This week, however, I am struggling to appreciate my Tuesday. I am lost and afraid and utterly sad. I am wondering how the leadership of a country like America can continue to ignore reality. I wonder how Americans can continue to complain, but do nothing in response to this government shut down. I wonder what we should be doing differently.

Leadership is a big deal in business and politics. Many of us are woefully unhappy with the current leadership in Washington. On both sides. I have very good friends who are seriously against our current President and his healthcare act. I have friends who are incensed over the way Bloomberg is implementing gun controls in NY. And, I have friends who, like me, approve of Obama and gun control.

The reality is a bit different than the words in the paragraph above. None of us, to my knowledge, want everything our way...or no way. None of us dispute that the 'other side' has a point to make when it comes to the Affordable Care Act and gun control. And, to the credit of many folks I count as friends, they're willing to hear why I feel the ACA is good and gun control necessary. Plus, I've been listening to them tell their side and I'm learning things I didn't know, which is making me think harder about my stance. I'm not changing, but I could bend a bit more.

It seems to me, we need leadership that is better at listening and acting on the knowledge gained from listening, than leadership which is focused on its own agenda. Our leadership in Washington is lacking in so many qualities, listening being a big one, it scares one to think seriously about what's happening. My sense is that our leaders are so full of needing to win, needing to be seen as strong, needing to make their will known, they've forgotten (if they ever knew) that every day, every hour, every word uttered in the news, affects the people of America in such seriously negative ways... that no matter who 'wins'... we will have lost more than we gained.

I wonder if America is getting "too big for its britches" as my Mother used to say. America, the country others look to for honesty, integrity, and strong, people-driven leadership, is no longer. We are now a bickering, angry, sad, unhappy, foolish country, not interested (it seems to me) in achieving results, but only interested in saying, "I won't do it. It's not what I want. I don't think it's right. I... I... I..."

Whatever happened to "we" as in "We the people"? It's operating here, in my discussions. I don't see it operating in Washington.