13 - Let’s face the music and dance? (2012)

Summary

This piece was invited as an afterword for a thought-provoking book of collected essays under the title Learning for Sustainability in Times of Accelerating Change. I grapple here with the paradoxical situation of why – when faced with the probability of imminent catastrophe – humanity does not take avoiding action, why we seem locked-in to destructive patterns and how we might just escape the trap of our own making to embrace and make real a positive future – the Preferable Future – introduced in Chapter 1.

I use two metaphors to help describe our shared predicament, one of which employs an Irving Berlin song, the other one likens our shared journey to a car approaching a cliff edge. The latter seems even more apt now than when I wrote the piece, but on the other hand, there is now far more collective awareness and concern about the “abyss”, which might yet precipitate the kind of deep societal learning shifts now imperative. This necessitates complementary “anticipative education” to build a culture of critical commitment which can help secure the future.

This chapter is slightly edited from the original.

There may be trouble ahead …

Before they ask us to pay the bill,

And while we still have the chance,

Let's face the music and dance.

Irving Berlin, 1936

There are three people in a vehicle. In this story, they all seem to have a foot on the accelerator. Not too far in the distance, and clearly coming into view, there is a noticeboard. It reads: “Brake hard or change direction! – Abyss ahead!” As the vehicle continues speeding forward, the occupants react differently to the noticeboard. One has seen it coming for some time; in fact, she anticipated it. Her optician told her she had good foresight.

“For goodness’ sake”, she says, “we must slow down and change direction while we can”. A second, who has also been aware of the notice for some time, says “It's certainly an interesting notice. Let's deconstruct its meaning exactly, then we can develop our critical awareness and understanding, and decide what to do”. The third person, who was much later in recognizing the sign than the other two says, “I don't think there's any danger ahead, and if there is – which I doubt – we’ll deal with it then”.