Using the Big Picture

I live in Pennsylvania.  Unless you live in a hole somewhere or have no access to TV, radio, a newspaper or magazine, or the internet (in which case you would not be reading this), you have heard what is going on at Penn State.  Now I'm not a Penn State alumni, however, I was raised to be a Penn State Fan.  My father is a graduate of Penn State, my sister worked for Penn State, my brother-in-law received his degree in Medicine from Penn State, and I worked for both the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center as well as The Penn State University College of Medicine.  I was raised rooting for the Penn State Nittany Lions football team.  Some of my most "comforting" family memories are of watching a Penn State game on TV with the rest of the family,  curled up in my favorite chair in a comfy warm home on chilly autumn days.

Joe Paterno was someone I always respected.  I still do, although he failed horribly in regards to Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno did a lot of good for a lot of people during his life. However, there is absolutely no excuse for not following through with the knowledge he had, but blame, in my opinion, falls even more harshly on the president of the University and those who were directly under him.  No one can gauge how damaging their non-action has been to many young boys, now young men.  What Sandusky did to these boys is not something they will ever get over.  It will follow them all of their days.  Sandusky is where he needs to be but he should have been there years ago. 

However, I don't want to talk specifically about Joe Paterno, Spanier, Curley, Schultz or anyone else involved in this scandal in regards to their failure to take direct action in protecting young children who could not protect themselves - the most vulnerable of our society.  There are other lessons here besides the obvious;  we need to look at how our inability to consider the long-range consequences of our actions affect us and others.

As an Air Force Officer on the Airborne Warning and Control System, known as AWACS, I and others like me controlled military aircraft.  With our airborne radar, we were able to see about 250 miles around the aircraft, and that gave us the "big picture" of the air environment all around us.  A fighter jet also has a radar that can detect multiple targets but it can only see out in front of the jet, not all the way around it.  Once the pilot locks his radar onto a single target he cannot see any other targets.  In a way, a fighter that has radar locked on a target automatically becomes tunnel visioned.  Aircraft that are working with AWACS in a high threat environment depend on the AWACS to relay the "big picture" to them, especially when they are in a positions where they can no longer discern where all the bandits (bad guys) are.

For some reason humans do not seem to be able to see the big picture anymore.  When Native Americans considered actions of the tribe, they were taught to imagine the future and consider how the many generations that would follow would be affected by the decisions made that day.  They were not to simply consider themselves and those with whom they lived, but to also consider those who did not yet exist.  They understood that their actions would not impact them alone.  Basically, they considered the big picture.

When people, societies or nations act, it is imperative that we all consider the big picture.  When trying to acquire the big picture, all outcomes must be considered and examined.  The big picture, which includes endpoints of all possible permutations of the equation, requires a group effort that speculates, whether based on scientific data, logic, education or wisdom, about all possible outcomes.  It requires that everyone involved thinks outside the box and most of us are not very good at that.  The big picture takes time, insight, and creative thinking to develop, and there is no room for fear when discussing the worst case scenarios; considering unpleasant outcomes is a necessity.  In fact, the worst outcomes may be the most important ones to address.  The big picture is not just about how a a single person or nation will be affected, but about how the whole human race, or even all life on the planet could be affected, not just now, but in the future as well. 
If we look at the current Penn State scandal it is obvious that the power players only considered the short term consequences.  Protecting the University took precedence over everything else, including the safety of children, and they decided that the best way to protect the University was to "hide" what Sandusky was doing.  Perhaps they believed that handling the situation in-house was the best way to protect the institution, that talking to Sandusky would be enough to scare him into proper behavior, and if the public found out there would be repercussions that would cast a pall over the football team and the University.  They obviously didn't consider the big picture - the repercussions that would occur if, after years of hiding Sandusky's actions, the truth finally came out. 

In considering possible consequences, Spanier, Curley, Schultz and Paterno might have discovered that if the problem was addressed promptly with integrity to the proper authorities they would save children and Penn State could have been lauded for choosing to reveal that one of it's own was a predator.  In being short-sighted, four people's actions have forever damaged an unknown number of children, the legacy of a respected coach, and the integrity of a beloved University.  They had tunnel vision and were locked  into one solution for the problem.  Their inability to see the bigger picture has resulted in horrible consequences.

