Using "BIG Ideas" To Bring Us Together As Americans

“We’re always at our best when we’re more than the sum of our parts.” –Tom Brokaw ISSA Conference

I attended the International Sanitary Supply Association conference in Chicago a few weeks ago, and former NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw gave the opening speech. It was before President Obama was reelected, at the near end of a very heated race. The last 18 months of political campaigning has highlighted our differences. He's black, they're white, this one is Latino, and that one goes to a different kind of church. Brokaw talked about this division in American politics, and how we should focus on the big ideas that unite us rather than the small ideas that divide us.

It is the "big ideas" that have successfully united Americans to beat overwhelming odds. The big ideas of freedom and the generations of Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice to defend them. The ideas of equality that were so hard fought and won. The idea that industrialization could foster a new population of middle class Americans and put us on the map as an economic powerhouse. The ideas of what is possible through education and innovation--we landed on the moon, a big idea that fueled American ingenuity and dreamers for years to come.

We are best as Americans when we unite around ideas that are bigger than any one person. I like this idea in part because it has a bit of Ubuntu about it. Like Ubuntu, the idea suggests that we are more alike than different, and although we may disagree about how we get there, most of us want the same things. We want security as a nation, and peace where possible. We want financial stability so that we have a place to come home to and financial opportunities so that we may dream bigger. We want jobs and the ability to take care of our families and ourselves. And we want equal and abundant opportunities for our children.

So now that the election is over, let’s focus on these big ideas, these areas where we are alike rather than different. Let’s support all of our elected officials in the government of these United States of America and get to the hard work of getting things back on track and inspiring the next generation to dream big. God Bless America!