A friend of mine recently asked me what I thought was wrong with the world at this time. I prefer to give thoughtful answers rather than quick opinions and generalities so I asked him if I could get back to him on this topic. After considered thought, here is my answer--There are too many distractions and people are not paying attention. An unfortunate soul is sent home from a hospital in Dallas after presenting symptoms of Ebola and mentioning he had recently traveled from Liberia. This act put others at risk and unfortunately may have cost him his life as he transitioned today. Was the intake staff at the hospital distracted and did this prevent them from paying attention and reacting in a thoughtful way? There are thousands of accidents daily due to distracted driving. I see daily mistakes being made by suppliers, customers and others because of distractions and not paying attention. Perhaps the most significant event that can be attributed to this is the United States failure to intervene in the malignant growth of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). We were distracted and not paying attention and this has resulted in the most significant threat to world peace in decades. How do we solve this epidemic of distraction? We need to put down our smart phones, turn off our tablets and televisions and learn to have real communication and re-learn the art of listening. We need to think through important tasks and then effectively plan and execute them without distraction. It is perfectly fine to say no to those who would interfere with this process by introducing casual conversation or requests that can wait until the essential tasks are performed. We need to stop, listen, think and pay attention because the consequences of not doing so could ultimately be earth shattering. End my Op-Ed Victor Fuhrman
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 23:51:22 +0000
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