A Time For A Change

This is quite a time we live in. Extraordinary and exciting, dangerous and scary, full of promise for the future and the making of historic moments, we are living in a time that will be studied by future generations. Our decisions are important and significant because they change us as a society, which will change our future path and the direction of future generations.

We are altering our own normality which in my opinion is vital and important. We NEED to do this because we NEED to grow and that growth will strengthen our children, grandchildren, and beyond. It is exciting because this is how we as humans progress. It is also scary because we cannot predict what certain changes will mean and we need to be careful with the changes we make. I will offer some examples.

As the industrial revolution took hold of this country, we slowly moved towards production capabilities never known to human beings in the history of the world. As we grew and continued to create, invent, and establish new forms of production of material goods and services we started to grow our thinking and understanding of how certain things work.

We created steam engines which powered trains and ships which led to greater migration patterns and distribution of goods bought and sold. This was a great advance. One unintended consequence of this was also the spread of certain diseases, to people who had no natural immunity built up because that particular virus or bacteria has never before been introduced to them, as well as birds, bugs, animals, and rodents to places not known to them prior, which in turn changes those new environments.

We eventually created a combustion engine which led to the creation of vehicles which allow for personal transportation and transportation on a smaller scale. This also and at approximately the same time allowed for larger types of transportation as well in the forms of trucks, buses, ships, and eventually even aircraft for distribution of goods and transportation of people for personal reasons, economic reasons, production reasons, as well as military reasons.

These same advances brought about change that strengthened our economy, military, global positioning, and industry as well as our personal lives and opportunities. These engines also run in factories, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, motorcycles, street sweepers, generators, and on and on. They have made our day to day lives extraordinary and much easier, full of new possibilities.

But they of course have a negative consequence as well. They have a byproduct that is extremely unhealthy for our bodies and for the environment. CO2. This gas that these engines produce and omit has the effect of killing us if we breathe too much of it directly. This gas has the same effect on us if we put too much of it in our atmosphere. I believe it is atmosphere and not stratosphere. Point being the more we pump into our air the closer we come to changing our planet in a way that is going to have an effect on our physical lives both personal and professional, and on our future.

We have altered the planet by our collective behavior over the last 100 to 150 years in such a way that could mean significant changes to what we know and the way we know it when it comes to our lives and geography. I say could because we can still change some of our behaviors and alter some of our current ways so that we do not end up destroying ourselves.

Of course combustion engines are not the only way we add this and other gasses to our environment that have an effect on our global environment...they just happen to be one of the largest ways. Another would be cattle and the methane they produce. The number of cows has grown exponentially globally because of the market for them which is a byproduct of the equal explosion of global human population, but the cattle we breed globally produce a great amount of methane which contributes to this same problem.

If you happen to be one of those who does not believe in global warming or the trends that scientists are predicting because of it, I would simply refer to the above example of breathing the output of just one combustion engine and the deadly health risks doing such a thing represents. While our atmosphere can absorb some of these gasses, one must admit there has to be a limit to how much and for how long it can take prolonged exposure, it only makes sense there will be a limit and at some point the balance will turn to the negative. This is reasonable and to ignore the point of diminishing return is at the least costly and at the most naive.

Of course a discussion of development and change would not be complete without at least a mention of the weapons that we have developed and created. The potential for destroying ourselves several times over has existed for decades now and the threat is very real. With irresponsible leaders of the world taking power and gaining these weapons, how will this play out? Again...a very interesting time to be living in and a part of.

We have recently elected a new president, which was both historic because of his racial background, as well as significant because of the mix of financial issues, other domestic issues, and foreign policy issues, not to mention two active wars we are fighting...and I am increasingly amused and find curious the reactions I have came across since this has happened. Some people are elated and some are very scared. Those filled with fear sometimes will quote comments made by the political right to base those fears on...fair enough...that is their belief system at work...and others can't articulate their reasons for the fear...they are just...scared.

About a year and a half ago I read both of the president-elects books. I started telling the people in my groups that I was running at the time that this guy has the skills, background, education, and experience necessary to bring people together...he has already built a long history of bringing people together and has been doing this for 20 plus years...since before he was the president of Harvard's Law Review...he is someone...if anyone can...that has the potential to bring the people of this country together...has the potential to bring world leaders together...except maybe those that can not see past the color of his skin...and if he could make it through the press and political gauntlet...that I would vote for him because of the man...not the party...I am registered with one party but frankly...I do not vote party...any party...I vote people...I do not vote for people I don't like or believe in...personally...that's just me...

The choice has been made by this country and now it is up to the man to follow through and do what is needed. Whether or not you voted for him...he is now our president as Americans. Whether or not you are elated or scared...this is a time of change and change itself is scary. He is human so is bound to make some mistakes...but he is cognizant of what our history is...and what we need to do domestically and globally. My hope and prayer...is that this change will be a change for the better for now and leave a footprint for a better change for our future. Only time will tell. But if we can come together and unite...as a people...as a country...we are much more likely to remain the strong world leader that we have come to be...and that is really the goal isn't it?