I have written about resignation on several occasions. I think we need to remember this is a condition in which we give up, but do so in a way that hides the fact that is what we are doing. Resignation is a big part of what we think of as the ‘human condition’ and, in my opinion, it can become more pervasive as we age. I frequently speculate on what will happen if enough of us become resigned about something at the same time. My view is that the resignation becomes the reality when this happens.

I am in Buenos Aires this week. Argentina is a beautiful country and as recently as 70 or 80 years ago looked a lot like Canada in terms of natural resources, population, education of the people, infrastructure and potential. Their recent history has been colorful to say the least, but in fact it has not produced a kind of society, economy or quality of life for the majority that is anywhere close to Canada’s. The country continues to struggle in a circumstantial drift.

Speak with almost anyone here—whether they are educated or not—and they generally agree that the country is a mess. People don’t trust or relate to their government, corruption is commonplace and considered normal, crime and civil disruption in the streets is a serious problem and there is little evidence of authority or intent to stop it, and the economy has been a rollercoaster driving out much of the capital needed to create a different future. When anyone suggests a solution to almost anything, the universal response is “That is very difficult”, which is a way of saying it isn’t possible. In other words, the real problem is that a critical mass of the population is resigned that deep and significant change isn’t possible.

Resignation is the death of possibility—it is where we go when hope and the will to create is lost.

The good news is that resignation is easy to cure when we realize that possibility is never a fact. Possibility isn’t even ‘real’ (by definition) in the sense that it can be proven. Possibilities are always created by human imagination. They are born in our dreaming of what isn’t and of what has never been. But we can ‘see’ a possibility, and when we do it becomes a different context for us, a different experience of living. If our actions are consistent with the possibilities we commit ourselves to, then eventually what began as possibility becomes a ‘new’ reality.

So why do so many of us become resigned?

I think it because we lack faith in ourselves and in our ability to invent solutions where none exist. I think we lack faith in each other and in our collective ability to create community and systems in which we can all benefit. I think we become resigned to being resigned. And when that happens, the best we can do is cope and do our best to survive. Today’s ‘reality’ may be bleak in many ways. But I see it as an opportunity for us to transform resignation into a vision for all humanity—a possible vision of a world that works for everyone. Let us choose to see this possibility together, and then begin the process of making that ‘real’.