As the rain falling out of the clouds becomes the life origin for plants, so the stream of creativeness becomes the source of life for a man. Let us feel the pulse of a creative spirit within a man, which sustains his or her vitality, for it, is the only way for one to join the river of eternity. As this truth submerges a man in joy like the sunrays, he or she feels incredibly happy. The spirit of creativity like a stream flowing in a man and watering a dry land of his or her soul, refreshing it and awakening up new forces – a creation of action. It seems that time and eternity merge within a man. Let us aim at awakening within ourselves this state producing success and desire for harmony.I don't have a clue as to where I first read this quote or why I initially decided to keep it as a draft. Honestly, I don't know Rakauskas' story--maybe he's universally recognized as a cross-eyed kook or compulsive liar. "Spirit of Entrepreneurship" might act as scathingly sarcastic double-speak, a Swiftian take our lack of artistic vision in the realm of economics. Out of context or not, I still enjoy the quote. What strikes me most about the selection, however, is not the optimism in his words, nor that he adeptly connects to the humble origins of entrepreneurship (an oft-maligned 21st century term equated with corporatism), but instead that this sense of creative artistry in everyday work remains, for most, a thing of theory.
- Augustinas Rakauskas, "Spirit of Entrepreneurship"
At least, up to this point.
The current litany of seizures gripping our "global economy" continue to demand the undying attention of journalists, economists, and politicians, and with good reason. Our tax-payer funded bailouts, nearing the trillion dollar mark, resemble some other familiar, controversial, and publicly lauded government endeavors like the ongoing wars on habits and concepts (re: drugs and terror). The defining characteristic, in my opinion, that sets Bailouts apart from other thinly veiled swindles for tax payer money lands on its immediate and direct influence on the majority of America. Any informed citizen--or pundit, for that matter--knows that these bailouts (the Bush-backed TARP billions in 2008, the Auto Bailout, and now Obama's plan) will fail miserably. Just as jailing drug users doesn't curtail demand for drugs, injecting billions into a failed system lacks simple logic. If the tip of your pen breaks and won't stop leaking, you don't solve it by pouring in more ink. You either find a new pen or stop writing.
Layoffs, bankcruptcies, and foreclosures will not cease until a massive, system-wide restructuring of our country occurs. And it starts by recognizing the value of integrity over greed--the very ideals Rakauskas mentions above. The selling and buying of goods and services, what supposedly still anchors the definition of an economy, does not simply exist to uphold every business with gumption and an LLC. We created the systems, the legalities, the loopholes, the earmarks, the gross bureaucracy; we created the classicism, the vast divide in rich and poor, the Haves and the Have-Nots; we created banks, automobiles, and the notion of declared ownership; we created this crisis. The war is over, if we want it.
The businesses that will both survive during and arrive after the New Depression will be those rooted in "the spirit of creativity". Behind the cries of doom peeks an opportunity to mature and redirect our path as Earth's most volatile renters. This crisis serves not just as a mandate for change, but as a specific call for sustainability. Not half-assed teases at a Green Economy like hybrid cars--we still remember their defunct cousins, like the tape-deck/CD player stereos. We're savvier than that now; I will spend my post-taxed pittance shrewdly. It's time to look past the tired and tiered system of capitalizing on the highest profit margins and focus on the efforts that sustain communities and not corporations. Efforts aimed at, as Rakauskas so aptly states, a "success and desire for harmony".
