In the 1800's, English political economist Thomas Malthus, often referred to as the father of quantitative economics, proved with his simple chart that there was not enough wealth to go around, and there never would be, so only one of us can have the available wealth, and "bang" it's me.

Every summer for years, Buckminster Fuller and hundreds of volunteers gathered to assess the world's assets and liabilities in a process called The World Game. Finally, in 1977, the historic moment arrived and they could prove there was enough wealth to sustain the whole world.

In 1979, the Rome Convention European business association agreed in their annual written report, the first time a business group ever acknowledged adequate wealth.

There is enough to go around, and has been for 30 years.

But we're still stuck in the win-lose mindset.

A new reality exists around us, but as a society, most of us can't yet see it.

This reminds me of a friend who moved in to our region many years ago and asked me to take him on a driving tour to look at neighborhoods and properties for sale. We drove past a large Victorian home that had been converted into 6 apartments. He asked what the asking price was. When I replied $28,000, he coughed and exclaimed, "That's not even a down payment in Los Angeles." My reply was simply, "Yes, you see the potential. The folks who grew up here see the past."

We will look back on this period as one of the strangest possible – that we had enough to share with everyone, yet let more than 100,000 children die of starvation a day; that we chose war and mass killing as the means to "stimulate" our economy.

We will awaken soon – and none too soon. And the choice to awaken and act responsibly now belongs to each of us.