Perhaps you can identify with me. I have always thought of myself as a conservative, whether it be money, possessions, or our Earth. I named this blog the Aspiring Steward to capture the idea of conserving the gifts and property we have been given. I want them to last long into the future for everyone to enjoy. One of my strongest beliefs entails making decisions and taking actions to benefit the greatest number of people. Sometimes, those decisions are unpopular with the minority or are difficult to swallow in the near-term. Our collective future, at times, requires sacrifice.
For most of my life, my views ran in sync with many other conservative ideas. I felt comfortable with it. In our current environment, however, being conservative has been aligned to actions, thoughts, and connotations with which I no longer identify. Whether it be politics, religion, economics, or artistry, the message is getting lost. Fewer and fewer people are benefiting. In fact, many people are casting aside their own beliefs to stay part of the group. I am not interested in making decisions or sacrificing values to stay part of a group.
Conservative: A Definition
As I started thinking more about this, I decided to look up the definition of conservative. Here is the definition from the Oxford dictionary:
Conservative (adjective): holding to traditional attitudes and values and being cautious toward change or innovation, typically in relation to politics or religion.
I can tell you, reading this definition cemented my idea to re-position the way I think of myself and my beliefs. Conservative no longer fits. To determine why, let’s dive into the three main aspects of the definition. I want to examine the current world-view toward holding a conservative viewpoint. When we are done, I will suggest a more appropriate term fitting my views and the way I choose to think of myself in today’s world.
Holding on to Traditional Attitudes
Holding on to traditional attitudes is not necessarily bad. It becomes bad, however, when holding those attitudes is done without regard to their impact on others or how you are perceived for holding those values. I am not one to do things for the sake of perception, but perception matters. It is the foundation for first impressions and plays a determining factor in the value of your ideas and actions. Perception is how you are viewed by many people.
Traditional conservative viewpoints cast a dim view on tolerance, climate change, immigration, clean energy, gay marriage, gun control, and universal health care, to name just a few. Regardless of the situation, the conservative view point has strong opinions on these topics. Meanwhile, a strong military. lower taxes, prayer in schools, and state’s rights are embraced across the board.
Too Many Situations Requires > One Opinion
All of these issues are multi-faceted across a broad spectrum of people and situations. In addition, new information is continually being revealed that ends up being ignored. It’s just not possible, in my view, to say these situations are right or wrong across the board. Throwing all of these issues into a “yes” or “no” category is too simplified. It potentially shows others you are willing to just go with the crowd, without doing homework or diving in to fully understand the issues.
Why? A blanket right or wrong focuses on the principle and not the individuals involved, but the individuals are the most important element. This is why we haven’t solved immigration, prison overcrowding, or other vexing issues in our society. We cannot sustain the course of these problems. They continue to grow and we end up further apart surrounded by more rhetoric on both sides.
Breaking the gridlock and creating solutions where the majority benefits involves changing attitudes and being empathetic to different views and backgrounds. Not everyone grew up in the same environment and experienced life and its journeys the same way you have experienced them. If everyone is going to move forward, we have to remove fear mongering and listen to others and be open to their ideas. Their ideas will not hurt you. Not listening, however, breeds intolerance and rude behavior.
Resistant to Change
Way back in 1986, Ferris Bueller famously quoted, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it. ” That was 30 years ago and the pace has only picked up since then. We know from Cameron’s experiment that the mileage cannot be rolled back. Attempting to do so only creates collateral damage.
We push back on change because we fear how it will change our life. We speculate that it will change things negatively for us or ruin things in general. I admit that I have felt this way. For years, I believed some liberal ideas would truly ruin our society. I pushed back. Society wasn’t demolished. If anything, the staunchness of my opinions may have turned people off.
Change is going to happen. Pushing back against the change requires force just to stay put. The force to resist puts stress on the system, which increases as everything changes around you. We all know that a stressed out body is not the healthiest or most fun version to be around.
Adapting to change is the healthier and happier way to respond to change. Plus, embracing change invites people to think more positively about you and what you stand for. If you want people to listen to you, be open to different ideas and views. They will, likely, be so surprised that they may listen to your ideas. Their ideas are not going to kill you.
