Disclaimer: In this fictional piece resemblance to any character living or dead is purely accidental ! .
Who does not love broad brush strokes . They provide an overarching story. The world's problems can be easily solved if people listened to such people. They have solutions, the nearly final solutions.
Is that not the nature things? Whatever steps one takes, however compassionately, someone suffers, somethings suffer? Can we not agree on this principle? Yes, it means today you, and tomorrow it will be me! Should one not accept the elegance of the broad brush stroke?And yes, some sacrifice is needed!
Details are like dust that settles, relentlessly, everyday. One wonder why dust does not allow the grand plan of cleanliness and stay out once it has been removed. An emperor tried to carpet the world with leather to eliminate dust that was a nuisance! At least he tried a big solution.
If a problem is obvious for centuries should we accept that they cannot be solved? Or should we try to solve them? Small solutions are like complicated paintings of pointillists, little dots juxtaposed haphazardly. It is a wonder that a picture emerges at all. Is not the work of the Japanese calligrapher a better option for nations? Elegant, broad, sweeping across the canvas, like a shaft of sunlight across the horizon at dawn or dusk?
Should governments be involved in detail? Or broad policy. Is it not the people who must fill in the details? How can govt decide who cooks what dish? How can people do unreasonable things like walk hundreds of kilometres? Is that not absurd?
One may wonder, is it fair that policy excludes some? The broad brush stroke fits many data points. Ask any scientist, data will always have a scatter. Some will always be outside the line. Is it humanly possible to fit all? What can anyone do in a large nation such as ours!
One has noticed that while one likes the broad brush stroke, one is impatient with details. If anyone speaks of details, they are obstructing. If someone speaks of exceptions, it is so irritating. If another says let us test out this idea on a small community so we learn, one feels infuriated. How can people not support the well-meaning broad brush stroke? Don't they see that it is only the broad brush strokes that unite us? There will always be some discomfort, some problems to be experienced, some collateral damage.
Scientists know that data speaks. You have to generate data. Ask people and they will tell you. Get people to respond. But many don't respond so one has to work with data that one gets. One is surprised when people say they are scared to speak and provide data points. This is bothersome. One has no choice but to ignore them, and keep silent? When one is in a responsible position one needs to learn that -
Let them have their say! The broad brush stroke will surely win the day!
The country will soon be a powerhouse of prosperity, a nation the emperors of the past will be proud of. We all know now the dangers of the final solution! But the nearly final solution, can one avoid it?? All would be soon be co opted! Almost all - through silence, through disease, through hunger - and there will be peace! ... Pl excuse the discomfort.. there will be peace and power.
