In a normal day, one wonders where the time goes. You wake up, commute, work, it's time for lunch. Back to work, then the commute home. In the evening it is likely that you're drained from work, maybe if you have the energy you head to the gym, or enjoy time with family and friends. Days fly by, piled up somewhere in the warehouse of time. You know that they exist although there is no real indication that they ever happened, no evidence of their remains but a held memory. Time moves fast, so fast in fact that's it is amazing that we manage to keep up with it.
Keen not to be left behind, the world moves pretty fast too. Facilitated by the global network society, news travels nearly instantaneously; there is no limit to what one can know about the world, and as a result, perhaps today there is little excuse for a total ignorance of it. Some knowledge of the global situation is important, for as the 9/11 tragedy showed us, there is no longer such a thing as a distant threat. Advances in technology means that a problem on the other side of the world must concern us, for we are not out of reach of the consequences. No-one is.
I am not suggesting that we must become involved in all geopolitical matters, certainly not. We have seen the turmoil that the USA has stirred in the Middle East, the War on Terror has been much like using a bee-hive for a punch bag. The purpose of this blog is to discuss some of the issues of a changing society, a world that moves so fast that it is difficult to hold any one opinion for a sustained period of time. The threats come thick and fast; climate change, terror, the global economic crisis, now swine flu. This blog can be used as a pause to come up for air, take a breath and consider these issues that affect us all.
The articles I post will vary greatly, some light-hearted, some serious, some concerning social matters, others concerning the geopolitics of the global system. Most importantly, everything I post will be something that I feel is an issue worthy of discussion, and this is where the readers of the blog must help out. Please offer opinions on any articles, on the issues discussed or simply the way that they are written. Once I begin to write I have a tendency to get carried away, and thus some of the articles are quite long. I hope this is not off putting, but please let me know if it is and I will try and adjust my style.
We have much to think about and discuss, and I feel now that the stakes we're playing for are higher than ever. Thanks very much for reading.
That is a very long discourse, overly long to me. Most people with any intelligence and education, with world experience, know that change is necessary. Many have changed their habits to much smaller ecological footprints including smaller families. The ones resistant to change are more the opposite, and the majority, unfortunately.
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