{"id":35888,"date":"2024-02-15T16:41:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T00:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=35888"},"modified":"2024-02-15T16:41:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T00:41:18","slug":"but-let-us-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/but-let-us-begin\/","title":{"rendered":"But Let Us Begin"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not often that my graduate work overlaps with my 7th<\/sup> grader\u2019s homework, but it did this week! While helping my oldest make sense of his English assignment I could see a pretty clear connection between this week\u2019s reading, Exploring Wicked Problems, <\/em>and my son\u2019s reading material. He had to find main ideas and supporting sentences throughout John F. Kennedy \"\"<\/a>Jr.\u2019s famous inaugural address in 1961 to the United States. You know, the one that encourages America, \u201cAsk not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.\u201d Below is the specific section that made me think, \u201cWow, this hits on this week\u2019s reading.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now the trumpet summons us again \u2014 not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are \u2014 but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation” \u2014 a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself<\/strong>. [i]<\/a><\/p>\n

Throughout John F. Kennedy\u2019s address, he calls for national unity and cooperation, then lays out a lofty vision to begin solving issues like tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.<\/p>\n

These last four things are \u201cwicked problems\u201d.<\/p>\n

Based on Joseph Bentley and Michael Toth\u2019s definitions these global issues could be defined as the big \u201cmesses\u201d of our world. There are layers and multiple variables to these global issues. Here lies the value of this week\u2019s book for me. When tackling problems, get specific, wade into the mess, and do the work to define and name a precise issue to focus energy for maximum effectiveness.[ii]<\/a><\/p>\n

Wicked Problems:<\/strong> \u201cWicked problems refuse to cooperate. They are messy, ill-defined, open to many competing interpretations, more complex than we understand, and lacking correct answers.\u201d [iii]<\/a><\/p>\n

This reminds me of the illustration Dr. Clifford Berger uses when talking about the process of our NPO\u2019s. There are squiggly and messy lines everywhere on the left side of the page. As the chaos travels from left to right it finds order and by the time it reaches the far-right of the page, there is a definitive line and point.<\/p>\n

I know I am in the same boat with the rest of the cohorts, past, present, and future, in feeling overwhelmed with the complexity of wicked problems. It has made me realize how delusional I have been sometimes by thinking things are simple. I\u2019ve thought, \u201cAll you have to do is (fill in the blank) and everything will be fixed\u201d, just to realize that this problem was messier, more layered, and intertwined with other things that were not even on my radar.<\/p>\n

To be honest, throughout my NPO process (and sometimes pastoral journey), I\u2019ve thought:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t fix this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m biting off more than I can chew.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or realized:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have tried this before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a new conversation or problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or asked:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWho am I to tackle this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWill this make a difference?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAm I wasting my time?\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure others can relate, but my NPO is near and dear to my heart which makes this process of discovery and design emotional. I also can\u2019t not<\/em> do it even though it cultivates feelings of insecurity, anxiety, excitement, inadequacy, hope, despair, etc. Bentley and Toth say, \u201cProblems are dynamic. They begin to emerge when we become emotionally involved with the persistence of this gap. Certain situations matter to us, and we want to see something done about them. <\/strong>That we are here and not there bothers us and becomes a challenge for us to take action.\u201d [iv]<\/a> The authors also go on to say that we might wonder if it\u2019s even worth all the effort of struggling through the complexity and mess of it all to find or define a problem.\u201d[v]<\/a> However\u2026<\/p>\n

Problems give us purpose.<\/p>\n

This book makes clear that wicked problems are complex, emotional, overwhelming, messy, and multifaceted but without them, we wouldn\u2019t have opportunities for meaning, creativity, learning, courage, growth, or fulfilment. Our reading also highlights that wicked problems are not solved immediately or sometimes completely within our lifetimes, but we can \u201cmake advances\u201d, and that matters. Are we the only <\/em>ones who notice certain problems? No, but our world needs each one of us to define<\/em> and name specific<\/em> problems that are contributing to \u201cthe mess\u201d and engage them in our own unique ways for overall advancement.<\/p>\n

To circle back to John F. Kennedy. He seemed to be very aware of this dynamic as he finished his speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll this will not be finished in the first 100 days. Nor will it be finished in the first 1,000 days, nor in the life of this Administration, nor even perhaps in our lifetime on this planet. But let us begin<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

What happens when we begin? Poverty<\/strong> was one of the big four Kennedy mentions in 1961, see below?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal extreme poverty<\/strong> has declined to 9.6% of the world population. 200 years ago, it was at 90%. In just the last 30 years, extreme poverty has declined by 75% \u2014 a stupendous achievement that is almost entirely unappreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n

-Steven Pinker [vi]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[i]<\/a> \u201cAsk Not What Your Country Can Do for You (Kennedy\u2019s Inuagural Address),\u201d ushistory.org, accessed February 15, 2024, https:\/\/www.ushistory.org\/documents\/ask-not.htm.<\/p>\n

[ii]<\/a> Bentley, Joseph|Toth, Michael, Phd. Exploring Wicked Problems: What They Are And Why They Are Important<\/em>. Archway Publishing, 2020, 55.<\/p>\n

[iii]<\/a> Bentley, Wicked Problems,<\/em> 53.<\/p>\n

[iv]<\/a> Ibid., 77.<\/p>\n

[v]<\/a> Ibid., 83.<\/p>\n

[vi]<\/a> \u201cCan We Really End Poverty?\u201d Homepage. Accessed February 15, 2024. https:\/\/concernusa.org\/news\/can-we-end-poverty\/.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not often that my graduate work overlaps with my 7th grader\u2019s homework, but it did this week! While helping my oldest make sense of his English assignment I could see a pretty clear connection between this week\u2019s reading, Exploring Wicked Problems, and my son\u2019s reading material. He had to find main ideas and supporting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[3052,3061],"class_list":["post-35888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-bentley-dlgp02","tag-wicked-problems","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35891,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35888\/revisions\/35891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}