What makes you afraid to listen to other people’s ideas about politics, God, or sexuality?
Unoriginal or Regressive Mindset
Yes, unoriginal is the opposite of being innovative. Worse yet, the other antonym to innovative is regressive. Regression, to me, implies holding on to ideas that may no longer work. Holding on to traditional ideas and resisting changes prevents creativity and innovation.
What if Apple came out with the iPhone 1 in 2007 and decided that they had achieved everything with this model? Sounds ridiculous, right? We hold creativity and innovation in very high esteem in certain situations, but with many aspects of our life, we don’t want to entertain new ideas and new ways of doing things.
Listening and discussing new ideas opens the mind to more creative and innovative thoughts. Why? Because this process moves your thinking from the routines of the logical side of the brain and into the creative, left side of the brain. You force deeper thoughts and less knee-jerk responses.
A Closer Look
I love conserving to ensure we have a bounty in our future lives and pass on things to our children in better condition than they are today. At the same time, I don’t want to prioritize traditions over innovation or to resist change instead embracing ideas that may improve our situation.
Let’s take a look at an example. The environment and our planet are extremely important to me. I enjoy being in it and I want it to be in better shape in our future. I want to conserve it for my kids and yours too. Unfortunately, many conservatives label environmental conservationists as liberal and wacky. How crazy is that? Many conservatives scoff at the idea of human caused climate changes. The science isn’t perfect, which causes resistance to many possible beneficial actions.
Regardless of why it is happening, we know the climate is dramatically different in the last 2 generations. The ten hottest years on record since 1659 have all come since 1998. We clearly can take actions to attempt to improve the environment. We may not be able to fix it, but we can certainly leave it better for our collective future. Carbon constitutes a small part of the atmosphere, but it has tremendous impact on our climate. Let’s embrace change, challenge traditions, and innovate to make this happen.
Our environment is just one category and one opportunity. I actively expand my viewpoint with others through open-mindedness and listening to different thoughts and experiences. Whether it be religion, politics, sexuality, military, lifestyle, business, or the environment, we expand our thoughts by listening and discussing openly with others.
My New Identity
I am changing my mindset for my actions away from conservative and pointed to sustainer. To explain why, let’s take a look at the definition of sustain from the Oxford dictionary:
Sustain (verb): provide enough of what someone or something needs in order to live or exist or make something continue for some time without becoming less.
That last part of the definition is a critical element. Conservation carries the connotation of something eroding and fighting to protect it. Sustaining involves growth in order to avoid it from becoming less. All resources deteriorate. If you do not take efforts to grow it and maintain it, all things will eventually disappear. I wish to grow, not just protect, in order to create sustainable growth to help our planet thrive. I do not seek to avoid the problem or prevent change efforts.
For kicks, I went to the thesaurus for a list of synonyms for conserve and sustain. Which list better describes your desired mindset?
| Conserve | Sustain |
| Hoard | Cultivate |
| Maintain | Cherish |
| Preserve | Assist |
| Safeguard | Continue |
| Support | Bolster |
Words matter to how we think about things and the corresponding actions we take. For me, I focus on cultivating, cherishing, and bolstering rather than maintaining, hoarding, and preserving. I want our resources to grow not dwindle away at a slower rate.
Join Me in the Change
I am moving my focus away from merely maintaining things to a posture focused on listening to others, being open-minded and embracing innovation. It boils down to not being pigeon-holed into an opinion, but viewing all sides to determine the best, long-term situation.
No matter what group I am in, we are always looking for new ideas and new members. Then, they come and they end up shut down which leads to them leaving again. I think we can do better than that and create a more inclusive future. Regardless of how the view differs, let’s hear the take. Everybody should have a voice in making our world a better place to live. It sounds idealistic, but if we don’t try, we will continue to have groups of winners and losers.
This great big world is ours to improve and make better every day. Always improving and growing. Our collective future is literally in our hands. Would you prefer we conserve it or sustain and fight to improve it.
Please share your ideas and comments with me. Together, we can sustain growth and development of our greatest resources.