Back to the IDEA

BACK TO “THE IDEA”

I look at Mexico from the outside....Is a “failed democracy” to much to say these days?
After years and years of hard-earned reform, would I be the only Mexican living abroad crazy enough to think of our sad state of affairs as such?

I think not. And I’d much rather think that Mexico is not alone in this era of stagnation and failed democracies -- or should I say “mediocrities”?

No, we’re not alone... In fact, to think of it, we haven’t been alone.
In fact, in past centuries, some of today’s emerging cultures and economies were facing the same horrible virus, which tore at the fabric of their society, like a murderous knife.

As Fareed Sakaria comments in his most recent book, The Post-American World,
“In China, rich merchants would abandon their business to master Confucian classics so that they could become favorites of the court…The Hindu worldview….‘a vision of endless cycles of creation and reabsorbtion into the divine [led] to the passivity and skepticism about the value of practical action.”

And in stark contrast to the above examples and today’s reality, “Arabia” was once a thriving hub of ideas and progress. Mr. Zakaria goes on to say, “The Arab world was once the center of science and trade. In recent decades, its chief exports have been oil and Islamic fundamentalism. Any cultural argument must be able to explain both periods of success and periods of failure.”

“Periods of failure”…

So what can we say of Mexico, today?

To answer that question, I believe we need not look past the surface at what’s coming from within. For, in this era of global trade and seamless connectivity, every country can be judged not only by what it produces, but also by the ideas it exports.

From that perspective -- beer, tequila and tacos aside -- there is little to make a Mexican proud, in this generation.

I must be exaggerating, right? Perhaps just a bit.
But think of it this way: for the last 50 years, while the USA– in spite of all it’s shortcomings and mistakes -- has exported the ideas of Democracy, Capitalism and Free enterprise, along with Microsoft, fast food, the NBA, Nike, Citibank and Boeing, far and wide…and while South Korea, Japan, India and China have been focusing on exporting video games, mobile phones, martial arts, digital pop-culture, flat-screen tvs, eco-cars, alternative energy, Bollywood, and chopsticks to both the developed & developing world, Mexico appears content on exporting people, alcohol, and drugs.

*Futbol is a no- no, as Mexican superiority in the CONCACAF is no longer a fact of life.

People, alcohol and drugs…
These, in turn, just happen to be the ingredients of Mexico’s supreme export, the concept of “Fiesta”: a wonderful and holistic concept – but only for those lucky millionaires with nothing to worry about, except their next vacation to the Maldives or the Sahara.

But this very idea of “Fiesta” is precisely a reflection of the “something” which has, for decades, failed to make Mexico a prosperous and progressive nation.

The Mexican Fiesta.
No one denies the blizz of a Mex party, but, in today’s Mexico, it’s this perpetual celebration of “something” which tears at the fabric of our society. It has weakened our mind & the spirit, and left us vulnerable to the onslaught of intellectual and social competition.

The Mexican Fiesta.
It helps us forget how much we’ve lost, how much we’ve missed, and how much we’ve fallen behind those countries which we used to be so comfortably ahead off only 30, 20, or even 10 years ago.

And now, as us 30-year-olds step out of young-adulthood and into the prime of our lives, we come to a cross-road. A fork in the road, with the same old “fiesta” in one end, and the discovery a “something else” on the other. A no-brainer for a disciplined and diligent Chinese, perhaps – but if you’re Mexican, you’d be lying if you said it’s an easy decision to make.

We’re at the cross-roads of our lives.

Our elders once chose, and I have a feeling they somehow chose erroneously. Or at least, somewhere along the road, they decided to turn back.

This time, it’s our turn.
Our turn to step up to the plate, to start the engine, to take the penalty-kick, and, perhaps, sail in another direction, away from the fiesta… into a more productive and prosperous destination which implies DOING, SACRIFICING, and THINKING -- out of the box.

And make no mistake about it, I’m not denying “lo bueno”:
Tacos, El Santo, Artesanias, Mezcal, Zarapes, Playita y Palmeras…that’s all well-intended. But rather than dwelling on the ordinary and the usual, wouldn’t we like to produce and export part of “the future”?

Before we press the button, we can begin by asking ourselves who we are…What we as global Mexicans want to nourish and produce… What are these new ideas and products we’d like to export to the world? Rather than alcohol, drugs, fiesta, and the “fake freedom” we project across our borders, wouldn’t we like, for instance, to export nano-technology, green energy, healthy snacks, or space-station components?

If so, how do we go from the feeble 3rd world Mexico of today to the honorable and respected 1stClass Mexico of tomorrow?

Let’s focus on that question.
Before we march into our destiny, let’s chase, capture and harbour that idea!!

I’d like to end today’s reflection with a powerful message from an ordinary man with an extraordinary vision about our world. A vision that, in many ways, spills over into our life in China, in England, in Dubai, in Tokyo, in Paris, in Mexico, or anywhere in the world where we’re struggling to make sense out of the “ugly-mess” Mexico has become. It’s a vision that could hold part of the solution for those of us who’ve been asking ourselves, for so long, how in the world to bring dignity back to Mexico.

Because in order to beat “la fiesta, in order to beat “Carlos Slim”, in order to beat “los Narcos”, in order to beat our own “mediocridad”, it’s gonna take more than a speech by Calderon, more than a hefty donation from an honorable foundation, more than a march down Avenida Reforma…it’s going to take ideas…strong, innovative and powerful ideas!

“It takes 20 years to change a culture... In the last 20 years we’ve made 'dumb' sexy…in the next 20 years we need to make 'smart' sexy again. We need to make dignity sexy, we need to make being a global citizen sexy…we need to flip the script. It takes 20 years to change a culture… we can create laws and rules…but there’s been greed since the beginning of time, what’s gonna change is US… What do we believe? What do we stand for?...In many ways this generation has failed…[but]what do the next 20 years look like? And what are we teaching? What do we stand for?...

It’s the power of the idea…Bill Gates didn’t wake up one day and say ‘I wanna be rich and powerful’…Steve Jobs…[Richard] Branson...Archbishop [Tutu]…Operah Winfrey said “I got an idea! I got an idea!!!”...we have to get back to the power of the idea. The idea is that WE ARE GREAT, and everybody can be GREAT because everybody can serve.”

John Bryant (Davos, 2009)