WE HAVE ENTERED AN ERA OF ADVERSITY

 

“We’re not led astray by the signs pointing us in the right direction, but by our reluctance to follow them.”  W.B

When people are discriminated against because of their race, creed or gender the dominant roots can be traced back to profits.  Someone always profits from discrimination and the larger the group that stand to gain from these practices, the more persistent it becomes; entrenched, justified, condoned and perpetrated without a single trace of guilt or remorse.  If you’ve never been on the receiving end of this horrendous abuse which often leave the victims feeling afraid, helpless, diminished and powerless, you can’t even begin to imagine what it must feel like.  Nations around the globe are fraying at the edges as we’re grappling with issues that defy simple solutions.  Telling is the kind of leadership that has emerged and how quickly common decency and rules have evaporated to be replaced by ignorance, fear, bigotry and hate.  Base human instincts and emotions are the easiest to tap into when the social fabric starts to disintegrate and people start looking for scapegoats. Pursuing fact and reason is the privileged domain of truly intelligent people and they are increasingly a rare and dying breed as the majority of the masses prefer to be swept up in the tides of whatever is current and fashionable.  When the emerging picture is bleak and somber it can swiftly turn a once promising society into the worst humanity can bring to the fore.  Because of the staggering number of people we have added these past one hundred years we have now entered an era of adversity.  The challenge to keep it all together has overwhelmed all possible solutions.  Adversity causes people to change and behaviors deteriorate rapidly.  It is extremely difficult to reach any kind of consensus under these circumstances.  Governance around the globe has splintered into so many groups and factions that little of consequence is ever accomplished.  Trade, finance and commerce have only widened the discrepancies between the haves and have-nots and large institutions keep people apart based on religious affiliations and perceived differences; color, race, culture, financial status.  When governments, markets and institutions are unwilling or incapable of making changes, there is little the masses can do or contribute.  We are well on our way to become a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.  An intelligence that is not tempered by wisdom, respect and tolerance becomes its own worst enemy.  Let’s compare the human body to a computer; the brain contains all that sophisticated and impressive software, but the body, the hard drive, that it is attached to, has not changed one iota.  Our physical needs will trump our intelligence in a heartbeat, especially when faced with adversity.  The turmoil you witness today is the harbinger of worse to come.  Not a fun message but this old man agrees with the voices of our youngsters today who are loudly calling for real action and to put a stop to the useless blathering that hails from so-called leaders who have no intention of doing anything.