Enjoy the Calm Between the Storms: Signs of Things to Come!

As the roller coaster of life is gaining in speed, one thing is getting clear; like in a casino, the odds are increasingly stacked against the man in the street. Let us not blame others as each has the controls in hand, to take a slower ride, but most do not want to. We want to hunt with the hounds and run with the hares, as we get sucked into the game of rushing to nowhere. We lose our moorings and drift in the open waters, wait for the rescue but for how long? Our luck in totality, meaning for mankind, is running out through our greed and recklessness.

Are there not signs in the horizon that matters are getting out of hand? Yes, but the critics will say, they were always so and we have to face the challenges through our ingenuity and resilience. We are forewarned everyday, to keep the seat belts on even when the sign is off; but what about issues which are beyond our control like when, those who are supposed to oversee our safety are at each other's throats? They cannot be blamed, in a way, as they grapple with an increasingly uncertain world, with more players trying to assert themselves, wanting a bigger slice of a shrinking pie. The issues at stake are:

Reality bytes: We can expect more learning, unlearning and relearning as we go up the ladder in technological advancement. It cuts both ways; for the good and the bad. There are some who lose their way, unable to adapt to the changes. Traditional lifestyles are turned topsy-turvy as it gets less hierarchical; each wants to assert his rights. We accept these changes, live by them or lose your mental balance. Few go ballistic like we see in the news everyday!

Fallouts from Globalization and Free trade: The cat is out of the bag or we have opened a can of worms; depends on how we view this development. What started off as a trickle has become a deluge, upsetting existing norms to our consternation. Expect more of the changes as technology takes over our lives. Many look and act like robots; they will become the norm! We haven't seen anything as yet! We will be on a daily catch-up mode!

Expect the unexpected: "Global warming" is proving a cruel joke for some! What man proposes, God disposes! Our leaders are proving toothless as many issues remain intractable. Liberal democracies are under stress to stay relevant, under relentless pressure from those who do not subscribe to such niceties! The alternatives are worse and a throw back to dark ages. But how long can the patience of the common man last? Will the glue that kept us mostly united come unstuck?

Making sense of the realities: Take a ring side view. Change what we can and accept those we cannot (meaning, take them in the chin!). As fellow contributor, Mike Oberg, so eloquently described in his article "The Age of the Nerds", how nerdom is taking over our lives; we are getting sucked in ever slowly without our realizing it! What started as an arcane field has gone mainstream! We have to swim with the tide, not to be left behind - while in Rome, do as the Romans do - but never forget what gave us our roots and moorings. We are social beings and we want to live in society and with our fellow travelers; may I add also others who share our planet in the whole scheme of things? One of the most famous of our nerds, Bill Gates, seems to have reached an exalted state of being, with a beatific smile to go with it, when he started sharing it all with the most disadvantaged! Capitalist system works best, and Chinese are masters fine-tweaking it to their advantage, but at the end of the day, we cannot close the doors to enjoy the spoils leaving out everyone else!

Though we need resilience to survive the storms of increasing velocity and frequency, there will be periods of calm in between to enjoy our moments. In our own way, we should extend them with the right attitude. We have taken a turn and one cannot put the genie back in the bottle; life gets its meaning by enjoying the positives with the negatives that go with it; two sides of the same coin! The good will always have a fight in their hands, but thank God, they are everywhere and in the majority! However, there will be times for gallows humor, but then a fresh dawn will break to get us going again! Hopefully!!!