Solar System Planets
The Merry-Go-Round
An old Chinese curse says: “May you live in interesting times.” We certainly do. Each day, events bombard us in the news, and though terrible, they certainly make this era a most interesting one. Twelfth century Chinese believed that the most fascinating periods in history were those filled with upheaval and chaos. I relate to their belief for when I open my eyes in the morning I can’t wait to discover what happened while I slept. Though emotionally, I don’t like living through turmoil, intellectually I do enjoy stepping outside of conflicts to let my mind make sense of the staged events. In order to keep balance, I remind myself that historically peace and war, wealth and poverty, played cyclical games that can last hundreds of years.
Global travel clarifies many of the changes that have taken place during my own short life. Boundaries have moved so often that I keep having to get new maps. Eritrea became independent from Ethiopia in 2002, the Aouzou Strip in Libya was given to Chad, and Somaliland has declared independence, though without UN recognition. Three years ago I went to the Ukraine. Now the borders and access to the land are different. The Crimea was annexed in 2014 after Russia decided that their need for seaports was more important than Ukraine’s sovereignty. By controlling the area they consider historically to be theirs, they gain natural gas rights in the Black Sea and oversight of Sevestapol, the seaport that houses their military fleet. Russia also aquired more wealth by retaining military equipment left behind by the Ukraine people, and they now control access to the remaining Ukrainian seaports. Some power still remains with Ukraine, though, for it owns most electrical plants as well as access to fresh water. The entire region, however, has become a powder keg.
I feel like I am on a merry-go-round and am not sure how to get off. As it cycles I pass an escalating tide of humanity who suffer because of our poorly advised invasion of Iraq. But, what surprises me the most, are the Americans who have become reluctant to help destitute refugees fleeing from harm’s way? I wonder what I would do if bullets rained down on my head? Would anyone be there to help me?
Then I spin past billionaire mansions in gated communities and watch their inhabitants deny workers fair wahes, health care and affordable housing. I pass streets filled with tents and eyeball beggars asking for handouts. I witness illegal farmworkers being emoved by immigration officers while their employers are not fined for hiring them in the first place. Their innocent children live in fear that they will be separated from their parents. If it is so important to remove illegal residents from our country, why aren’t the employers who have become wealthy by their past labor not asked to pay for their resettlement costs? I am curious to discover who will remain working as low pay farm labor and who will make the beds in luxury hotels?
Students of history know that times of peace and prosperity cycle with those of war and chaos. There are eras when demigods, emperors, and kings control the masses and those when the proletariate rise up and rebel. The Magna Carter was the result of one such uprising and our own country rose to expell British rule. China’s dynasties present another example. Each time the wealthy rulers became corrupt the dynasty was threatened, eventually overthrown, and a new government formed. The children of thereformers, would become lazy and spoiled over time and the cycle would start over again. Fascinating? Depressing? Scary? Is this what is happening in our country? Are our leaders corrupt and self-centered? Is this what we are beginning to see throughout the world?
You can’t turn on the news without being blasted with stories of Greece’s fragile economy, removal of the president of South Korea due to corruption, Neo-Nazi’s in the Netherlands, and migrations due to land and resource grabs. We hear that with Brexit, the survival of the European Union is challenged, that pollution in China directly affects our own air quality, that fracking in Oklahoma causes earthquakes, and that overfishing is depleting an important source of the world’s food supply. Interesting times? The merry-go-round continues to cycle with its horses traveling up and down. I ride on it but it is not always fun.
Connected we are, whether we want to be or not. With international banking, mega corporations and trade agreements we left our isolationist past behind a long time ago. Do you know that warming trends have negatively affected coffee growth in Sierra Leone thereby increasing coffee prices in the U.S.? That extreme weather brought on by rising temperatures and changes in precipitation threaten the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the water we drink? Yes, we are a global earth.
Remember the saying “nature abhors a vacuum?” As an anthropology student I was taught that if a poor overpopulated country is located near a wealthier one with a smaller population those living in poverty will soon be pushing boundaries and moving into the country with greater resources. There may be local laws trying to prevent that movement but the laws of nature say that governmental laws will lose in the end because the desire to survive is so great that people will do whatever they can to feed their families.
Countries may try to stop immigrants from coming to their soil but any anthropologist will say that in dire times, need overcomes law. Population movements can’t help but effect the lives of lawful reseidents. Last year 65 million people migrated from war-torn countries and the from those affected by global warming. Severe drought affected livestock and farming and lack of drinking water meant thousands moved or died. Rising sea levels put farmland under water in Bangladesh and the island of Kiribai. What will it be next year? Will we continue to ignore this threat and let people die? What if Manhattan has another severer hurricane that threatens their food supply?
Changing long held thought patterns is difficult. It involves digging for unbiased updated information and a willingness to shift beliefs when presented with new facts. Analysis can be emotional because results often challenge minds that basically want to remain comfortable by clinging to old ways. Still, adapting to change should not be more difficult than learning how to use the latest App. Yet, it is. Strangely, fewer than 50% of American adults believe in evolution. These non-believers view scientists as a threat to their worldview rather than as researches and providers of information from which to reevaluate decisions. Perhaps there is a benefit to clinging on to old ways and thought patterns.
I am an example of a person who resisted using computers when they were first mass marketed. As a museum director, I made sure they were near by but I had other people operate them for I did not want to “waste” my time on the computer. That was a bad decision. Now I realize that staying abreast of social, political, and technological landscapes are requirements for living fully and in the moment. They certainly are a must for any parent educating a child.
Though I often write of how to suvive upheavals, this interesting era is not all terrible. It can be fascinating to put yourself on a merry-go-round when your eyes are open and your heart hopeful for a gold ring to be there to grab. Figuring out underlying causes and developing ways to solve problems can be challenging and rewarding. I am remain ever curious to discover what will happen next. I’d like to return to earth in 200 years and see how this political turmoil will evolve? What is your prediction for the future?
References:
Latest countries formed https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2014/09/16/the-9-newest-countries-in-the-world/?utm_term=.b4297be5a30a
National Center for Science Education –https://ncse.com/node/16774
Effects of Rising Sea Levels –http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/sea-level-rise/
Global Climate Change, Vital Signs of the Planet: https://climate.nasa.gov/e
NASAffects/ EPA- Effects of global warming: https://www.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-human-health
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