Reading today’s Irish times, Michael O Regan’s piece about Mary Robinson’s speech at the annual commemoration of the death of Michael Collins really stood out for me.

“Mrs Robinson believes we need “a vision of ourselves” and “the lack of one lies at the heart of the crises we face. We need to listen to everyone who has something to contribute; yes the business sector and the financial experts, but also the social entrepreneurs and innovators, the teachers who educate our children, social workers and activists … and those who have been marginalised in the past. We should also listen to our creative artists”

It is well worth a read and got me thinking.

Mary Robinson is entirely right, crisis creates opportunity. This is applicable to us as individuals, as business owners and collectively as a society and a country.

It is our ability to take this opportunity that ultimately decides our effectiveness in dealing with a crisis.

It could easily be argued that a crisis actually creates even more opportunity, because it forces us to look at a problem in entirely new ways. We will hopefully endeavour to find new solutions to old problems.

So what if, we decided to look upon these same problems as a blessing rather than a curse?

What if we decided to focus on the opportunity rather than the problem?

What impact might that have on how we would go about solving these problems?

And would the solutions that we find be the same as the ones we are finding now?

Isn’t it a least worth some thought?

Tags: irish recession, Irish Times, Mary Robinson

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