Can We Change Direction?

Like a bad dream, no, a bad nightmare the human race seems to be intent on rushing head on to its own destruction. In the nightmare we are in the train, car, conveyor belt, we can see the spinning saw blade, the precipice fast approaching, but we are stuck, our limbs, our bodies will not respond to our wishes, or commands, but then........we wake up, maybe shaken, maybe stunned, but we wake up.

What is the true situation of the "most intelligent form of life on this planet"? Increasing experts, ecologists and many other learned groups, or individuals are telling us, STOP! Is it now clear that something must change and change dramatically and significantly, yes? Have we actually set up the neccasary mechanisms of change? Have we introduced massive and dramatic changes to the way we live on Planet Earth?

Increasingly the experts are telling us that we must change our ways and that we must do it soon, quickly. Are we listening and even if we are, can we make these changes? Can we wake up? We each of us have many valid reasons not to change our ways. It is as though we are all trapped within a way of life that is so hectic, so demanding that the opportunity to stop and take stock of the big picture is somewhere between dificult and impossible. We have such busy lives, so many commitments, we are all upon the treadmill that becomes ever faster and faster with each passing day. Maybe we are aware of the problems, but what actually can we as individuals actually do even if have the time, or capability to do it.

Were this a bad dream, or a nightmare we would have woken up by now, but, are we actually waking up to our situation we are in? Are we. It was just a dream, but this could be the nightmare to beat all nightmares. We are (surely now we know) changing and upsetting the balance of life on our planet! In reality no one really knows the complete consequences of the road we hurl down at ever increasing speed, like a discordant piece of music, our leaders tell us progress, progress, better standard of living, better standard of living, um excuse me important people, but that precipice seems to be getting closer and closer......

Many of us grew up within a very serious ideological battle, this was a dissagrement of such epic proportions that MAD, mutually assured destruction was actually a consideration, a possibility. Lets look at these huge and important dissagreements between Communism and Capitalism from a different perspective. This was a very important and fundamental disagreement and the battle lines were clearly drawn in the sand.

It was actually very simple, one system was good, was righteous, the other was bad, was evil and which was which depended upon where in the world you lived right? So what was the great difference between these opposing systems?

Actually it was very simple. Within the Capitalist system some people had a lot of power, wealth and resources at their disposal and the majority of the population got along as best they could right?

Now we in the West were brought up to believe that communism was a very bad thing, a very bad idea, or even worse, that it was evil and ungodly. You see under this system practically all the power, wealth and resources were concentrated within the hands of only some of the people and the majority of the population got along as best they could? Sound similar?

Ok one side got the upper hand, but was and is either system sustainable? Have either of these opposing philosophies been sensitive to sustaining life on Earth. Have either of these systems even considered the dangers in ignoring the delicate balance that exists on this planet? Have either of these systems even considered that the Human Race is actually part of this delicate balance and not masters of it? The two major and fundamentaly opposed systems that have evolved upon Planet Earth do in fact share many fundamental similarites. Both systems assume that the leaders, the guys at the top will make the right decisions, for and on behalf of their peoples. What if they have been wrong? What if they have overlooked such crucial issues such as, is this way of life sustainable? Is this way of life compatible with the laws of nature within which we must all coexist?

Our leaders are the ones in the driving seat and as we travel at ever increasing speed in our present direction, what do they suggest? What recomedations do they give us. So if the guys driving the train are oblivious to the danger, where does that leave us the passengers?

What is our situation and what options do we individually have? If our leaders the guys in the driving seat are so preoccupied with other "important" issues that they cannot see the precipice towards which we travel at ever increasing speed we have two options. We can shout our warnings as loadly as we are able, or we can jump ship? How can we prevent the tragedy?

In the nightmare we wake up, maybe a bit shaken, but we wake up. Can we wake up now? Can we awaken ourselves to the dangers ahead? Can we even find the time within our ever busy lives to step off from that treadmill and step back from our everyday routines? It seems that somehow we must each wake up to the reality of our situation individually. It becomes increasingly clear that no will wake us. Can we, before it's too late?