Every morning I go through a similar routine. I get up do my ablutions then I switch on the kettle for my first and only coffee of the day. (Ok sometimes 2)
Next step, I sit down at my computer and browse the headlines and a few articles from a number of news sites. (Huffington Post, CNN, BBC. And News24)
Very often I promise myself to stop this habit, its mostly soul-destroying news. In my country, South Africa it’s all about corruption, frightening crime statistics, drought and the dirty business of politics. Lately there have been assassinations of political figures (why is this necessary?) and the dreadful scourge of farm murders, carried out with exceptional cruelty. I know that we have come from a violent past, more than a few of my friends are still suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the bush war. I hate to think of the toll the latest violence will have on the survivors of this generation.
I lived through the Cuban missile crisis and grew up with the horrors of the Vietnam War. Today it seems the world is balanced on a knife-edge. North Korea and the United States playing brinkmanship only this time it could be with nuclear weapons. China taking a more aggressive role in the South China Sea, another situation that has the potential to escalate.
This is the time that the world needs cool and wise leadership, exactly what we don’t have. What of Russia? The next few months could potentially open yet more cans of worms. Putin embracing Assad, shows us where his interest lies. All over the planet conflict and the threat of conflict is raising its nasty head. With modern weapons war has become a nightmare (not that it ever wasn’t). We are bombarded with live feeds from war zones, we have become saturated with bad news, we accept as normal things that would have horrified us 20 years ago.
The internet is a great tool and has brought us closer together but at the same time it has filled our heads with half-truths and downright lies. We have found it ever more difficult to distinguish truth from fiction. I cringe when I see some of the falsehoods forwarded on Facebook and other media sites. Youtube has many great and informative videos but there is an equal amount of really suspect material.
Because of what is propagated, people would rather believe in the fringe material, climate change is put out as a hoax to the advantage of those who would benefit from this. Vaccinations are a diabolical plan carried out by the Illuminati. I lived through the Polio epidemic, for millions of families world-wide the Polio vaccine was a blessing.
We have lost contact with each other, texting , Facebook and Skype are great but they cannot replace human contact. We sit in a restaurant and text our friends while those with us do the same. Is this normal?
Maybe I am old-fashioned but we as human society need a paradigm shift in our thinking, otherwise I am afraid our children and grandchildren will only inherit our mistakes.
Do I have a solution to offer? Unfortunately not. If anything I must include myself as part of the problem. I am guilty of many of the failings I have written about. I wish it was not so. Our mental housekeeping should begin at home. We can’t change the world but we can change ourselves. We need to look inward to our core beliefs, perhaps the fault lies there.
I could of course, just change my viewing and reading habits.
