As any concept birthed in our minds and God willingly into the world, it will start taking its unique shape, identity, and life. My Facebook memories just reminded me of a BluPrint article I wrote about a milestone workshop we conducted 5 years ago. Little did I know that the words declared during the interview and the feature — transformational and inclusive approach to innovation — will have life, and life to the full. This past event and the work that made it possible forms part of HIFIs roots. I look back with much awe and gratitude.
Hindsight is a beautiful thing. With it, we are able to validate how the pieces of the puzzle connect with each other to form a big picture. Events, shifts, opportunities, and setbacks all of a sudden make sense.
But foresight is a powerful thing! It allows us to make intelligent connections out of seemingly disparate elements and fearlessly declare a forecast, a direction, even a vision! The catch is you share it with the risk of being misunderstood and most of the time brushed off as a crazy dreamer.
To a large extent this trip down memory lane makes me think about the kind of culture we propagate in our own spheres.
I do wish the Filipino culture will be more nurturing of curiosity and forward-thinking. We are a highly reactive bunch, and they say this is because of the comforts our geographical location afforded us. In as much as it has been true, our environments and circumstances have drastically changed in the past decades. We are confronted with economic, social, and environmental problems so unique and huge that the old world ‘affordances and reactions’ will not work anymore. If we are to thrive in this world and actually influence the shape of our common and individual future, we need to raise a generation of ever curious forward thinkers.
Being a teacher is such an important and blessed thing. We get to take the lead in facilitating the uncovering and discovery of this important attribute our students potentially have. Change-making is bred, and it rests on forward-thinking. This is at the heart of education. The coverage of concepts and lessons are mere tools to help induce grounding of context so we can extrapolate and design a course of future action. I do hope we do not miss out on this opportunity.
#braindump and musings that a holiday break can afford me.
