The Shawshank Redemption

Jiro Nonake who co-authored The Knowledge-Creating Company calls this ‘a time of clashing forces.’ It is a time of extraordinary crosscurrents. Things are getting better, and things are getting worse. On the one hand people seem much more open to talking about large scale issues that have no simple solutions. But most of the problems eliciting these responses are getting much worse, and there seems to be more and more of a backlash to maintain the status quo. Traditional mind-sets and institutional priorities are under great threat, and they’re fighting to preserve themselves – which, if you think about it, is exactly what you expect in times of epochal change.

There is always the temptation to seek a simple story in fearful times like these – simple stories of good guys and bad guys. These stories may ease our anxiety in the short term, but oversimplifying is exactly what we do not need. Are we like the man in the movie The Shawshank Redemption who at 70 or so has been in prison most of his life finally gets released but with no way to live in the world outside of prison? This little story reminds us of the difficulties of adjusting to a reality that differs from the world that’s familiar and comfortable, even if that new reality is one where we’re free and aligns much more with what we truly value. Do we, as he did, feel that there is nothing left but to commit suicide?