What if it wasn't someone else's problem?

"THIRTY-FIVE years ago in this once thriving textile town, Ela Bhatt fought for higher wages for women who ferried bolts of cloth on their heads. Next, she created India’s first women’s bank. "

I read this article in today's NY Times about a woman that figured out that there was opportunity in the circumstances.  In a culture where poverty was the exclamation point, she saw that "Her business success...." could still be part of the sentence.  

What if the whole point of the "Great Collapse" - thank you, Bill Moyers- is to make us find opportunity where there isn't any right now?  What if this is the test of our creativity, a primal discipline that mankind has used to survive since his arrival on the planet?  What if we didn't get it right the first time but it was okay because we paid attention and figured out what we needed to change and then did it?  What if we stopped hanging out in our impoverished conversations about how bad it is , is going to be, forever and ever, amen?

We could spend an afternoon with a notebook and think about something we could do better if we knew how.  We could find someone who might know how and ask for help.  We could share the know how with other people.  The other people might have another idea we could help them with and so it would go.

Heck, we could even start a bank instead of feeling victimized by them.  Now that would be a news story.  Might even make The Times.

Here's the article link to the Time article: 

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/07/world/asia/07bhatt.html