If we would take our own blinders off we would be stunned by how often lack of a big picture infiltrates almost every problem we hear about.  Here are just a few examples:

The Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster
The Space Shuttle Columbia is struck by a large piece of foam from the external tank on the leading edge of its left wing during lift off on January 16, 2003.  It is known that the thermal  tiles of the shuttle are brittle and easily damaged and if too many tiles or key tiles are damaged, the shuttle could be destroyed on re-entry.  The loss of foam from the external tank and damage to the shuttle's tiles has been a problem since the first launch.  However, up to this point in the program, every shuttle has survived re-entry despite foam striking the orbiter on lift-off.  After the foam hit is observed on Columbia, there is much discussion concerning possible damage to the leading edge of the left wing.  Engineers in NASA talk about using a telescope to view the shuttle or using the robotic arm to view the wing, but NASA officials believe everything will be alright despite not following through with visual confirmation, and decide to continue the flight as normal.  The crew is told of the strike but that NASA is not worried about damage.  The crew is unconcerned because of the information that is relayed to them.  As occurred prior with the Challenger disaster, the NASA hierarchy decides to continue the flight and re-entry as normal, despite warnings from its engineers.  At approximately 9 a.m. on February 1, 2003, just 16 minutes to landing, the shuttle broke apart during re-entry, killing all 7 astronauts.  It was a disaster that could have been prevented if the engineers, who seem to have had the "big picture," were taken seriously. 

The Fukushima Daiichi Reactor
Nuclear plants are built in the highly earthquake prone nation of Japan because of its lack of natural resources.  Historically, because of its location along the Ring of Fire, Japan has been subject to large earthquakes as well as massive tsunamis.  Records exist from as recent as the late 1800's portraying waves over 100 ft high.  The Tokyo Electric Power Company builds nuclear reactors along Japan's coastline to utilize sea water for cooling its reactors.  For protection against the sea, TEPCO erects a 19 foot sea wall around their Fukushima Daiichi reactor.  On March 11, 2011, a 9.0 earthquake occurs off the coast of Japan that produces a tsunami that is at least 46 feet high.  A lack of the big picture from within the government of Japan allows TEPCO, who is more concerned about the bottom dollar over the safety of Japan's citizens, to build a seawall that would not protect the plant, resulting in the contamination of land around the plant, forcing people off the land, perhaps for generations.  Common sense informs that a 19-foot sea wall could not possibly protect the plant, or the people, from a large tsunami. 

Operation Iraqi Freedom

Ex-President George W. Bush decides to invade Iraq, a nation that was not involved in the terrorist attacks on the United States, although this argument is used as one foundational reason for the invasion.  The Middle Eastern culture is a culture that is unlike that of the United States.  Scholars of the Middle East, as well as advisers and consultants tell Bush that his desire to establish a democracy in Iraqi will be far more difficult than he believes, if it is even achievable.  America's allies warn against the action and the UN observers tell Bush to allow their team to continue to look for weapons of mass destruction because none had yet been found.  Bush develops no exit strategy because he believes the Iraqi people will embrace the Americans as liberators instead of occupiers.  Despite all voices to the contrary, Bush chooses a course of action that displays his inability to see and comprehend the big picture, resulting in the death of over 4,400 American servicemen and servicewomen, the death of an estimated 100,000 to 700,000 civilian deaths, brings Iraq to the brink of civil war, and plunges the United States into a record deficit environment.     

Species Invasion
If you watch Animal, Planet, no doubt you have seen programs that address the python and boa constrictor invasion in the Florida Everglades.  Although the exact method of introduction is unknown, it is most likely that these snakes were introduced to the wild by pet owners who could not destroy their pets when they became too large, or from the destruction of a reptile research facility due to a hurricane.  Either way, the non-indigenous snakes are taking over Southern Florida, killing native species and posing a threat to humans and their pets.  This type of invasion is only one instance of many, including non-native fish, reptiles, mammals, plants and insects.  Although people or institutions who utilize these species, either as pets or for research, may believe that all safeguards have been taken to prevent their escape, it does appear to happen over and over again.  Obtaining "the big picture" and seriously considering and acting upon the various possible outcomes of species could decrease the release of these animals and plants considerably, perhaps by not allowing them in the country in the first place.

If you open a paper or listen to the news today, it is obvious that not assessing the big picture continues to be an issue.  We can see how trade agreements destroy third world infrastructures, how low cost mortgages result in default, how printing more money undermines world confidence in our monetary system, how drilling in shale contaminates land and groundwater, how transferring jobs overseas negatively impacts our economy, and how our continued creation of greenhouse gases is changing the world's environment.  It boggles the mind how many instances there are of people, institutions or nations making decisions and taking action without an understanding of possible outcomes.

Our inability to find and consider a larger picture has and will continue to damage this world and its people until we figure out how to act in a way that considers all outcomes and all people.  Before we act we must think and consider.  We must also learn not to put the outcome we desire first, disregarding those outcomes we wish to ignore because they are damaging or difficult.  Using the big picture must come before our own selfish concerns.  If we, our representatives, senators, and congressmen at all levels of government, institutions, and nations cannot get over their tiny worldview that only includes themselves, we are dooming future generations to a world that will be difficult to put back together again.  Hopefully, it isn't already too late.