scenarios, the future still arrives suddenly for us. As individuals, families, communities, nations and the human race, the future somehow still manages to give us rude awakenings, whether it’s an earthquake or tsunami, or realising that we’re up to our eyeballs in debt, or that Eskom doesn’t have enough capacity to generate electricity for all our needs.

What is it that sometimes makes us incapable of making the choices that result in the futures we desire? Maybe it’s because we are not aware of the consequences of our choices. Maybe we are aware, but we don’t care because we’ll only need to deal with the consequences of our choices ‘in the future’ or we won’t be around to face them. Maybe we think it’s not our responsibility -“It’s government’s job”. Maybe we feel helpless – “What can the small efforts of one person do to rescue us from inevitable situations?” Maybe we are paralysed by the knowledge that we cannot fix the world. Maybe we don’t have resounding support from our spouses, peers or communities. Maybe we don’t have enough money to make things happen. Maybe it’s easier to maintain the status quo.

So, we carry on doing the same things but hoping against hope for different results. But, what if the Alpha and Omega has given us a paintbrush in the form our choices? What if we could paint some of our own futures? What if our every day, mundane choices were strokes on that canvas of human history? What if we believed that those faint strokes were as powerful as being able to determine what the picture looks like? What if we thought of it as a joy to labour daily towards a future we desire for the generations to come? What if money wasn’t the currency by which we purchased the futures we desire? What if the exchange for a future we long for, was generous hearts that dream of the hope for those that are yet to come?

What if the future looked different because I chose to use a mosquito net instead of the convenient spray that is harmful to the ozone layer? What if I separated my rubbish into different recycling bins rather than throwing everything away together? What if I plant a tree every three years, switch off my geyser during the day and stop to close a dripping tap whenever I see one? What if I email the Broadcasting Commission when a TV program is in contradiction with their service charter, or cast my vote according to my values? What if I put away R10 savings every week, walk to the shops every day instead of driving, and eat an apple a day? What if I read my Bible for 15 minutes every day and pray for 15 minutes every day? Yes, each one of these may just be a drop in the ocean today, but all these actions taken together over a lifetime have great potential to change the course of the future.

It’s the small, consistent choices that we make every day that have a compounding effect in the future. Giving up smoking today won’t make me healthier today, but in 5 years time, it will have prolonged my life significantly. Let’s be faithful with the small, seemingly insignificant decisions we make today, remembering that their power to influence the future is great.