EVERYTHING HAS HAPPENED BEFORE
Monday, September 6, 2021
The last holiday-worthy day of summer, long weekend’s tail-end
The perspective of who we are in our lives – and where we are in history is fascination and inspiration.
Boxes to tick.
For reflection.
Gearing up, we return to work but not by any previous measure …
We return to life, not as we’ve known it, but as we’ll learn it.
Fourth wave.
Elections.
To mask or not conceal, to hide behind – or to keep safe.
Return to work or not, change jobs or not, change our ways or not.
This is neither new nor old – it may be our first pandemic, but not THE first pandemic. It’s our next election season, but not THE first election season.
My point, nothing happening now is uniquely new nor unpredictable.
Everything has happened before, and the lessons of past decades and centuries are available to be thought through. Instead, however, too much hype about the next crypto-whatever and bitcoin-currency are the hula-hoops du jour. The roaring of the 20s of last century, already far surpassed by many money-whizzes (i.e. Bezos) reaping ginormous benefits from everyone’s malaise.
Who, or what measure, will prevent a recurrence of 1929? Think about that.
For now, at least, the world is getting used to infectious diseases, devastating economies and populations – and it’s not just Africa at risk. It’s not just the ones we know about or the ones that are preventable with derivatives of vaccines that have been discovered already.
The scariest of times are not behind us; those we’ve experienced and survived, made us stronger. Label us survivors, and, as is too often the case in life, leave too many of us complacent from now on as we are acting out our bravado, as if we are immune to risk.
We aren’t immune to risk, and risks are going to keep coming at us faster and faster – it’s not about climate change or anti-vaxxing or masks or politics; it’s about life on this planet. Unless you’re planning a trip to Mars, we’re all in this together.
So, let’s talk opportunity.
Are we open to opportunity, or do we look at opportunities as risks that haven’t yet revealed their danger?
Opportunity doesn’t knock – you have to grab it, make it, invent it, and risk everything on it with a high probability of failure. Worth it!
In the end, it would be nice to have someone develop a vaccine against stupidity – and it would be interesting to see how they would be against that.
Reader feedback:
Mark, I agree completely with your conclusion. I can only hope enough people in Alberta see things the same and are ready to get rid of this government while also remembering this is certainly not the only strike against Kenney and his cohorts. As far as Trudeau and the Liberals go, unfortunately we here have no power to change the federal government. My biggest sadness is probably thinking we have no positive alternative in either case as, after all, they are all still politicians. LH, Lethbridge, AB