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Trying to remain abreast of the dramatic events and trends that are shaping our world today is like driving through a Texas hail storm -- a constant beating of blinding ice, with occasional stones hitting so hard they virtually take your breath away. Indeed, as one reflects on the past 12-15 months alone, you can not help but to be awed by the staggering number of incredible and devastating events that have slammed into our world and reality...the catastrophic blitzkrieg of our emerging new normal.
Think about it for just a moment... Since January 2010, we have witnessed a devastating earthquake in Haiti, destroying the lives of hundreds of thousands and leveling an entire city; we watched in horror as the Gulf of Mexico was poisoned with millions of gallons of oil, and subsequently fertilized with toxic Corexit, a disaster that is still revealing itself in mysterious and frightening ways; then Chili in South America was rattled with an 8.8 shake, sending tsunamis rolling and dropping buildings to their foundations; Russia began to burn, charring vast tracks of croplands affecting food prices across the world; we observed a staggering increase in the release of methane gas (a potent greenhouse gas) from the permafrost into the planet's atmosphere, causing a destructive feedback loop of warming-melting-methane release-do-over; we have seen a sobering and somewhat frightening increase in reliable sightings of strange and unidentified flying orbs and other mysterious and unexplainable objects all over the planet; then a wide swath of Australia was inundated with flood waters; suddenly, millions of fish began to die unexpectedly while birds fell from the sky; the America mid-west started to shake, causing many to wonder if the New Madrid fault was waking up; Millions of disillusioned and disenfranchised people decided to rise up and challenge the status quo through revolution and revolt; Christchurch was leveled; Japan was brought to its knees by an earthquake and resultant tsunami of biblical proportions; radiation clouds are in the air heading eastward with the jet stream; our global financial system is buried in insurmountable debt and hangs on by a thread; 2012 rapidly approaches accompanied by a wide array of apocalyptic predictions; and finally, as I sit down to write this short article, the Internet is a-buzz with predictions that the American west coast is seeing signs of an impending earthquake.
Tired yet? And while that might be a long sentence, you should know that it is a short list, and doesn't even begin to tell the whole story..
As I think about our world today, I am reminded of Alvin Toffler's best selling 1970's book, Future Shock. While his book is somewhat dated, his thesis remains apropos. Toffler argued that our world and society is changing so rapidly, and the pace of change is accelerating so quickly, that it will result in a new reality where change and uncertainty are the only remaining constants, which, suggests Toffler, will leave people 'shattered and disoriented'.
"...millions of psychologically normal people will experience an abrupt collision with the future. Affluent, educated citizens of the world’s richest and most technically advanced nations, they will fall victim to tomorrow’s most menacing malady: the disease of change. Unable to keep up with the supercharged pace of change, brought to the edge of breakdown by incessant demands to adapt to novelty, many will plunge into future shock. For them the future will have arrived too soon." (Toffler, 1970)
And while Toffler was speaking to technological change, his thesis is still quite relevant as it relates to our rapidly changing global reality. The pace and scale of catastrophic and epic events around the world today -- both human as well as natural -- has left many people numb...let's call it a 21st Century version of Future Shock. Or, if you want, you can call it crisis fatigue...but however you want to name it, this appears to be the new normal and it will be hard to escape the consequences of our incessantly changing rapid-fire world.
So what do we do about this new reality? Well, as any Texan knows, the only sure way to safely weather a hail storm is to get under a bridge and wait it out...assuming there is room. And if there isn't any room under the bridge, you need to plan to take a beating.
Unfortunately, there appears to be fewer and fewer places to hide from the ravages of our rapidly changing world. You had better get prepared...
Welcome to the Future.
