Sleepwalking to oblivion
“In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act.” ― George Orwell
Wake up!
Wake up!
To what?
The end of humanity.
Woa, go easy…but I mean it.
Time for all of us and all sentient life is running out.
It’s not a question of how, it’s simply a question of when.
Look around you. Do you think we’re cognisant, as a species, of just how much damage we’ve done to this earth and continue to do so, all in the name of progress? It doesn’t look like it. In fact, BAU is the modus operandi, even allowing for all that continues to be talked about in decoupling our need for more comfort alongside a sustainable world.
I realise how heavy this theme is (sorry to ruin your day) but as someone who has spent my working life working in the thick of the commercial world, I see no change or none that’s going to make a difference to the trajectory of death and annihilation that’s hurtling towards us at breakneck speed. In fact, you’d think, despite all the green language and sloganeering, that there was nothing amiss in the 21st century.
If I was asked to opine on this stasis, and offer up an opinion, I’d make the point that it’s not bad enough yet for us to change or mend our ways. Yes, that would be my starting point. Much like Covid19 when the world did stop running on empty, it’s going to have to get a lot worse before we realise that the end of the world – our world – is nigh.
Apart from this anachronistic jumping-off point, the other thing that’s desperately missing is anyone prepared to ask a more insightful question. And one without fear of the personal consequences. Perhaps it’s me but there is simply not enough questioning of the whys and wherefores of ‘how did it get like this?’. Or words to that effect. In my case, I’ve lost count of the track marks on my back by dint of being on the receiving end of the slings and arrows that have come my way. Even now I can feel the hot breath coming in my direction the next time I dare to ask a question that goes well upstream from the project at hand.
But I digress.
In this solution-obsessed world, my message demands that I put forward my seven-step plan to sort out the way we’ve desecrated our nest so egregiously and for all time. But I don’t have any. If I were to suggest one, it might involve a large red button which would finish us off once and for all but of course that’s not going to have any takers.
I recognise that in this space it evokes and evinces a lot of depressed and grief-stricken voices, and I’m with you brother/sister but, sadly, that goes with the territory. What’s gone is gone and is never coming back.
In the end, all I can do is speak my truth.
Take care,
Julian
Photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash