The Time is Now

We certainly live in interesting times. The landscape of international economics and politics shifts, information technology grows by leaps and bounds, peoples from all tribes mingle.

It's not uncommon for me to hear members of earlier generations discuss how the world is spiraling downward in the midst of all this change. Failing family structure, moral degradation, and ungratefulness abound. While I do have concerns, I cannot subscribe to this pessimistic view in light of what I consider great strides in the improvements in humanity.

The long shadow cast by racial prejudice shortens daily in the light of openness. Women who once had to endure spousal abuse for their entire lives now have the mobility to put an end to their suffering. Advances in technology and awareness give the voiceless environment a chance to survive the onslaught of human gluttony. And information, information flows faster to the places it needs to be, improving education, entertainment, networking, and business.

Today, each of our power to influence the world is far greater than that of any other people in any other age. Misused, that makes us the most destructive people to ever walk the earth. With unchecked desires and a blind eye to our incidental ravaging we needlessly, heedlessly bring ruin to places we will never hear off and to people we will never meet.

No wonder our elders are worried.

But what if we could use the outpouring of information to educate ourselves concerning our actions, and flex our power for the good? Certainly we aren't destined to be gluttonous despots. If we have the potential to misuse our far reaching power... we also have the potential to use our far reaching power. With a healthy ration of intentionality, why, we could really chance the world for the better.

Step one is of course to restrain our appetites. I once was stunned when I was told by a life long personal finance advisor that almost every client he had ever had, when asked how much money they needed to improve their lives, had answered with a sum of money that was about 20% more than they made. Be they princes or paupers, everybody wanted just a little more. Most lacked the audacity to want, or at least admit wanting, a much more extravagant life. But similarly, and very important to our cause, they also lacked the ability to be content with what they have. While I am not encouraging financial complacency, I find it chiling that a person could achieve that goal, only to readjust their expectations so that their windfall was subsumed by a new notion of what should be. A new notion of what they deserved, and a new set of unneeded desires replaces their old goals. When exactly, would it end?

With this as a lesson in gratitude, we are burdened with the responsibility to curb our desires. Learn to tell ourselves no, be satisfied with what we have, and start striving for goals that promise real and lasting satisfaction for all.

We have vast resources in our reach. We can learn of the consequences of our actions. All we are waiting for is that right time, that moment to spring into action and galvanize the events that will set our plan of a better world into being.

I've got news.

The time is now.