Time is on our side
This picture was taken in the summer almost two years ago. It really doesn't seem so long ago though. I can even remember the words I was saying, how difficult it was to get the dog out of the picture and camera changes. It is funny how the memory works. I hardly remember what I was talking about in the morning with clients.
A lot has changed in the time since this photo and a lot will change in the times to come but one thing should remain constant in me, and that is the push to make a world where my daughter can flourish. What that looks like though I am unsure about but, I am pretty sure it is going to take something different than where we are headed at the moment. It is kind of scary to be honest.
Parents want to do the best for their children and create environments that they can grow strong, have opportunity and live free but, it relies on the cooperation of others. It is a terrible situation in my opinion as people all want the same but only on their terms and for their narrow group.
Once upon a time when groups were much smaller however, the children really were the future and the community would do what they could to raise and protect them, educate and develop their skills as it was they who would carry the groups hopes onward. They invested in the children and did the best to help them be all they could be.
These days, people's future relies on technology to save them, protect them and care for them in their old age. People care little about the garden they are neglecting, the one where their children will live, and their grandchildren. How many generations can that continue on for before it is unsustainable? Do we really want to find out?
I can't speak for anyone else in this life but I am going to do what I can to work for a community that thinks about what they leave the children, not just their children. My daughter is the most important thing to me but her future is at risk when there are large inequalities, gross neglect, poverty and violence. Conditions where one must continually watch for a knife in the back are not ideal for flourishing, they are not ideal for much else but mistrust, greed and cruelty.
I feel I don't have much time left to grow a better garden and I can't remember the last time I felt time was on my side. I do think that we have a chance to make this world significantly better but, a few more discussions are needed to be held, a few more minds to think some new thoughts, and a few more actions to drive it forward.
Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]
The world is getting better in spite of what negativity fills the news. I suggest you take a look at the work of the Swedish statistician Hans Rosling on the developing world.
Here's a link to a TED Talk given by him on positive developments in health and economics in the so-called third world.
I think @tarazkp is just voicing his concern about the uncertainty of the future rather than his pessimism. Anyone who knows a little history should be concerned because they know how tenuous our freedoms can be. It is amazing how quickly and voluntarily we give them up when threatened. Remember what the Bush administration did after 9/11. Fear is a powerful motivator and we all need to be keenly aware of this whenever a leader uses fear to motivate us. Walls, immigrants, the taking away of guns and fake news all come to mind.
I agree that the world is getting better in spite of the news as indicated in that TED Talk you referred too. Another great source on positive developments is Steven Pinker and his books, “Enlighten Now” and “The Better Angeles of our Nature.” Or virtually any of his YouTube videos. Here’s a good start: Steven Pinker: Be Positive, The World Is Not Falling Apart.
As the jobs stop getting created though it is going to potentially have a dramatic effect on this progress. I like Hans Rosling and have seen/read quite a lot of his work.
That’s a good point. How about a Universal Basic Income until we all become creative? With automation and AI taking so many jobs what else can people do? Until then my retirement plan revolves around upvoting all your content so don’t stop posting! ;-)
:D
I was actually going to write about UBI tonight as it came up in 2 client sessions during the day but I have a terrible headache. Maybe tomorrow.
Yes, it's concerning.
Stop worrying so much, it's not helping you. Time is very rarely on our side, so what good would it do to stress out over that? It sometimes gets to me too, but then I think, what would the world be like if we were all running around yelling that there's no time?
Chaos.
Do what you can, but don't let it get you down.
down? this was a positive one :D
I should've realized :P
It is always hard to predict in which future our kids will grow up.
Things all over the world are changing so fast, that we can’t imagine how it will be 10, hell even 5 years frm now.
I do work in automation and sometimes question myself how work will be when my kids will enter the job market.
But probably our parents had the same worries and hopefully our kids will have these wories to when they are becoming parents.
If I see how many great people there are here on Steemit, trying to help people, I do believe in the future off- and online!
Of one of the mist powerfull gifts humans have is that they are capable of adopting the future!
Keep the faith!
I see that it is going to be different for the next couple generations as in the past, automation still left us with mental and physical skills to shift to, AI might not. Will be interesting to see if we can come together to build a world where flourishing can take place and have all the automation do the mundane tasks or, just create a dystopia of extreme inequalities.
Time will tell I guess. For some reason I am a little bit scared of AI. While for sure it will have it benefits, the combination of automation and AI doesn't make me happy.
I also think that it is an utopia that all inequalities will be wiped out, we maybe lucky and see that the gaps will be closing.
Every generation has the same thoughts . Things in the long run workout . We have it pretty easy compared to earlier generation . Our goal for our kids is to be better off then we were . That's a good thing . All we can do is do our best when we can with what we have . If enough people do the same it will work out .
This kind of worries me as it tends to breed complacency.
Agreed. Now, just to find 'enough' people.
I am positive overall but I am also not one who aims to just scrape through such matters.
I was being positive . :D
complacency is what we are suffering from here in the US
I know with regret that people always seem to need a wake up call to bring them back into reality . History is right there and we never learn . Things get easy then , here we go again.
"enough people" are the ones who have gone through the hard times . As time goes on less and less of them
At this rate, those times will return soon enough and sort through the population using the Mohs scale.
true . i do think about that
FLAG that scam on my post . I did but no damage to rep I also reported it to steemcleaners assisted by adigitalife
I remember there was a saying: it takes a village to raise a child. In our times it is much more the responsibility of the parents, but don't forget the big influence of the peers of the children and school. You can't do more than the best as a parent and the future will tell if that was enough. We cannot control the future and I agree with you that technology is a big factor, but you know we are still humans and there will always be people who care.
I am positive overall on the future but, I also don't want to live it to worry about later. I'd prefer to at least have the ground work happening now. Will see what the future actually holds when that arrives :)
As I grew up , I had to develop survival skills, this harsh world has made me strong, strong enough to take care of my family. I ask myself if in a perfect world every next generation becomes weaker and when sh*t hits the fence the weak are the first to go. I'm in now way a pessimist, only a realist.
Thank you for sharing your opinion, it really gave me perpective.
I remember when I just got started and saw this photo for the first time. Just as poignant now and then. I like how prudent your messages are, and sometimes they sound a bit heavier, but reading this piece today makes me a little more optimistic and aware of how important laying foundations for posterity it is. It is definitely not something we want to find the consequences of through inactivity.
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love to see this pic......just awsome..
good post, wait time,