After Today Comes Tomorrow

We are constantly presented with some “crisis,” some issue that the media, activists, and politicians claim requires immediate attention and action. They focus on some problem, whether real or imagined, and argue that we must do something. Today. But after today comes tomorrow.

Certainly, there are times in life when immediate action is necessary to overcome a situation. A house fire, a flash flood, an automobile accident–these require immediate action. When we are faced with such tragedies, we don’t think about tomorrow. We have to think about today. But these situations are rare, and they are usually very limited in their scope.

The advocates of immediate political action are focused on the short-term. They see a problem (or something that they dislike) and want it remedied. Today. But after today comes tomorrow.

The problem with focusing on the short-term is that the solution is short-term. There are many ways to solve a problem in the short term, but they aren’t always good in the long-term. What is good today may not be good tomorrow. And after today comes tomorrow.

For example, if I can’t pay my mortgage, I have many options. One of those “options” is robbing a store to get the money I need. This would certainly solve my short-term problem (assuming that I get enough money). But this would create an unfathomable number of long-term problems, such as paying the bail and attorney’s fees when I get caught. In this fictitious scenario, I could pay my mortgage today. But tomorrow I would have to pay the bail bondsman and attorney. In addition to robbing a store, I would be robbing my future for today.

Principles allow me to identify the long-term consequences of my actions. But if I abandon principles, if I forget that after today comes tomorrow, I will not worry about tomorrow. I will deal with it tomorrow.

When we don’t worry about principles, the problems that we “solved” today will exist in new, and often worse, forms tomorrow. After today comes tomorrow.