Invincible
Tyaeda
Published
08/08/2011
War, famine, genocide, slavery, economic collapse, irreversible environmental damage.
It's all happening right now. As I write this, an immense amount of innocent people are suffering through horrors that most here can simply not imagine. Right now.
We all hear about it, see it on TV, read about it in our history text books. We are all at least somewhat aware.
100 years goes by so fast. When you put it into context, it's only 20 more years than the average life expectancy we have in North America. Yet, during 100 years, so many things can change, and occur.
World War 1, World War 2, The Great Depression, Spanish Flu Pandemic, all of these things happened within the last 100 years. Of course they are only a few examples.
Every generation grows up in a different environment. Different abilities, economies, value system, etc. Some say that you cannot predict the future, but people already are. It doesn't look good.
Why do we think we're so invincible? We know about what can and does happen, why can't we believe that it can happen to us? Or our children... grandchildren. Why do we only associate bad things like war and desperation, to places not our own?
You'd be foolish to assume that we will never have another war at home, ever again. We look at the protection our rights and freedoms give us as the absolute, and especially irreversible. All they are, are promises we now adhere to. An ideal most can now agree with. Can it change? Yes, most definitely. Can it change for the worse? Absolutely.
We usually look at change, that hasn't yet occurred, in society as mostly positive. "We need change" is a common phrase. We go through life rarely thinking about how close we are to disaster, and when we do think about it, we rarely see it as something that close to home, and all that soon.
One day. Think about a busy street where you live. Think about all of the stores, and people going on through a peaceful innocent day, like any other. Now think about how easy it would be to change all of that. One day. It doesn't even have to be that drastic. Think about the Vancouver Riots of this year, after Boston won the Stanley Cup. Sports + Alcohol + Anarchy = World wide headlines, injuries, and millions of dollars in damage. Now imagine if those riots were fueled with desperation for survival. Look at the state Greece is in right now, and the countries that are unfortunately headed down the same path. That's only economic problems, it's not considering the religious or political wars going on right now. It's one of many occurrences that will change history.
It's not about the blame. Blame solves nothing. Blaming Hitler for the Holocaust doesn't make his toll on this Earth any less significant.
We don't learn history just so we know who the first settlers were, or who invented the telephone.
We have to learn the why's and how's, more than the who's and where's. We need to learn history, because it repeats it's self, and we need to be prepared for when that happens.
Now more than ever. The newest generations of North Americans have not seen the wide spread despair, and suffering, that our previous generations have endured. As those generations die off, so do their personal accountants of a very very different time.
Everything is temporary. Our laws, values, structure, everything... it can all be changed, as we've all learned about the past.
I obviously can't say what the future holds. But I'd rather not assume that everything will be ok.
It's all happening right now. As I write this, an immense amount of innocent people are suffering through horrors that most here can simply not imagine. Right now.
We all hear about it, see it on TV, read about it in our history text books. We are all at least somewhat aware.
100 years goes by so fast. When you put it into context, it's only 20 more years than the average life expectancy we have in North America. Yet, during 100 years, so many things can change, and occur.
World War 1, World War 2, The Great Depression, Spanish Flu Pandemic, all of these things happened within the last 100 years. Of course they are only a few examples.
Every generation grows up in a different environment. Different abilities, economies, value system, etc. Some say that you cannot predict the future, but people already are. It doesn't look good.
Why do we think we're so invincible? We know about what can and does happen, why can't we believe that it can happen to us? Or our children... grandchildren. Why do we only associate bad things like war and desperation, to places not our own?
You'd be foolish to assume that we will never have another war at home, ever again. We look at the protection our rights and freedoms give us as the absolute, and especially irreversible. All they are, are promises we now adhere to. An ideal most can now agree with. Can it change? Yes, most definitely. Can it change for the worse? Absolutely.
We usually look at change, that hasn't yet occurred, in society as mostly positive. "We need change" is a common phrase. We go through life rarely thinking about how close we are to disaster, and when we do think about it, we rarely see it as something that close to home, and all that soon.
One day. Think about a busy street where you live. Think about all of the stores, and people going on through a peaceful innocent day, like any other. Now think about how easy it would be to change all of that. One day. It doesn't even have to be that drastic. Think about the Vancouver Riots of this year, after Boston won the Stanley Cup. Sports + Alcohol + Anarchy = World wide headlines, injuries, and millions of dollars in damage. Now imagine if those riots were fueled with desperation for survival. Look at the state Greece is in right now, and the countries that are unfortunately headed down the same path. That's only economic problems, it's not considering the religious or political wars going on right now. It's one of many occurrences that will change history.
It's not about the blame. Blame solves nothing. Blaming Hitler for the Holocaust doesn't make his toll on this Earth any less significant.
We don't learn history just so we know who the first settlers were, or who invented the telephone.
We have to learn the why's and how's, more than the who's and where's. We need to learn history, because it repeats it's self, and we need to be prepared for when that happens.
Now more than ever. The newest generations of North Americans have not seen the wide spread despair, and suffering, that our previous generations have endured. As those generations die off, so do their personal accountants of a very very different time.
Everything is temporary. Our laws, values, structure, everything... it can all be changed, as we've all learned about the past.
I obviously can't say what the future holds. But I'd rather not assume that everything will be ok.
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