Apart from catharsis, the griping of the previous post raises a point worth considering. It’s important that individuals and groups are stepping forward across Rhode Island to spur the state in a better direction, and it’s great that we’re beginning (slowly) to find and work with each other. It’s also important for everybody from unknown bloggers to Edward Achorn of the Providence Journal to shine lights into the messy corners of the society in which we live. And it’s great that we’ve got at least one prominent figure, Mayor Laffey, stepping forward to prove that change is possible. Still, amid all these good trends, we have to make one task a priority.
We have to construct a positive vision of what Rhode Island will be like if others join us to effect change. Decreasing corruption is an appealing goal of itself, but we need a clear and easily accessible picture of what it will mean for the experience of the average citizen.
Even writing and thinking about culture and politics as often as I do, I’ve found that the vision of the future that inspires me comes in flashes of limited scenes. We’re early on in the process of change, of course, still assessing the damage and its proximate causes. Nonetheless, it behooves us to form a reasonably thorough concept — with time lines and milestones — of the future toward which we hope the painful steps ahead will lead.