The Changes

Our planet has become much smaller than we ever thought.  The news travels at tremendous speed and our economic life on Earth is interrelated.  Ideas float from one country to another and long is gone the time of isolation.  Are we better for it?

It means enormous changes in the way we think and our ability to stay within the compound of our personal consciousness.  We are now multinational beings involved one day with the news of Japan and the other, news of Yemen.  In between, we stuff the news from Egypt, from Libya, from Africa or Haiti and we add to that the news from our speck of earth plus many more places or countries that may interest us.  Plus there is the economic crisis, unemployment, budget deficit, tax cuts, weather damage and death in the southern USA....is it not a lot?

What has all of this done to our psyche?
My grandson told me the other day that he was most concerned by the news of the nuclear leaks in Japan.  He is 8 years old.  He told me that they discuss it in class.  I think that all the involvement with so many happenings on different countries opens our minds very early to the fact that Earth as we know it has become so very small in terms of communication and interconnection.  As a consequence, there is more to think about, more to worry about, and more to stay on our minds and keep us awake at night.  The information is crammed in to us through TV, videos, CD's written articles by reporters all over the world, social medias and text messages.  It is unavoidable.

Because of this, it seems that now, more than ever, this Earth is undergoing tremendous changes and not all for the better.  There is the problem of climate change, the scarcity and rising price of oil, the possibility of water shortages, the climbing cost of food to cite only a few.  We are facing huge problems and as we see it, there is no solution at hand now.

Of course at the same time, so many groups, institutions or individuals are creating wonders and propose a different vision, therefore a different consciousness in the people they touch.  On one part some destroy while many others build what they can.  I, by nature, tend to be on the side of hope but I often feel invaded by all of what I read or hear.  Especially when I am unable to do anything about it.  It is not simple or easy and even harder to escape.  Our life is more accelerated and there is much more to do in one day.

We have e-mails, text messages, phones, TV, CD's videos, many electronic gadgets to facilitate reading or writing, a whole assortment of high tech things that have an effect on us human beings. Are we relating to each other as best as we could?  Do we take time to pause?  Does it make us more anxious?

Little children take anti-anxiety medicine and the other day, I talked to a friend who takes 2 drugs to stay calm and serene, or at least try to.  Drugs and pills are so prevalent and can mask our behavior in many ways.  Scientists are finding little by little the effect on us of all this relatively new technology. They are divided and so are we.  I find that more people are having a hard time coping with all the delivery of high tech gadgets and long for a more relaxing yesterday.  Only, this can be true for the ones who remember yesterday.  But the children?     

Do we live on a more violent planet?  I wonder sometimes reading all of what the earth has been through. The history of our past is loaded with conflicts, wars, many challenges and epidemics and terrible things to face.  We have evolved, but we are still the same human beings that lived off the land and raised our kids the best we could or hoped for a better shelter or a more lavish life.  Our aspirations are no different from country to country.  The basic human being has not changed that much over so many years.  But changed it has, with the discovery of so many ways to make things happen and to change our lives.  Horrible things like mass killings, suicide bombers, drone killings, latent terrorism, wars, unrest, inflation and unemployment has become a way of life.  That is not pretty or even desirable in any way.

If my grandmother was alive now, she would have a hard time to integrate herself to all we play or are involved with everyday as if nothing.  Even now, I write snail mail to my mother in law who does not use a fancy phone or the internet and to her sister for the same reasons.  When my grandkids are here, they play video games and relish their Facebook accounts.  Of course they also play on their bike or skateboard.  My childhood was spent reading, painting and perched up in trees!  The kids behave like kids to a certain extent.  Compared to the way I grew up, there is a huge difference.  But each generation faces the same changes.

So here I am with many questions and just a few answers.  What do you think?  Where are we going as a specie? What is happening to this Earth?  What is on your mind?  What about violence?  What concerns you?  What keeps you awake at night?  Are we better off today?

Please leave your answers.  Consider this blog as a forum for your thoughts and our common feelings as humans.  As the planet evolves, there is a price to pay and as we express our worries and our appreciation as well, things become clearer.  Let me hear about you.  You can leave a comment, become a follower of this blog and we can touch a reality that we can create commonly as humans.  I will be waiting.

Some links to read that illustrate my text:


http://video.pbs.org/video/1883045635 

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/03/age-of-man/anthropocene-photography

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/japan-earthquake-and-tsunami

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/signs/chap7.htm
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13089758

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13185499

 Copyright 2011 Micheline Brierre

In Anticipation of Spring

I was going to write about the marvels of Spring and to my surprise this morning, I woke up to a thin layer of snow and temperatures well below the fifties as we had been getting used to for the last few weeks. In Colorado we get our snow in the Spring and it is hard to know when to cover up and when to let a little skin show.  Days vary so much.  But Spring is in the air, not just on our minds.  The little Forsythia I planted a few years ago between my neighbor and us is showing many leaves or petals and the trees in front of our house are greening.

I, like many people tired of winter, am giddy over the coming Spring and we all relish the warmer temperatures that bring us closer to this beautiful time of the year.  I never appreciated before the difference between the cold days of winter and the rest of the year.  I lived in Miami years ago when a rare cold spell would strike sometimes, but the trees and plants forever showed a lush look with bushes full of blooms, rapid growth and exotic colors.  A very exuberant environment that clashes with our semi arid climate here and the plants that manage to grow in it.

This is a fantastic time for street performers.  I was in Boulder yesterday with my husband.  We had gone to Greeley to see the "Riverdance" show which was just fantastic.  We admired the Celtic dancers that enticed everybody to get up and move wildly with their elaborate step patterns that contrast with their rather stiff upper body.  We both loved it and the haunting music still rings in my ears.  Boulder was not too far, so we slept in a hotel there to go to Pearl street the next day.  It was full of people and street performers who bring their talents and their ability to gather a crowd on this pedestrian mall.


As we strolled down the street looking for our favorite art galleries we came across a man with a great sense of humor and acrobatic abilities who was perched high on a unicycle talking to the crowds and doing his tricks.  In his hands he had a few lit batons that he juggled along with a sword.  He got a little boy to be a part of the show. And as high as he was, managed to catch his hat with his raised foot while still up in the air.  People happily gathered around him and most everybody was happy to drop a few dollars in his hat when he was finished.

A bit further down was a lovely girl with a violin that played beautifully some classical music themes, full of longing and memory. The sounds she created were so beautiful it made me think of my mother who was so fond of the violin and would cry sometimes when it played.

We visited a few more blocks and found a man against a huge boulder preparing to play the didgeridoo.  He had nailed to the instrument a few rasps and had one more in his pocket.  Then with his eyes closed he proceeded to touch lightly his heart chakra and retreat obviously into his creative and higher self.  Then he began to play.  The sounds were amazing as he blew in his didgeridoo and struck his rasps with a stick both on the one he had attached to his instrument plus the one in his pocket.  The result was very soothing and quite deeply haunting and most unexpected.  I liked it a lot.  My husband photographed him.


After a full day, we started the ride home. We had spent the whole time outdoors and observed the tulips coming out of the grounds, the early daffodils, the budding trees and their reflections in nearby windows.  So many people traversed the mall laughing and taking pictures, eating ice cream, thriving on a balmy weather to let us know that even though it snowed today, Spring is coming around here after all.