Taking a look around the world is an entertaining experience. We truly are living in interesting times. However, those times have (as always) two sides, positive and negative. No matter which side you tend to view life, the world continues on no matter what. How you choose to view the world is your foundation of understanding and outlook for the future.
Perhaps it is useful to acknowledge the past. The world ruled by Ghangis Khan fell apart, the Roman Empire fell apart, the Ottoman Empire fell apart, the British Empire fell apart and most recently the Russian Empire has broken up. Historians will debate whether some were by choice such as the British and Russian empires, others were destroyed such as those in the North and South American continents. The fact remains that life goes on.
Today we have a vast problem with the economy, so much so that the environmental issue has taken a step back from the public eye. The political landscape is changing as well before our eyes. The international boundaries in Africa have changed and will change even more in the coming years. This has not happened since 1918. The Jasmine Revolution/Arab Spring in North Africa and the Middle East is taking place right now.
The Prime Minister of Russia is seeking to build an economic union with its neighbours. China has been sending foreign aid in exchange for oil and gas to Africa and South America. China has rarely ever sent aid to any country before. While all of this is going on we still have to put food on the table, educate and keep healthy.
Depending how you see the world, positive or negative, all of these events can be a weight, a delight or just more of the same as life rolls on. For me I see it as more of the same. Power shifts, economies fail, empires die, oil will run out, Israel and Palestine will continue to fight eachother and someone will feel the need to kill another. This is life.
The crux of the matter here is how much do you want to be involved? No government rules without the will of the entire people and when the people have enough it gets ugly, Syria, Yemen, Bahrain for example. It is this function of involvement that has most people perplexed. If you pay attention you can see where things are going.
The current economic situation is one that evolved from over spending. The new economics that was boasted about during the dot.com gold rush was just that, a gold rush. Extravagance got the best of us and now we have to pay. If we panic and fear we will only dig a deeper hole.
A persons mentality and outlook are not enough to stand alone on, work ethic is the balancing factor. The economy is mostly a mirror of the peoples psyche. People were tired of spending, consuming, buying a new car every five years and having to put up with appliances that are built to last for only so long. The garbage pile we have built due to consumerism will haunt us longer than the benefits of consumerism. The economy is in trouble because in part we built shoddy appliances, passed laws that, for some resource sucking reason, have outlawed food production in cities and the hanging of laundry to dry.
As for peace and security, the world has been experiencing a decline in violent wars. However there are some countries that will argue to the point where they will shoot you if you agree to that reality. In some countries multiculturalism has been deemed a failure. If that is true then the world is in for a tough ride because it is multicultural, all countries are multicultural and will be even more so as populations grow. In truth it is not that multiculturalism has failed it is that there are people who do not or can not deal with conflict properly. This is all part of the reduction in violent wars. When a violent act happens it will garner more attention because the vast majority of us have an increased sense of peace. This peace highlights the acts of violence and more noise is made of it thus making it seem that more violence is taking place. However we are making great progress in this area of human existence, we are living up to the tasks of saving the future generations from the scourge of war.
Having a proud Russian people, a China that gives aid and economies built upon providing what is needed is where the world is heading. It will be interesting times to go through. There will be difficulties, setbacks and failures. Over all we will be making steps forward, improving, being peaceful and sorting out the changes that will take place. We will work together on most things, disagree on others and hopefully someday do all of this without the need to fear or hold anger towards the other.
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